The Collection Chamber: DISNEY'S THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE: GROOVE CENTRE

The Emperor's New Groove is one of Disney's most underrated animated features, and also one of the funniest. In 2002 Disney Interactive game the tale of llamas and Ancient Mayan waterparks the Activity Centre treatment.

Like a lot of later games in the long-running series, the presentation is a little barebone. There's no story with diegetically implemented puzzles and mini-games. Instead, there's a simple map screen with a number of clickable locations that take you to a mildly diverting game. This map even features a number of locations that look like hotspots, but are only part of the background image.

Yzmania (left) is a colour matching puzzle with Zuma vibes.

Cornotopia (right) is a sloooow farm management game.

Anyway, let's talk about the included games. Cornotopia is a farming management sim that has Pacha (John Goodman reprising his role) prepare fields, sow seeds, water crops and harvest food for the Emperor's neverending festivals. Imagine Farmville or Stardew Valley but without everything that makes them rewarding addictive or experiences. Most of your time is spent waiting for crops to grow and wondering why you cannot harvest some of them when they have (a bug perhaps?). Higher difficulties have you juggling your activities but it's never more exciting than that.

The puzzle game of the collection is Yzmania. As the llamafied Emperor Kuzco (not voiced by David Spade - I guess the budget went on John Goodman, Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton), you have to defend yourself from an army of advancing goons. Being an Yzma army, they are actually transformed animals under her control. To turn them back into their harmless selves, you have to throw bottles of potions at them. The thing is you can only throw a particularly coloured potion in one direction. It's the most involving of the games and can get quite hectic on the highest difficulty as other variables are thrown into the mix.

Plug a crocodile's mouth with wood in Croc Crusher (left).

Create your own animated comic book in Lumation (right).

Croc Crusher is more of an arcade experience than the others. While dangling from a rope bridge, Kuzco has to spit down loose planks from the platform to hold back some rampaging crocodiles. You have to time it right as you swing, as once the croc's in view it's there won't be enough time for a plank to fall and hit it. Instead, you have to keep an eye on the bubbles. It controls terribly and if you win, it feels like it's down to luck rather than skill.

The last activity is the obligatory artistic endeavour. Here, it's Lumation, an animated comic book creator hosted by Kronk (Patrick Warburton). Place animated characters and objects on a chosen background and add a number of voice samples to finish up. Once you're done, press play to view them in order. While very simplistic, this is perhaps the one activity here that will hold a child's attention. The animations are cute while the soundbites can be hilarious in the right context. With most of the original voice cast commendably returning, it keeps the feel of the source material. The art section of these games are often more of an afterthought but there's a lot of imaginative play to be found here.

Despite being an underdog Disney, The Emperor's New Groove is one of my favourites from the company. This simple time waster includes some high-end art, but ultimately Groove Centre is one of the worst in the series. It contains little of the anarchic charm of the film and I doubt the young target audience will find much to entertain.

To download the game, follow the link below. This exclusive installer uses PCem running Windows '98. Press Ctrl-Alt-PgDown to toggle fullscreen. Press Ctrl-End or middle mouse button to release the mouse. Tested on Windows 10.

IMPORTANT - Remember to shut down the emulated version of Windows before exiting PCem. This could potentially result in errors, lost saves and corrupt data. Close the program only when it is safe to do so.

File Size: 245 Mb. Install Size: 704 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download