Mission Kellogg's

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Background

Mission Kellogg's was released in 1999, and as the name might give away, it's developed for cereal giant Kellogg's. The game was made by a German company, Rauser Advertainment. I didn't find that much info on the company, seems like it closed shortly after this game was released. What I did find out though, was that this company mostly made these kind of promotional games("advertainment", as in the company name). They actually developed another Kellogg's game before this one, called Tony & Friends in Kellogg's Land, which was released 1994, only in Germany. I watched some gameplay of it, and the game mechanics are very similar, the biggest notable difference is probably that Mission Kellogg's is in 3D.

I managed to find some old articles mentioning the release of the game, both from 1999:
"Kellogg Follows the Youth Shift to Computer Games"
"Kellogg game to reach 'computer generation' kids"

Anyway, this is a game that I had as a kid, and absolutely loved it. It was included in some kind of limited edition package of Frosties from what I remember, and in 1999 my family had just got our first PC, so I was able to play it right away. I didn't even have more than a few PC games at the time, so that might also explain why I played it so much. Now as an adult, I somehow remembered this game, and thought I'd play it again, to see if it is still as good as I recall it to be.

 

Gameplay

This is a pretty typical platformer(very similar to Donkey Kong Country), and you are able to play as some of the most popular Kellogg's cereal mascots. They all have their own unique abilities, which you need to use in order to progress in the game. Tony jumps higher and walks faster than the others, Snap/Crackle/Pop can swim, and Coco can climb the vines. You can change characters in these black "boxes" that appear on different places in the levels. There are three different types of levels in the game; corn country, the rain forest, and frosty mountains.

To kill crocodiles you jump on them, and there are all kinds of them; walking, jumping, flying, diving, and some throw barrels at you. Almost all levels contain a bonus room, and sometimes you find "hidden" places if you keep your eyes open.

There are 18 levels in the game, and three of them are boss fights. Your progress in the game is shown in percentage, and even though you can complete all the levels without collecting all the cereal, you won't get a 100% completed game that way. But you can always go back to previous levels later on, if there is something you wish to improve.

 

Opinions about the game

So, even though this is an older game, and also only made for advertising purposes, it is still surprisingly entertaining. It's not especially long, if you just want to quickly play through the levels it won't take more than a few hours, but if you really want to collect all the cereal and complete it 100%, there is a lot more to it.

Then we of course have the branding thing. It is a Kellogg's game, and the sole purpose is to make kids want to eat more of their cereal. I'm not sure if it worked on me as a kid, I mean I did eat a lot of cereal back then(heheh), but that was even before I got this game. I don't really think it had the biggest impact on me in that sense, it was just a fun game. And come on, who actually thinks that sugar-coated wheat flakes could be healthy..? Even though Kellogg's tried(and probably still tries)to make it sound like their cereal is a healthy breakfast, to me it always felt like another sugary snack, like cookies or something. So in the end, even though the message of this game is pretty debatable, I don't think you should let it stop you from enjoying the actual gaming experience. Just think of it as another random platformer.

Yes, the game contains a whole lot of various glitches. The good thing is that these are all pretty harmless, at least the ones that I have discovered. Nothing that actually stops you from progressing in the game. The most annoying one is probably that sometimes when you jump onto an edge, you get "stuck", and can't jump again, only move from side to side until you fall down. In one of the levels there is actually a pretty useful glitch, that acts like a shortcut, and makes completing the level much faster than taking the intended path. If you watch my playthrough of the game you'll probably notice it.

Another thing to mention about the playthrough; I didn't actually get to complete the game 100%. There is one level in the rain forest zone where I don't collect all the cereal. The reason is simple; I can't find them! I walked around for ages in that level and looked for a possible hidden area, but I just can't find it. There is no complete walkthrough available on the web(at least I haven't found one), so I'm just stuck at this point. If anyone knows where to find that hidden cereal, PLEASE feel free to contact me!

So to sum it all up; if you like basic platformers, you will probably like this game. It's not that long, but it offers some decent challenge, especially the last few levels. I liked this game as a kid, and I have to say I still like it. It doesn't matter if you like Kellogg's cereal or not, it is still worth a try.



Link to my Mission Kellogg's playthrough