Best prize anyone can find in their cereal box.
Usually in sugar coated cereals that are marketed towards kids you find some kind of cheap plastic toy inside, it is just to promote sales. Chex on the other hand stuck a pc game in their box which helped them boost sales up by 248%. This was Chex Quest, developed by Digital Café in 1996, and released as freeware by Ralston Purina.
In Chex Quest, you play as a Chex Warrior. He’s sent to the planet Baziok, which has been invaded by slime creatures from another dimension named flemoids, and are to save the remaining cereal people who were unfortunate enough, to not make it out.
Best prize anyone can find in their cereal box.
Usually in sugar coated cereals that are marketed towards kids you find some kind of cheap plastic toy inside, it is just to promote sales. Chex on the other hand stuck a pc game in their box which helped them boost sales up by 248%. This was Chex Quest, developed by Digital Café in 1996, and released as freeware by Ralston Purina.
In Chex Quest, you play as a Chex Warrior. He’s sent to the planet Baziok, which has been invaded by slime creatures from another dimension named flemoids, and are to save the remaining cereal people who were unfortunate enough, to not make it out.
Chex Quest is a Doom total conversion which used the same engine and
the exact same game play. There are 5 missions and a downloadable sequel was available in 1997. So anyone who enjoyed Doom would definitely enjoy this game. The thing about this game though, is that you do not carry guns or any other weapons. Flemoids are invincible, so you have to use transporters (which work just like guns) to transport them back to their dimension. Bigger flemoids require more zorch (ammo) then smaller ones, so it worked out just like any other fps game. This was basically done so the game would be non-violent and would be appealing to kids and approved by parents. The “zorchers” also resembled the weapons of Doom as well (handgun, shotgun, rocket launcher, bfg, etc).
The graphics were very well done, not something you’d expect from a free game in 1996. The sprites were cartoony and colourful. The graphics weren’t as detailed, as other games during it’s time, nor was the resolution as high, but it was still impressive at the time as well. The pre-rendered cg movie in the intro was especially as impressive, but the ending used still images which was kind of a disappointment, considering how great the intro was.
The sound was fair on its part. You’d have to have a high-end pc at the time to hear both the music and the effects at the same time. The music was basically elevator music, it’s nothing great nor did it go well with the game. Also, the squirms of the flemoids get annoying fast as well.
Considering that the game was only 5 missions and had no multiplayer, it didn’t have much replay value to it at all. Although it’s only 5 missions, each mission is long enough to keep the game to last a while. Adding a co-op with networked computers could’ve made the game more fun, like doom, but at the time not many people played networked games anyways.
Overall, Chex Quest is an instant classic. How many times do you find an original game exclusive to a cereal? Now-a-days, the game isn’t as fun or as entertaining, but in 1996 it was the best thing next to Doom itself. Everyone from anyone had a bowl of Chex cereal that year just so they can get their own copy of Chex Quest.
