LGR - I.M. Meen - DOS PC Game Review

It had to be done. Thus begins Edutainment Month 2016 on LGR.
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● Music used in order of appearance:
Sneaky Snooper, Giant Leap, and Newsroom
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[@birdiemcchicken1471]

If Animation Magic just stopped making games and started making a full length cartoon instead, it would have been the best thing ever.

[@1secondarysmile]

it would be an absolute GOLD MINE for ytp sources.

[@niceshock]

Some workers from Animation magic created cartoons in russia, like Melnitsa studio and Saint Petersburg created KiKoriki or GoGoRiki

[@magnusm4]

A whole season's worth of YTP material to meme out!

[@JimmyDPooper]

It's always a bit weird hearing a normal KZbinr talk about something YTP related. This was a pretty good review. I think I'll subscribe.

[@1secondarysmile]

Of course you’re here, Jimmy. Why wouldn’t you be?

[@JimmyDPooper]

@@1secondarysmile Of course I'm here, zoomer4548. Why wouldn't I be?

[@Sarioya]

I.M. Meen's sequel, Chill Manor, actually improves the inventory by giving you a Hexen-like bar at the bottom, as well as weapons with honest to God ammo. Losing all your stamina also leads to the game's antagonist, Ophelia Chill, erasing you from time completely rather than throwing you into a cell. Sadly, there's a lot less of the awesomely cheesy and weird animation. It was released some time in '96, so my guess is that the animation department was focusing more on Lord of the Clans at the time. Also, I.M. Meen got a sequel. That in itself still blows my mind a bit.

[@W3Rn1ckz]

Too bad there wasn't as many crazy cutscenes.

[@guilhermehank4938]

The sequel actually ends on a cliff hanger by having Meen free Chill and they both escape together, with the former saying he feels you will meet again soon. Sadly a third game never happened

[@Sarioya]

I have to wonder what the subject for the third game would have been. Maybe science? They're both magic characters, so taking down science would make sense.

[@maxsayo]

Their animation looks like it was drawn freehand without reference guidelines. what I mean by that is each cell is drawn with respect to the previous frame order going one at a time. unlike the traditional method where lead animators establish key frames first and then send them off to the intern or lesser animators on the team to fill in the tween motions. if you want a better example of this kind of animation look at the animated series Superjail!

[@mr3urious]

Captain Pronin probably used the same technique, too.

[@Pepperoni290]

How can you tell?

[@Pepperoni290]

@@mr3urious How can you tell?

[@mr3urious]

@@Pepperoni290 Just looks that way, is all.

[@BlazeHedgehog]

Wow, the sprites during the first person segments are actually really good! Those monsters animate wonderfully.

[@LGR]

Yep, the animations are the best part of the game!

[@freakishuproar1168]

+BlazeHedgehog I agree with you there. I particularly liked the way those reaper guys disintegrate whilst their boggle-eyed skulls float in mid-air for second, loony tunes style... :D

[@Allerdyne]

+BlazeHedgehog I was thinking exactly the same thing. The enemies are actually pretty cool, including the dragon with the old man's head and those owl/gargoyle things. And actually, the idea of using grammar as puzzles isn't so bad either. This game had potential, they just made some bad decisions.

[@magnusm4]

My favorite is the grim reaper. Hes walking along like a happy cartoon and when he dies his skull has that stretched out falling animation that otherwise only cartoon used plus the surprised eyes, as well as the serious and badass design of him which adds to the comedy of his animation and eyes

[@morgansinclair6318]

One almost wants to take all those beautifully created and animated sprites and make a GOOD game with them.

[@tac7288]

Honestly, I. M. Meen's voice actor definitely had fun voicing this guy you can tell, especially with his song in the beginning. I don't think this game is too bad, I had fun with it when I played it.

[@voltcorp]

to be fair, the ingame pixel art/animation is really nice

[@Cpt.Sailor]

I would love to see those guys animate a show

[@tuli0hwut78]

Reminds me of Faces of Evil/Wand of Gamelon

[@Annausagi2]

@@tuli0hwut78 Same studio. :D

[@Organous]

Here's a bit from someone who actually played it back in the day when it was new. Yes, a lot of the concerns you expressed are valid. This game isn't worth much more than a nostalgia trip now. However, a lot of what you expressed as a negative actually worked for me. As a kid, I absolutely loved mazes! This was a great game for explorers. There were tons of secrets to find, and if you paid attention, some of the grammar puzzles actually helped point you to them. It was long enough ago that I don't remember exactly how many, but there were plenty of puzzles that offered hints to secret rooms in the future. Also, again if you paid attention to the writing instead of just taking a test, there's a TON of lore here. It's extremely campy, and it eventually grew on me. Reading those stories is kind of like the Tek Jansen shorts that would occur on the Colbert Report. The author, obviously Meen himself, inserts himself in all sorts of adventures as a total Mary Sue. It's so over the top, and I adore it! The antagonist is both narcissistic & vengeful, almost like a "force of nature" villain. Kind of like the motivation of Monsters Inc., he hates smart children because they don't scare easily. That's why he runs a library, so he can capture children actually interested in reading that he can't scare. This is definitely not a story to be taken seriously in any way. Now yes, the interface is nothing special, but you can work around it. It's somewhat clunky to play. I eventually got used to it, and though it definitely doesn't play as smoothly as the Doom it hopes to replicate, it's still manageable. The fact that the controls are far from ideal means you actually have to play more tactically. You can't go guns blazing. Occasionally there's the large arena like the sewers level you showed, and I definitely had a lot of fun frantically running around the place dodging those projectiles. For the most part though, because you're usually in tight corridors without much maneuverability (and maybe you can attribute that to being a geeky, unathletic kid), the game teaches you patience. The focus is on exploration & careful navigation, as a maze should do. However, I will concede that I am personally an extremely patient person. Most people could be forgiven for passing on this game due to the clunky controls & "edutainmenty" switch from action to a grammar test. I'm probably in a very small minority that can appreciate the challenge of lackluster controls and forgive the pace-changing of the actual education part to really enjoy the joke it always was. Having been able to appreciate it, I think there's actual potential to make something out of this with a remake or sequel if you improve the controls. The license would obviously be cheap as free to pick up. It wouldn't be too hard to reimagine it with better game design and keep the joke. In the end, I'll agree it's a really hard game to recommend. It's got a super-niche audience, especially now. I recognize this is the internet and I'll get flamed hard for this, but I still have a place in my heart for Gnorris the Gnome.

[@NintenGunner]

Underrated Comment

[@pianogame8700]

This person gets it.

[@guilhermehank4938]

There was a somewhat "sequel" that features his wife

[@ProfRenderer]

Enough. My ship sails in the morning. I wonder what's for dinner.

[@obstacle1667]

I HOPE SHE MADE LOTSA SPAGHETTI

[@kingdededelicious]

Sorry link I can't give credit, come back when you're a little MMMMMMMM richer

[@clockwerk35]

How about quiche for lunch?

[@gumballfan13]

@@clockwerk35 Lunch is not the same as dinner.

[@namelessanonymous2090]

*GeE, iT sUrE iS bOrInG aRoUnD hErE*

[@CoolDudeClem]

For a LONG time, I actually thought the cutsceenes from this were actually part of the CDi Zelda games! Now knowing that they were done by the same people it makes sense.

[@juant8631]

Thought I was the only one.

[@stevekovoc3939]

+CoolDudeClem Same here, man. I literally thought these cutscenes were from the Zelda CDI games... You're not alone. lol

[@RaccoonRevolution]

I.M. Suffering from a devastating injury

[@dickhuntz6962]

Do a Tech Tales episode about Animation Magic. I need to know why God allowed such a thing to exist.

[@retropirate1]

Oh god yes please

[@bobthegodofmemes2249]

Because he's a good guy that's why

[@wesleybcrowen]

Blizzard must've been terrified of who they were working with when they saw THIS as part of their portfolio.

[@wesleybcrowen]

+WesleyB Crowen In hindsight I'm being needlessly cruel, their work on Warcraft Adventures was their best (relatively) and the game was most likely cancelled due to not meeting deadlines and adventure game decline (and starting to look dated when compared to Grim Fandango)

[@wallie1994]

When I saw the thumbnail it directly put me in a nostalgic trip back to 2007.

[@Cytroen]

I.M. Meme

[@theblocksays]

He seems like a more "kid friendly" version of Henry Stauf LOL

[@big-godon]

haha good one Cytroen, cool.

[@sethfinley8378]

I'm surprised this wasn't on CDi

[@thepirategamerboy12]

The CDi probably wouldn't be able to handle the raycasting engine used in the game. There was actually going to be a Sega CD version, but it was canceled pretty quickly.

[@theblocksays]

Yeah the CDi REALLY wasn't designed as a "gaming" console (hence those broken controls in the Zelda games, was like their canary in the coal mine of staying power), that was really its death nail, if they wanted to focus on "educational" then why didn't any schools pick it up? We just had Macs with Math Blaster & Number Munchers installed

[@chrisfratz]

@@Bauglir100 but the thing is, the CDi did have traditional controllers that you coulx buy for it

[@cube2fox]

@@thepirategamerboy12 I'm a bit late but the CD-i probably would have handled the 3D raycasting sections. It had a 15.5 MHz CISC CPU.

[@jasonblalock4429]

I think the problem with Animation Magic's animation is that it looks like it was composed directly as pixel art, rather than using the more common method of drawing traditional cels and then scanning them in. So there's far less detail in the artwork than in traditional animation, making it look sloppy and cheap.

[@SirTriopsKing]

That video image tag made me believe that LGR made a youtube poop.

[@Zxzero36]

Oh dear God I'm having Zelda cdi flash backs

[@Ropetupa]

at least cd-i zeldas didn't have SONGS!

[@retropirate1]

+Joni Heinonen Honestly that would be great. Imagine Link singing about how bored he is.

[@Ropetupa]

retropirate1 *shudders*

[@YuriXEstelle]

+Joni Heinonen Songs?! Oh god , it get's even worse?!!

[@DeadHandtheSurvivor]

+Zxzero36 And in your head, as you're having your flash backs, you hear a fade echo. You can't quite make it out at first, but once you clear your mind it becomes clear of what it is, and it is the only word terrifying enough to give you nightmares: *"Dinner."* You start to feel dizzy.

[@TuxxyBrown]

nice of i.m. meen to invite us over for a picnic, eh lgr?

[@W3Rn1ckz]

I HOPE SHE MADE LOTSA SPAGHETTI

[@filecabinetcoffee436]

SPAGHETTI?!?!?!?!?!

[@Rxz5526]

I remember watching a report on my local news station about the DooM craze when I was little and it talked about a "Doom for kids" and showed a few seconds of a fps where youre killing giant spiders and Ive wondered what game they were showing ever since, this must be it?!

[@gibbyethridge6079]

+James L probably.

[@McFlingleson]

"...although why someone who hates children and learning would become a librarian is beyond me." Well, maybe he wanted to destroy the system from the inside.

[@851852093114208513]

God that 60 frames a second is glorious

[@Germandemza]

Mr Meem himself is way creepier than any bloodshed on any game ver.

[@magnusm4]

Wait WHAT?! DODGE a bullet?? Warcraft adventures looked and sounded amazing! The gameplay on youtube has amazing atmosphere, calm drawn out notes combined with the environment sounds that really shape and paint the world through you hearing. The animation looked fun and simple yet unique and I loved it. Small things like the goblin pilot giving a thumbs up while saying: Oh no, oh no it's worse than we thought, this design is brilliant! And the two headed ogre's fabulous pose when in front of a piece of meat you place over a fire, also the goblin in the tinkerer shop who I love a lot. I couldn't guess they made that animation at all, sad these guys and the humungus entertainment animators never got to do more :,(

[@thetman0068]

Meen reminds me of an even more insane Rick from Rick and Morty.

[@AwdryFan1997]

Well, it makes sense that Zelda CDI and I M Meen were done by the same studio. I can't wait to see I M Meen in Smash.

[@SuperSmashDolls]

Edutainment Month 2016 IT BEGINS

[@MrSlashStudios]

+Alexander Clam Bell LUIGI LUIGI LUIGI I HOPE SHE MADE LOTS OF SPAGHETTI

[@CattyMintgum]

BEcAUSE KZbin IS WHERE THE poop IS!.. WE WE WE WE WE WHEEEEZEEEE... !

[@lazyzephyrus8295]

SnooPINGAS usual, I see!?

[@W3Rn1ckz]

YTP. Where there's smoke, They pinch back! (tm)

[@bobalinx8762]

It's you!

[@dimitripia5156]

To quote Jim Sterling, "Is this memes?"

[@pastaroni8683]

Whenever I saw clips from this game I always assumed I M Mean was just some character from one of the Zelda CDi games. Little did I know he had an entire game made about him

[@SolarFarle]

Same.

[@Thekinggamelon]

I.M. Meen: Oh look, what clever reviewer! See him play, review and post it. How love that goodie-goodie. He he makes my heart happy!

[@toastdtech3597]

I wonder whats for DINER?

[@Faapu]

Dodongos.

[@sofiv95]

+King Harkinian Great! I'll grab my stuff!

[@rommix0]

+Creepboom Labatory (Creepboomlabatory) I'm so hungry I could eat an octorok

[@McDumDum]

+Creepboom Labatory (Creepboomlabatory) You know what they say, all dinner toasts spaghetti

[@Earthium]

+Creepboom Labatory (Creepboomlabatory) Oh look what clever children, see them comment watch them learn. how I *HATE* those goodie goodies.

[@klashicola3532]

I can’t stop myself from saying it.. lamp oil,rope,bombs? You want it? It’s yours my friend

[@SarahWattCA]

Re: the engine, raycasting is a really easy algorithm to implement (and fun too - I wrote a raycaster in a few days a couple years ago for kicks) so I. M. Meen very likely doesn't use a licensed engine.

[@9nineofdiamonds]

Another video suggested to me because I watched the WayneRadioTV stream but I never know that you cover this game before,

[@PenguinDT]

I didn't know anything about this game prior, but the moment I saw the animations I just KNEW this was from the folks behind CD-I Zeldas. It's just unmistakable.

[@SawedOffLaser]

I wasn't subbed to your channel this time last year, so I am super hyped for Edutainment month.

[@11Enix]

i.m. meme

[@RealGengarTV]

+11Enix DAMNIT beat me to it -,-

[@chadough_7014]

I.M. Meme*

[@pixellord2370]

*I.M Meem

[@RetroIslandGaming]

Finally, I get to watch your video! I was working on a review of this, but I didn't want to get influenced. Which was hard to do, cause I love your channel. Looks like you didn't enjoy the game too much. LOL, yeah it's pretty rough going. I dragged myself to the finish line and was able to beat it after much personal convincing. You didn't miss much, aside from new levels, recycled bad guys, and more scroll reading material. I will say that the scrolls get better and better the further you play. There's a lot of backstory to pick up on that fleshes out our evil little friend, Meen. Reading all the scrolls is fun, and it's the only thing I'd recommend out of this game aside from the glorious animations. I played some of Chill Manor but the game crashed on me at level two... so yeah, hard to say if that game is any better. It certainly feels like they tried to improve things! The sleepy kids crack me up. Thanks for giving Meen some love with the video! DOS games always need more attention!

[@TheCivildecay]

I think the animations have their own charm to it :)

[@LeviDaManJabroni]

great way to start this friday off with watching another classic LGR review

[@randomjoh]

As a teacher, I loved using this in dosbox when I taught 5th grade English.

[@richardphilip9028]

I've honestly been waiting forever for you to review this one. This was amazing.

[@HeadsetGuy]

Yes, YES! I've been waiting for you to review this for a long time! Ever since I found out you had a copy.

[@acn1580]

The way you opened that jewel case gave me shivers

[@nrdesign1991]

It's been so long since I've made anything YTP related with I.M. Meen; where has the time gone??

[@deathpallie325]

I wonder how many 90s kids have played this game when they were children and rediscovered this game through KZbin Poops and laughed at the humorous edits of the cutscenes from this game they may have had to play after school, or may have even played in school during English Language Arts class on the school computers.

[@bubullus1169]

this brings me back to the early days of youtube

[@littleNorwegians]

IM Meen never quits! You'll see! (Kinda, if you also consider doing Chill Manor as well.)

[@LGR]

I have yet to run across a complete copy of that one, but I'll cover it when I do!

[@Meleemario720]

+Lazy Game Reviews I have a copy of that from a charity shop. Meen only shows up at the end but Ophelia Chill is an entertainingly strange librarian person as well

[@DotGamesLive]

When you say "It's a dull, tedious grind to play" your character even looks bored. Thank you for this video on a game I did not know existed X_x

[@andrewguy479]

This was a favorite growing up, thanks for showing off it's majesty!

[@fireglo450music]

When Meen says "Frightened? Confused? GOOD HAHAHA" I think he was channeling the head Blue Meanie from Yellow Submarine.

[@teamcannonfodder3410]

I was literally about to say "looks like the cdi Zelda games" and then you said it lol

[@PEZhead5432109876]

Oh yeah, gotta love me some LGR Edutainment goodness. Hoping you'll finally get to the Humongous Entertainment or Living Books games this year.

[@Meleemario720]

Goodie Goodies! Zeedookiedook!

[@karoomay]

I remember discovering I.M. Meen through TorNis7's YTPs back in 2009.

[@CthulhuianBunny]

Honestly, the cut scenes are quite the improvement on the Zelda CD-i games. I. M. Meen himself isn't nearly as amorphous as Ganon, and he's not doing gross stuff like wiping his nose with his knee, or doing that ugly fish-eye lens mugging that Morshu does which makes him look like he should be singing some horrible rap about the items he has for sale.

[@rockymm10]

he knows about ytp ya

[@LGR]

I've been the subject of lots of them, kinda don't have a choice :P

[@Cade_The_Squirrel]

+Lazy Game Reviews It's because we love you :3

[@DelRio1991]

+Lazy Game Reviews It's your voice man. also, you have to admit, you kinda walked into one when you put a floppy in mashed potatoes.

[@CMSonYT]

what. really? I MUST FIND THEM

[@ais4185]

@@LGR Clint, you just made my day! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWLRfWR5lpxracU I had no idea haha!

[@Goreface69]

DAMN YOU ANIMATION MAGIC!!!!

[@Rose-ys9gn]

This took me back to my childhood. I used to play this in 3rd grade during free time with my best friend Alice. 3rd grade was pretty lame.

[@nononononono7834]

I really really like the animation style of Animation Magic's work for some reason. I wish they still existed and made stuff

[@subzerobadass]

Saw LGR did a review of I.M. Meen. Hoped for some reference to YTP. Instant gratification.

[@spooty75]

Man I had this game as a kid. Hated it. Hadn't thought about it since then. Thanks LGR! :D

[@daviddeltoro1808]

Great videos. Keep 'em coming.

[@OrangeStar222]

All of a sudden I'm transported back to the early days f KZbin when YT Poops where still a thing. Such a better time. *sigh*

[@DottaNatural]

I.M. Meen never quits. He'll be back!

[@fzerowipeoutlover]

My shit sails in the morning! I wonder what's for dinner?

[@tictacsnack]

No. Seriously. You said the word poop. I am going to get that one clip, and repeat it all night to help me go to sleep. Thanks LGR.

[@UoirLocer]

6:00 rouxls kaard also says that, TOBY YOU LAZY GENIUS

[@bend7726]

I did come here expecting that I.M. Meen was a boss or something in the zelda CDI games considering how similar that artstyle is. I do find it kind of weird that the whole motivation of this guy is 'I hate kids that study, so I'll trap them in my dungeon and taunt them for being goodey goodeys'. I have to say though it may just be because this companies artstyle was so heavily used in YTP's back in the early days of youtube, but I actually quite like it! Also it's very clear that the voice actor of I.M Meen had alot of fun with this role.. it was iconic enough for it to be used all over youtube! The game itself is meh at best, but its a DOS maze game from 1995 so i really cant judge it too hard and at least its playable unlike the zelda CDI games. But lets be honest we came here for the cutscenes and hear mr meen call us a bookworm

[@atomicskull6405]

OMG this thing is a meme goldmine.

[@GuyOnAChair]

It was.

[@YuukitheMighty1]

When I saw that animation the first thing I thought was the Zelda CDI games. When u mentioned that the same people who animated that game did this one I was like YES I KNEW IT

[@justinweathers7180]

The kid is Doom Guy when he was young!

[@kellygymnastt]

I love when you review bad games. Those are my favorite reviews of yours!!

[@room___]

"i'm meme" the penultimate ytp title of 2008

[@agim5879]

One of the best games with the best graphics I ever played when I was a kid. There isn't a single thing that I could critic about the game.

[@naota3k]

Hell yes. We absolutely need an Animation Magic Tech Tales.

[@screechingtoad2683]

I thought I. M. mean was an enemy in "The wand of Gamelon" so i expected this to be a KZbin poop about I. M. Meen reviewing a Dos game

[@TheOffenderBlog]

So it is that time again, edutainment month. Kind of a nice change of pace every year.

[@ClydeLeeM]

I love his expressionless response to just destroying these monsters.

[@goodnighttroy]

i've been waiting for this one

[@wvecst]

hell yeah dude i played this way back in the 90s lol nobody ever knew what game i was talkin bout

[@MyHeartIsOpen2You]

Classic YTP materiel in I M Meen

[@a0001521]

The funny thing is this boy is probably stronger than Doomguy, considering he could punch monsters to death without a berserk power up

[@zetamaniac]

This should get a remake. I absolutely love Meen.

[@m1rock]

I forget have you ever done a video on Froggman Software? They where my introduction to PC gaming with their release of Curse of the Catacombs. At the time I didnt even know they where re-releases.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

Wow, at 1:30 I was thinking "this could have been on the Phillips CD-i."

[@leonidas566]

YEAH EDUTAINMENT MONTH BABY

[@trekchu7103]

Pizza? Check. LGR to watch while eating? Check. Great experience? Check! :D

[@LGR]

Aw yeah.

[@YF501]

I knew that animation looked familiar before you said it was animation magic!

[@THEmuteKi]

YESSSSS EDUTAINMENT MONTH IS BACK

[@tyleradam4836]

Did you ever consider covering the Thinkin' Things Collection series? I'd love to see you cover that for edutainment month.

[@sweetpeachnectar]

i swear, i thought about zelda when you first played one of the "cutscenes"! i really don't know how those guys managed it to make scenes that look like as they came directly from ms paint. and wait...you were 9 years old in '95? this makes you only 3 years older than me! yay! :D

[@Rando1975]

I was thinking the same thing when I saw those animated cutscenes.

[@beetleguy9446]

Didn't even watch this, and I already liked it.

[@theowlmancometh]

Actually when I saw this 3D engine, Shadowcaster came to mind. The UI layout is very similar, and so are the attack animations.

[@Disthron]

I remember playing the demo of this game back in the day. I had no idea they were the same people who made the 3DO Zelda games.

[@Cade_The_Squirrel]

I love humanity for this character

[@Spankytimez]

Mah Boi, This dinner is what all true warriors strive for.

[@revenile]

I've heard people say that the engine used here is the same one from the awful "Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge" and given the UI looks like a complete reskin of the "Gronix Stone" from that game, I believe it. So the engine from that thing, and Animation Magic's "special touch."