I.M. Meen

I have always loved reading for as far back as I can remember.  I attribute this love to my mother, who in addition to being an avid reader herself, helped guide me through a frustrating period of schooling when I first began to learn the skill.  As an abstract thing, reading didn't exactly gel with me, although I loved stories and books (my mother doing the actual reading at that point, of course).  But with her aid she helped break away the barriers and the abstractions and opened up a whole world of adventures for me.  Our frequent trips to the library would often conclude with arm-loads of books which I would take home and devour.  Then the time came for me to learn to write, and once again frustration began to rear its ugly head.  My primary issue centered around grammar; letters and spelling I could deal with, but punctuation and structure involved strange words like "noun" and "verb" other terms that you'll never see in any Mad Lib.  There were lots of rules and they just weren't sticking.

Enter gaming.  You see, gaming has always been more than just a simple pastime for me.  As a child, gaming helped fuel my imagination and I would often walk away from a game with a whole new world taking shape in my mind.  Sometimes, the world that took shape was not merely fantasy.  I would often study subjects based upon interests that began as a result of gaming; subjects like medieval history, insects and such.  Occasionally the drive to study a subject was simply the result of an enjoyable game with a historical setting, but sometimes the study and the gaming went together hand-in-hand: edutainment.

Now, it's true that many times an "educational game" has more education than game, but I was fortunate to find a few that had such a well-crafted game that the educational part barely intruded on the experience.  One such title is I.M. Meen.  I.M. Meen is a game designed to help instruct in the basics of grammar.  The premise is that an evil, child-and-grammar-hating librarian and magician, I.M. Meen, captures children and locks them in cells in a dark labyrinth.  You start the game as one such child freed by Meen's gnome slave Gnorris, who has had enough of his master's deeds.  You explore the labyrinth searching for the cells of the other children, and when you find a cell, you must unlock it by proof-reading a scroll written by I.M. Meen.  The scroll (often humorous poems or memos written by Meen to his minions) will contain several grammatical errors, and correcting them will magically open the cell door and allow the captured child to escape.

The great thing about I.M. Meen is that it is a legitimate, challenging and atmospheric game.  It may be the first-ever gothic-horror title for kids.  The labyrinth is dark, creepy and full of beasts, some of which are pretty frightening.  Heck, the very first enemy you encounter in the game is a giant, fanged spider.  These spiders can be found on multiple levels and will run away from you if you are looking at them, then circle around and try to sneak up on you from behind.  Often then'll come up behind you without you knowing they are there, and when they attack, they utter an ear-splitting shriek.  That, friends, is your introduction to I.M. Meen...an almost-immediate jump-scare as the first enemy in the game attacks you from behind, screaming at you.  It'll make you nervous to continue, and sets the tone for the game.  Occasionally, Meen himself will appear to taunt and rant at you, rather like Jareth from the movie Labyrinth.  One wonders if there might have been some inspiration there.

The level design is pretty solid.  Although not a very technologically advanced 3D engine (everything is flat, like Wolfenstein, although with better lightening and textures), the game features some handy tools like an auto map and an inventory system for storing health items and magical weapons for later use.  The controls are mouse-based. with movement being controlled by maneuvering the cursor around the primary game screen (toward the top goes forward, upper corners turn, sides strafe, etc.).  It isn't the first time I have seen this control scheme used in a game, but it is a little clunky and takes some getting used to at first.

The game received a sequel called Chill Manor which replaced the grammar with history.  I've never played this one but it looks much the same as the first, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I.M. Meen's fun-factor kept me playing, and proof-reading Meen's scrolls during helped me gain a functional knowledge of the grammar concepts I was learning at the time, so all in all it was win-win.  I still think it's a fun title that can be enjoyed without paying much mind to the educational aspects of it.

Here's an additional fact that might surprise you: I.M. Meen was developed by the same company that created the horrible Legend of Zelda titles for the Phillips CDi.  If you compare the animation styles during the cutscenes, the similarities are obvious.  How a company can create two products of such cataclysmic variance in quality is beyond me.