Return of Red Riding Hood Enhanced Edition

Review

I think it’s pretty safe to say that one of the best moments of the day for a child is to go to bed and have Mum or Dad by their side reading them their favourite story before fading away into a deep sleep. So what happens if Mum or Dad are not available, and the only person fit for this duty is one of your older siblings? Does he or she remember how the story goes without the book? What extra facts did Mum or Dad forget to include, or perhaps deliberately remove from the story? Would this new version be shorter than usual, or drag on for ages with a heap of nonsense? Let’s see how one young boy recounts the story of the Return of Red Riding Hood to his little sister. It’s going to be interesting.

Return of Red Riding Hood Enhanced Edition is a visual novel / adventure game based on the classic children’s book. The interesting thing is that in this case, as a reader, you make decisions throughout the tale which lead you to one of a multiple of different endings.

The game is pretty much a combination of reading and beautiful illustrations. On your first play through, you’ll be prompted to a very short tutorial which is prominently designed to show you how to combine words in order to collect items or open new locations in the quest mode. You do have the option of by-passing this in your second gameplay if you wish to do so. Personally, I think it’s fun to find out how to collect each of the ingredients needed to fill the pastries.

How many ingredients do you have to find in this game? Well, there are five in total; fish, meat, apple, cabbage and mushrooms, but you’ll only be able to use one of them per play through.  And when the nice pastries are hot and ready, either little Red Riding Hood or her mother will venture  deep into the wood to deliver these hot bundles of joy to Grandma, who lives in a small cottage. The story changes depending on the following choices: which ingredients are in the pastries, who is going to Grandma’s, what decision you make when you face the wolf, and even talking to Grandma. Some parts of the story will be very short, while others are longer (but without dragging on, which is good), some parts are funny, and others dramatic, which keeps you well entertained. I had a few laughs with the mushroom fillings; it seems that everybody becomes weird with it, including the wolf. That leads me to mention that the only point and click aspect (on an image) is when you pick up the mushrooms.  

The illustrations are well done, I like the fact that the wolf is exaggeratedly big! The classic type of music which goes extremely well with this game. I like the fact that there are multiple endings and it is very easy to play for all ages. Mind you, I would love to have more point and click (hidden objects, so to speak) in this game.