Malvin’s Prehistoric Adventures is an puzzle/adventure game that takes you through a variety of prehistoric environments and tasks you with solving short puzzles along the way.
The game’s story revolves around Malvin, a small child, and Danny, a time-travelling spirit. In order to complete his homework assignment, Danny enlists Malvin to help him collect assorted artifacts from different points in time. The plot isn’t engaging and feels bland. Beyond the initial exposition, there is little story and the game just uses it to drive you toward the next puzzle. This is far from a deal breaker, especially in a puzzle game, but given the game’s other issues, the lack of plot drives home the fact that this game is underdeveloped.
Gameplay is similarly weak, primarily due to the basic puzzle design. Most puzzles aren’t explained, so it can be confusing if you don’t already understand what the game wants you to do. Nearly every puzzle is too simple to be challenging. It’s a game that becomes boring almost instantly.
Visually, the game is mediocre at best. Nothing about the art style is particularly offensive, but it’s certainly generic. The music and sound design aren’t great either. It does a decent job of being background music, but it exacerbates the game’s main issue of boring simplicity.
Malvin’s Prehistoric Adventure is an underwhelming game full of poorly designed puzzles and an exceedingly dull plot. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless they plan on giving the game to a small child. While the game is probably to challenging for a kid to play on their own, it might be fun for a child playing with a parent. Outside of that, this game won’t appeal to many people.
