The Lawnmower Man
Sega CD and PC
As a kid, I was in awe when my stepbrothers brought over The Lawnmower Man and set it up on my dad's new computer. The promise of virtual reality was tantalizing back in the 1990s, and the movie seemingly opened up a new window into what gaming and technology could look like in the future. I could only imagine how awesome the game was going to be.
It looked impressive for its time. I remember the music and the cinematics being pretty intense. I mean, they kind of look crappy by today's standards, but back then this was mind blowing stuff. Not only was the game cool to look at it, but the events of the game were very intriguing to me. The game was comprised of a series of small stages and minigames, and I was always very interested to see what was going to be introduced next. Everything seemed shrouded in a mystery that I could not wait to unravel.
Unfortunately, I was terrible at the game and I never got very far in it. No one did. I remember making it to a stage where you stand on a circuit board-looking maze thing, and you have to pick which of the three paths to take to the end. This is always where I lost all my lives. I think one time I made it through, and I sat up in my chair like "oooooh, what is going to be next after this?" I don't remember what was next, but I ended up dying almost immediately. I never made it that far again.
At the time, I thought that I was very close to the end of the game. Oh, sweet summer child. At best, I was about 15 percent into the adventure. The whole game was still sitting there, waiting for me to explore it. But I was never able to. As much as the game intrigued me, it was just too hard for me to make any real, significant progress. Plus, our home PC was set up in my dad's bedroom, and I was only able to play it on rare occasions. So I didn't get to invest much time in it. All this added up to me moving on to bigger and better things. I gave up on The Lawnmower Man, and a good 30 years passed before I picked it up again.
For this review, I had only intended to play through the PC version of the game. But when I was done, I thought I'd check out the Sega CD version to see what the differences were. I didn't intend at the time to play through the entire game on the Sega CD, but that is what ended up happening. So I am reviewing both games at once.
Normally, I would do separate reviews because these games are similar but different. But for this one, I decided to do a joint review and count them each as one single game review. There may be differences, but the core gameplay is the same. You'll end up getting virtually (pun intended) the same experience playing this on PC as you would on Sega CD. So joint review it is. And yes, there is precedent for this (see my Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool review).
Would this game hold up in modern time, or would I find that it has aged as well as the movie (ie: not well)? Let's find out.
Story:
I've never fully understood the movie, and I've never fully understood the game, either. Especially considering my stepbrothers never left me an instruction manual to read through. But from what I am able to gather, the game takes place at the end of the titular movie. Jobe is trapped in cyberspace. Your character, the doctor played by Pierce Brosnan (fuck if I know his name), is sent in to fight him. As you make your way through the game, you unlock Jobe's memories, which are presented through grainy cutscenes taken from the movie.
At the end of the game, you enter a room where you dodge some electricity, and then you jump up and touch a spiky ball and knock over a painting. And then the game ends. Huh.
When beating this on the PC, the credits immediately began to roll when I was done with the game. I was like "that's it???" On the Sega CD version, there is an ambiguous ending that wraps up with a screen that says To Be Continued. I'm not sure why I didn't get an ending on the PC version, because I looked up some walkthroughs after I was done with both games, and every single one ends with the same ending sequence from the Sega CD game. Why didn't I see it? Did I do something wrong? I don't know. Don't really care, either.
Gameplay:
The main difference between the versions can be found right off the bat. The Sega CD version offers you a choice of three difficulty settings, while the PC version does not give you any options. When playing the Sega CD version, I just assumed the game would start on its default, normal difficulty. But when I came back after beating the game, I noticed that it actually starts you on easy mode. Woopsie. So I actually played the game on easy mode. No wonder I found it shorter and far less difficult than the PC game.
The rest of the differences are minimal. There are some shortened cutscenes during minigames on the Sega CD. I also found the game to be shorter on Sega CD (although that may be because I was unknowingly playing on easy mode). I also noticed you could skip some cutscenes on the Sega CD version, which I was never able to do on the PC version. Honestly, aside from some graphical issues (the PC version looks much better), the games are identical. That's why I am counting them as one joint review. I hope that's okay with you, Mr. Judgey Pants.
Where was I? Oh yeah, the gameplay. Like I said earlier in the review, the game is comprised of a bunch of minigames. Fail a minigame, you lose a life. You have five lives to make it through the entire game. Lose those lives, and it is back to the beginning you go. There has to be at least 30 minigames between you and the end of the game, meaning your margin for error is extraordinarily thin.
Let's break down some of those minigames.
The first one I'll talk about is one of the most common minigames, as it is repeated off and on throughout the course of the game. In this minigame, you control the player as he runs through an obstacle course. Press up to jump, press down to duck. That's all you gotta do. The first time through one of these levels, the game prompts you which direction you need to hit, and when. On subsequent playthroughs, you are not prompted. Once you get the hang of these levels, you'll find they are the easiest in the game - especially considering that timing does not matter. For example, if you know a gap is coming that you need to jump over, you can just hit up repeatedly until your character jumps. You don't have to time it out like a platformer.
Another minigame is the flying minigame, where you race through a series of tunnels in something vaguely resembling a fighter from Star Wars. Again, these are pretty easy. Hit left to turn left, right to turn right, etc. Again, no exact timing is required. If you see a bend in the road going right, you can immediately just start tapping right, and your character will make the turn. These levels do get harder later in the game, when enemies are introduced that you have to shoot. They have a habit of appearing out of nowhere and killing you before you can even react. Half-walls also pop up out of nowhere as well. You've got to be paying close attention all the time or you are going to lose some of your much needed extra lives.
Another game involves a series of tests where you are shown four objects, numbers, or symbols, and you have to pick which one does not belong.
Another game involves firing a cannon at your opponent, and trying to find the hole in his shield.
Another game has you remotely moving a robot around a grid, trying to collect a key.
There are some maze related minigames. There's one where you have to memorize a color pattern. There are a few others I can't think of as well.
Wait! Let me tell you my most hated minigame: it is basically trial and error as you move your way across a grid until you get to the end. If you jump on a "bad" tile, an enemy comes out and kills you. Think of the big bridge in the Squid Game. It reminds me of that. This game is composed completely of trial and error. There is no skill whatsoever involved. You can lose precious lives through no fault of your own on this one. You bet your sweet patooty I used save states to get through these. Ah, save states. An invaluable tool I didn't have back in 1995.
But yeah, there is a pretty decent variety when it comes to the minigames. Some of them are super fun and easy, while others can be a pain in the butt. Hopefully you like them, because that's the entire game.
Graphics:
This game looks really, really rough by today's standards. It is hard to believe I thought this was so groundbreaking when I was a kid. Other games that came out around this time, like Super Mario World and the Sonic games, have aged so much better. But I would have shunned them all for this game when I was younger.
Why does it look so bad? It's blocky, it's grainy, it's blotchy, it's poorly animated. I can see why I was so intrigued by the game though. It just kind of has this creepy, mysterious aura about it. There's something about this game's look and feel that makes you want to keep playing.
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Sound:
The music may be the best thing about this game. It's got a fun, upbeat techno soundtrack. I found myself grooving along and rocking to the beat as I'd play through the game. The voice acting, on the other hand, is absolutely terrible. I could barely understand anything anyone was saying in this game. It sounds like everyone is talking through a fan with a giant bag of pennies in their mouths. Maybe that's why I couldn't figure out what was going on in this game: because I couldn't understand what anyone was saying!
Overall:
This is not a good game. I'm not going to bash it and say it is a terrible game, because it is not. But it's not a good game. It was a nice curiosity when I was younger, but that's about it. I'm glad I came back to it. I am glad I finished it off. I am glad I got to see everything the game has to offer. But let's be real. This is nothing more than a glorified bundle of minigames. The running and the flying levels are fine. Some of the others are tolerable. There are many that are simply frustrating and not fun at all. It's an interesting mix.
If you would like to go back and open a time capsule on how little Danny thought video games would look in the future, you might want to check out this game. If you are looking for a fun gameplay experience, you are probably better staying away.
THE GRADE:
C-
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