Cheesy (video game)

Last updated

Cheesy
PS1 Cheesy cover art.jpg
European cover art
Developer CTA Developments
Publishers
Producer Gina Jackson
Designer Richard Cheek
Programmer John Scott
Composers Dave Newman
James Veal
Platform PlayStation
Release
  • EU: October 25, 1996
  • JP: July 24, 1997 [1]
Genre Platform
Mode Single-player

Cheesy is a 1996 platform game developed by British studio CTA Developments and published by Ocean Software for the PlayStation. It was released in Europe in 1996 and Japan in July 1997, by Jaleco. The game follows an anthropomorphic mouse of the same name, who's captured by Doctor Chem, a mad scientist who wants to experiment on him, at Rock Castle. After being unintentionally freed by Ailen and a UFO, a rodent sets a goal of escaping the place. The game's goal is to collect ingredients for a teleportation spell to escape the castle, by navigating it, battling against monsters and all sorts of creatures that will come in his way.

Contents

Initially, Cheesy was developed for the Atari Jaguar, as one of the system's upcoming titles. The project was moved to the PlayStation, due to several factors relating to the difficulty of developing on Atari's console and its failure both commercially and critically, along with a false advertisement of being a powerful 64-bit console. The game received negative reviews from critics, cited for its poor controls, graphics and inconsistent game design, but the music was praised.

Gameplay

Gameplay of the first level in Cheesy, where a titular character must navigate through the shelves. PS1 Cheesy.png
Gameplay of the first level in Cheesy, where a titular character must navigate through the shelves.

Cheesy is a platform game with 3D and 2.5D gameplay styles. The player controls the a mouse, who was captured and imprisoned by a mad scientist inside a dark castle. Until alien appear and try to attack him, with the main objective of the game being to escape from the castle by collecting ingredients for a special teleportation spell. While battling against aliens and all sorts of creatures that come in his way. [2]

Throughout the game player can in the level find power-ups that can help him along the way. [3]

Game's plot and events are presented through an animated FMV movie clips (cutscences). [4] They can be turned off in the options menu. [5] :6

Plot

Two days before the events of the game, on a night of in silent moon. At the rock castle of the mad scientist called Doctor Chem caught the mouse named Cheesy, who was and thrown into the cage for the subsequent experiments on the rodent that the doctor prepares. Since then, a mouse has lain in the cage, tired of hearing about the spells, specifically a special teleportation spell along with its mystic ingredients. Eventually, when Cheesy was about to get sleep, suddenly an Alien with a UFO appeared, for its "secret mission". Shortly after its appearance, the cage had shaken and Chessy had been freed, [5] :4-5 as of result of the conflict between ailen and UFO. [3]

After Cheesy was freed, he witnessed the aftermath of a battle between ailen and a UFO, where ailen lost and dropped his robotic arm gun that shoots laser beams. Cheesy picks it up. [3] Mouse soon begins to scavenger hunt for ingredients, after he found a book of spells. Once he finds them all, he throws them into the pot. Cheesy jumps into it to find that after being teleported and landing, the floor is filled with mouse traps around him. Activating one after another, presumably killing the rodent.

Development and release

Cheesy was developed by British studio CTA Developments. Originally Cheesy started as a project intended for the Atari Jaguar, which was first announced in May 1994 as one of the upcoming titles for the Jaguar by Ocean Software and was originally scheduled to be released around the fourth quarter of 1995, [6] [7] but the game was moved to the PlayStation, after becoming a commercial and critical failure, and partly due to system's limitations. [8] The game was first showcased to the public at various trade shows such as E3 1996, [9] before being released in Europe by Ocean on 25 October 1996, [10] [a] and was later published in Japan by Jaleco on 24 July 1997. [1]

The music was done by Zero-5 composers Dave Newman and James Veal. [11] Cheesy was the last game to be developed by CTA Developments, as the studio was disbanded a few months after the release of the game. Many members, including both founders, have moved on to other projects. [3]

Reception

Cheesy received mixed to negative reviews from critics since its release. The game was cited for its controls, graphics and inconsistent game design, but the soundtrack received praise. [17]

In a retrospective review of The Boar Reece Goodall, criticized the game's controls as "both sluggish and over-responsive in equal measure" comparing it to Super Mario 64. Along with constant game mode shifting design of the game shifts from 2D to 3D style, alongside its "claustrophobic level design". Critic has also panned the game's depressing atmosphere that matches with soundtrack, thinking "Presumably the developers weren’t aiming for such a bleak atmosphere". [18]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 "PlayStation Soft > 1997" (in Japanese). GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  2. Paragon Publishing (May 1996). PLAY UK Issue 007. Play (UK magazine). p. 12.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Pontes, Rodrigo Garcia (7 June 2023). "Cheesy (PS): um ratinho entre monstros, OVNIs, magias e muitos desafios" [Cheesy (PS): a little mouse among monsters, UFOs, magic and many challenges]. GameBlast (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
  4. Computer And Video Games Magazine. North-west Europe (United Kingdom): Computer and Video Games. August 1996. p. 30.
  5. 1 2 Cheesy - Manual booklet (Europe) (in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch), Europe: Ocean Software, November 1996
  6. Ripper, The (May 1994). "Europa!". GameFan . Vol. 2, no. 6. Shinno Media. pp. 132–134. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  7. "Feature - XT Generation Report - Atari Jaguar". MAN!AC (in German). No. 20. Cybermedia. June 1995. p. 40. Archived from the original on 29 November 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  8. Wallett, Adrian (21 June 2019). "Richard Cheek (CTA Developments) – Interview". Arcade Attack. arcadeattack.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  9. "E3 Expo Los Angeles". GameFan . Vol. 4, no. 7. Metropolis Media. July 1996. pp. 17–32.
  10. Computer And Video Games Magazine (11th ed.). North-west Europe (United Kingdom): Computer and Video Games. November 1996. p. 49.
  11. Wallett, Adrian (19 July 2019). "David Newman (VGM Composer) – Interview". Arcade Attack. arcadeattack.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  12. Boissarie, Véronique; Homsy, Richard (July–August 1996). "Playstation Review - Cheesy". Consoles + (in French). No. 56. M.E.R.7. pp. 150–151.
  13. Prézeau, Olivier (July 1996). "Le Zapping des Tests - PlayStation - Cheesy". Joypad (in French). No. 55. Yellow Media. p. 75.
  14. Schneider, René (November 1996). "Test Mixed - PlayStation - Cheesy". Mega Fun (in German). No. 50. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 70.
  15. Pottier, Christophe (July–August 1996). "Vite Vu - PlayStation - Cheesy". Player One (in French). No. 66. Média Système Édition. p. 125.
  16. Sauer, Dirk (December 1996). "Sony PlayStation - Reviews - Cheesy". Video Games (in German). No. 61. Future-Verlag. p. 101.
  17. "Reviews - Cheesy". NowGamer. 1 November 1996. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  18. Goodall, Reece (9 August 2022). "Revisiting 'Cheesy' on PS1". The Boar. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2025.

Notes

  1. Though other reported release dates clams to November 1996.