Very unexpected to see this game on Steam.
Reason for nostalgia.

It would be cool if trophies were added as achievements.

Thanks.

There are good games in Steam. There are bad ones too. A lot of them. Like... a lot. Tons and tons of bad games... But the thing is – there are also WTF games. The games that are neither too good or too bad, but... well, you know how it is. Some games? They'll just make you wonder what the f**k is going on here. And this one? It's literally made of such “whatthef*cks”.

First thing first, what the f*ck with the title? See, this game is based on a somewhat famous Russian character from the animated Internet show of the same name – Masyanya. And the original Russian title was “Masyanya in Total Africa” (“Масяня в Полной Африке”). What the f*ck is “Jolly Gang” and how changing one title that means nothing to English-speaking audience to another can help selling the game? What were they thinking?

But OK, whatever. Who is Mr. Put... I mean, who is Masyanya? Like I said, Masyanya is a character created by Russian artist Oleg Kuvaev back in 2001. Back then Internet only started to become a thing in Russia and there wasn't much Russian content there. So, it's not like Oleg's little animated show made with Macromedia Flash and focused on social satire had a lot of competition. But the thing is – that wasn't the only reason for Masyanya's success. I mean, sure, it was a right show at the right time, but Oleg (who also provides voices for all of his characters) has a pretty unique sense of humor and even the way he says things is just... hilarious.

But that's exactly where we meet our next “whatthef*ck”. See, Masyanya is one of those things with a very... local kind of humor. Not only it's impossible to explain Kuvaev's jokes to English-speaking audience, it's literally impossible to preserve his funny way of saying things in translation. And without all that? There's literally no Masyanya. In other words – you're not a native Russian speaker? Moreover, a native Russian speaker who lives in Russia and / or knows about the way things work there? There's literally no reason for you to bother about this game. It won't feel fun at all, it looks extremely ugly (the game is supposed to look exactly the same with the original animated show which still keeps the cheap Macromedia Flash look on purpose) and since what we have here is a dull hidden objects experience? It's not like there's a reason for you to care. I mean, you can easily get tons of way better hidden objects games for a couple of bucks. Way better looking and way more interesting. Why should you bother about ugly Russian stuff?

But guess what? Our “whatthef*cks” don't end here. Like those crazy Energizer bunnies, they just keep going and going... See, this game? It isn't even a stand-alone release. It's a direct sequel to another Masyanya game — Masyanya Under the Yellow Press (Масяня Под Жёлтым Прессом). In previous game Masyanya and her friends Hryundel and Lokhmaty (the characters are renamed in English translation too) found a treasure map and naturally, they'll try to find the treasure in this one. Not like you'll miss much if you won't play the previous game (it's a dull hidden object thing too, after all), bu-u-u-ut... you know how it is. It just sucks having a sequel without experiencing the original thing. And in Steam? We only have second game. What the f*ck? Why in the world they've released the second game while skipping the first one, while both of them are pretty much the same exact thing, directly connected by the story? Seriously, what the f*ck?

Already got the idea about WTF stuff? Well, there's more. I've already said that Oleg provides voices for all of his characters. And just listening to him talking is fun. I also said that it's impossible to translate his humor to English like it's impossible to translate any other “local” humor. But guess what? Aside from the fact that English translation here is not fun at all and didn't really worth making, there's another thing about English version of the game that makes it even more ridiculous. See, in English version... there are no voices. That's it. The entire voiceover Oleg made for this game was completely removed in English version and there's literally no way to re-enable it without switching to fully Russian version. And I'm not talking about translation here. It's just that – all voices were removed from the game and all we have now is music. Ba-dum-tsssss...........

So... yeah... No matter how you look at it, what we have here is one f*cked up release. You don't speak Russian? Forget about this one. You don't need it. Like... at all. If you do speak Russian and can consider yourself a fan of Oleg and his show (which is still going and just got some really good new episodes, by the way), though... it's a little bit more complicated. But only a little. Like I said, this game looks like the original show and it comes with Oleg's voiceover in its original Russian form. Which means that people who like the original characters may actually find this entertaining just because.

Don't expect much, though. Because this game? It's dull. Really, really dull. Don't think a proper point-and-click experience here. Think one of those cheap hidden objects things you get in bundles from Fanatical and IndieGala (not my sponsors, even though I won't mind, lol). You know, those dumb and cheap games that costs, like, five bucks for a dozen. And it's not like this game is especially funny either. Even though Oleg's performance here is still hilarious, the actual writing is far from the smart satire you can see in the original show. Quite the opposite, what we have here? Is just our usual “crappy Russian game” stuff. With some random nonsense thrown in together without any special reason or meaning.

In other words, even for Masyanya fans from Russia? I can't recommend this product. While English version of the game? Let's just say it's one of the most useless and pointless things ever happened in Steam. Dixi.

One of my favorite games while growing up. Such a fun game with many hidden clues and a good plot. The russian version captures all the character quorks and good humor from the show. A bit sad that there is only one part of this game on steam wich is part 2. Would love to play the entire series wich incude part 1 "Under Yellow Press" and part 3 "Euro tour". Also would be nice to have some of the achievements from the game as steam achievements. Overall 10/10 game, recomend to everyone. Although it will be a little bit underwhelming for those who do not speak russian, since the english dubbing is more than a little bit lac luster.

I really hope that Kuvaev gets atleast some money from this game

Top game I remembered my childhood but it’s a pity that this is only one part

Cool

Unfortunately I really didn't enjoy this game. Usually I find it relaxing to play childrens games. I got extremely bored at the 40 minute mark, I left the game resting for a week and when I picked up the game again, I had forgotten majority of the progress I made.

Neutral
- I found myself having to consult the hint system a lot, because it didn't feel clear as to what you're expected to do. The characters just give some generic responses like "Nope. That won't work." to majority of the things I tried. It felt sometimes you had to be very specific where you place an item. You can't place an object generally over the item it's intended for, you have to place it directly over the area of use.
- I'm guessing this is a series of games as I had no idea who was who. The characters are not introduced, you're just thrown into the plot.
- There's a lot of items that has no use. Unlike other game, when you hover over an item that shows text, it means you can interact with it. But every object on the scene is named, so you won't know if any of them has an importance to the plot.

Negative
- I usually don't complain about graphics, but the character design is really off-putting. The "children" look like newborns with a single line as arms.I don't even know how old they're supposed to be. I didn't like the girl characters clothing, it made me uncomfortable. The skirt barely covers anything of her lower body.
- The plot moves really slowly. In the 40 minutes I've played, it didn't seem like it was getting anywhere close to going to Africa.

топавая игра

The game is pretty ok. Im not really a fan of the style of the game and the minigames where pretty easy to manage. Its ok to play but way to pricy for my taste. If you like the style then i can recommend it