Demolition Man
Super Nintendo
I can't go to Walgreens without thinking of Demolition Man, since "be well" is their new catch phrase.
It makes sense since this movie was released back in the era of crappy movie to video game ports for the 16-bit consoles that Demoliton Man would get a game. The game is not crappy at all though. Maybe I am biased. A lot of the critically bashed games based on movies that came out during the 90's I actually enjoyed.
I have vague memories of renting this title for the Sega Genesis. The game didn't leave a huge impression on me but I still had fun. I recall it being pretty short and relatively easy to beat. I enjoyed it. Definitely worth a rental but not a purchase.
20 years later I found this game for the Super Nintendo at a used game store for dirt cheap. I recall enjoying the old Genesis version. so I picked it up. Playing it all these years later was like playing it for the first time. Everything was very new to me. Despite this game being old and a little dated, I had a decent time.
The graphics are not terrific, but at the same time they look good considering this game is 20 years old. The sound effects though: not so good. I think there is only one spoken sentence in the entire game, and it is John Spartan muttering "send a maniac to catch one". Better get used to that line, because the game says it at the beginning of every level, and it also says it after you die and come back with your new life. If you haven't seen the movie, you probably will have no idea what he is even saying since it isn't spoken very clearly.
This game is an interesting mix of a side scrolling platformer and an overhead view shooter. The majority of the levels are of the side scrolling variety. You get 3 lives. Lose those 3 lives, and you have to use a continue and begin your level from the beginning. I don't know how many continues you get, because quite simply I didn't die that many times. And I think you are rewarded with 2 or 3 continues for each stage you pass. Which means, unless you totally suck - you should have plenty of lives to get through the game.
You control John Spartan, AKA the great Sylvester Stallone. You explore each level, shooting the crap out of anything that moves. You can collect lives, health, grenades, and weapon upgrades. Pretty standard fair. There isn't much of a strategy beside trial and error that I could figure out. You basically run forward, holding down the shoot button. There is really no point avoiding trying to get hit. You are going to get hit.
The levels loosely follow the plot of the movie. When I say loosely I mean loosely. Some of the stages are pulled right from the movie, like Los Angeles on fire, the museum, and the cryo prison. Some of the levels are invented and have nothing to do with the movie. There is a library level, a subway car level, and some weird underground level where you ride a zip line and shoot flying monsters.
The way to get through each level is through trial and error, as mentioned earlier. Finding out where enemies are ahead of time. Finding out where your jumps are. That kind of thing. The game really isn't that difficult, you just have to be patient with it.
Most side scrolling stages end with a boss. You can't simply fire away at the enemy while standing in one place. Each boss has its own weakness, and it is up to you to find it. None of them are very hard though, especially once you discover that weakness. Also, when you lose a life and come back, the damage you had inflicted on the boss still stands. Which is nice. There is nothing I hate more than dying right before beating a boss and then having to start from the beginning of the fight all over again.
The overhead levels are fun, but if I was asked to pick which type of level is better I wouldn't be able to answer you. There is less strategy involved in the overhead levels and I found them a bit easier. You simply run around, once again holding the shoot button. You can't jump in overhead mode, but you can still throw grenades. Expect once again to take copious amounts of unavoidable damage, But health packs are everywhere to boost your health right back up to normal.
Your goal in these levels is to rescue innocent civilians. You rescue them simply by touching them. It kinda reminds me of that old game Alien Syndrome for the arcade. Save enough civilians, you unlock the next part of the level, where you must rescue some more. On it goes. The levels are pretty small too. You shouldn't get lost in any of them. If you do get lost, I worry for you.
The game ends with a side scrolling stage in the cryo prison, where you finally face off against the fiendish Simon Phoenix. The final stage is disappointingly short, but I had a fun time with the boss. It took me a little while to figure out what to do, but once I did figure it out, I had fun owning the hell out of that yellow haired freak.
And then the game ended.
Picking it up after having not played it for 20 years, I think it took me about an hour to beat. Maybe a little longer. The game is very short and relatively easy. There were a few tough moments where I violated the verbal morality statute, but not many. Those were mainly because of my own screw ups, not anything the game did.
There isn't much replay value here. Sure there are things hidden in each level, but they are mainly weapon upgrades or extra lives. Nothing that gives you any kind of incentive to come back. There are a few branching paths in the game too, but they all look the same and lead to the same place anyway. So there really isn't much of a reason to play it more than once unless this is the only game you own. For 2 or 3 dollars (whatever I got it for), it was a good value. If I had paid the full 50 bucks for this when the game came out, I would have felt super ripped off.
What more can I say really? Its fun, its short. I had a good time while playing it. But is this a classic game that you need to play in order to make your life complete? Heck no. I imagine most of you have never played this game. And if you haven't, nothing I can say is going to change your mind.
What you see is what you get from Demolition Man. Mindless action, a little bit of strategy. But mostly just shooting things. And jumping. And shooting more things. I can't complain at all about this game considering how cheap it was for me. All I ask for is to be entertained, and this game accomplished that goal. It's not a world changing title, but if you want to kill an hour or two, I can think of much worse ways to do so.
THE GRADE:
B-
No comments:
Post a Comment