Summary
Build the ultimate playground
The Good
Back in the eighties, it wasn't often that you find a gem from
Sierra that focused on both education and strategy, with children in mind. The company, at that time, thought that to demonstrate that said gem is mainly aimed at children, they could create a game featuring Donald Duck and other Disney characters. So with the permission of Walt Disney,
Donald Duck's Playground was born.
The infamous duck travels to Duckburg to build a playground for his three nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie. There are no signs of human activity, but there are buildings on both sides of the streets, all of them remaining open for the remainder of the game. Donald traveled to Duckburg with no money, so he must enter the buildings on the right-hand side and apply for jobs that range from sorting items out to making sure that a delivery has been made. When Donald has gained enough money out of all of this, he then goes into one of the buildings on the left side and purchase the necessary equipment there.
This is where the "education" part of the game comes in. You see, making a purchase requires the player to do a little bit of basic math, to work out how much change they should get back. With equipment in hand, Donald then proceeds to Duckburg Park to start building their playground. Here, players need to work out where the pieces should go, making sure to test every piece so that it works properly.
The good thing about
Donald Duck's Playground is the game allows the player to select how long they want to work. It is wise to choose the longest length of time, because players get more money than they would if they choose to work for a less amount of time. Also, there are three difficulty settings, and each one affects the prices for certain prices and how much you get paid for a certain amount of time. The idea is for the player to start playing the game at the "Beginner" level, to get used to how the game works. Once they feel comfortable, they can focus on the "Intermediate" and "Advanced" levels.
The graphics in the Commodore 64 version are cartoon-like, matching the quality of earlier Disney cartoons. Unlike other versions of the game, everything fits on one screen; you don't have to walk all the way to the left side of the street every time you leave a building on the right-hand side, and vice versa. Furthermore, Donald seems to walk a lot faster, so you can travel between jobs and stores in about five seconds.
The background music (heard when Donald is on the street) is much pleasant to listen to, and it is easy to remember. In fact, I happen to be humming this tune while I am writing up this review.
The controls are quite easy to get to; with the arrow keys used to move Donald around the town and inside buildings, and the function keys used to select a range of options. In my opinion, this is the best control method that everyone besides Sierra used.
The Bad
The main problem lies when you finally start building the playground. You see, when you finally start building the playground you have to put up with looking at 25 ugly boxes that fill the entire park. You can move equipment around and place it in a spot to your satisfaction. I found this a bit difficult to do. Also, you have a limited area in which you do your construction, since the entire park is all on one screen.
The Bottom Line
The main aim of
Donald Duck's Playground is to build a playground for Donald's nephews by working shifts and buying playground equipment using the dough you earn, then go build it in the park. When purchasing equipment, math is required on the player's part to work out how much change they should get back.
Back in the golden age of gaming, I kept playing games where you construct your own cities and do other things. But it wasn't until the late nineties that I just discovered
Donald Duck's Playground while browsing game sites. And I didn't even realize that that game is addictive.
There is no doubt if
Maxis had developed the game rather than Sierra, it would have been called
SimPlayground.
Donald Duck's Playground is suitable for adults just as it is for children.
