Software:Disney's Animated Storybook: Pocahontas

Disney's Animated Storybook: Pocahontas
File:Disney's Animated Storybook Pocahontas.jpg CD cover art
Developer(s)	Media Station
Publisher(s)	Disney Interactive
Series	Disney's Animated Storybook
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh
Release	December 1, 1995
Genre(s)	Point-and-click adventure, interactive storybook
Mode(s)	Single-player

Disney's Animated Storybook: Pocahontas is the third entry in the Disney's Animated Storybook point-and-click adventure interactive storybook game series, based on theatrical and home video releases. This game was based on the 1995 Walt Disney Animation Studios film Pocahontas, which told a fictionalised account of the relationship between Native American Pocahontas and Englishman John Smith in the midst of the european colonization of the Americas. The game was developed by Media Station and published by Disney Interactive. It was released in December 1995.

History

Conception

The vision of Marc Teren, VP of entertainment for Disney Interactive, was to create games with a "true and fair representation of the original property", and aim to capitalise as "ancillary products to successful theatrical and home video releases". To achieve this, Teren helped ensure the games were animated by Disney animators. From December 1994 to February 1995, the company had hired 50 new employees. Children's Business suggests the series came into fruition because in the contemporary entertainment market, it was "customary now for entertainment companies to release CD-ROMs to support a film or TV show".

Development

Disney and Media Station collaborated to create more than 12,000 frames of digital animation for each game, as well as 300 music and vocal clips. Digital music and sound effects were composed, orchestrated, arranged, edited, mixed and synchronized at Media Station. The games had hundreds of clickable hotspots that produced animated gags, as well as many mind-challenging interactive games. The voice cast sometimes consisted of actors from the films reprising their roles; meanwhile, at other times voice soundalikes were used.

Plot and gameplay

Based on the film of the same name, the animated storybook video game sees the player follow Pocahontas and her friends Flit the hummingbird and Meeko the Raccoon aim to prevent a war between British settlers and the Native American Indians. Players can click on hotspots to trigger animated gags or activities. The game is narrated by Grandmother Willow, and features four activities in total.

Commercial performance

From January to April 1996, Pocahontas and were ranked among the top three titles in the Education category, according to PC Data. On May 13, 1996, he same day, Pocahontas was named the second-highest selling title in the Macintosh category sold by 10 Software Etc. stores in the Washington area in the week that ended May 4, after Myst. In the week ending August 10, 1996, the animated storybooks of Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, and Pocahontas were the fifth, sixth, and seventh most popular titles in the education category sold by seven Software Etc. stores in the Washington area, respectively.

Critical reception

Reception
Review score Publication Score AllGame

Lisa Karen Savignano of Allgame gave Pocahontas four out of five stars, and deemed it "much like the other[s]" in the series. Carol S. Holzberg of Computer Shopper said the game paled in comparison to the film it was based on, though thought the games were "excellent" and "engaging". A Knight Ridder Tribune article written by John J. Fried and William R. Macklin commented that while the game was "beautifully rendered", it was "poorer" than Disney's Animated Storybook: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree due to not featuring any songs. Lynn Voedisch of the Chicago Sun-Times described Pocahontas as a "girl-targeted CD-ROM".