NES #54: Back to the Future

 

Developer: Beam Software

Publisher: LJN

Release Date: September 1989

(Is "enteractive" supposed to be spelled like that. Is that a weird portmanteau?)

I can talk about Back to the Future, because I am that metaphorical kid that always comes up in licensed game reviews. I loved Back to the Future and wanted to experience everything the franchise had to offer. I was extremely excited about the video game, and I knew I was going to love it. It was my main gift on some long-ago birthday, and I spent many an hour playing it despite its poor reputation. I was that gullible target audience LJN was aiming for. Although there is an odd wrinkle to the story. I loved the franchise as a whole, but when I first played the game, I had never actually seen the first movie. I had seen the second and third installments, and maybe even the cartoon series, but never the original. I was actually going to use the game as a substitute for seeing it. Imagine my surprise when I finally saw the movie and didn't see any of the memorable enemies from the game. I expected Marty to spend some time in the movie avoiding bees and throwing bowling balls at glass movers. The movie is disappointingly devoid of bowling balls compared to the video game. The movie doesn't even have random bowling pins on the street for Marty to knock over. I'm sorry, but I think the movie would've been vastly improved with more street bowling. That's the way I felt back then anyway. Sure, the game is clunky and odd, but it was what I had. I'm probably the only person in the world who was disappointed that the movie wasn't enough like the video game. Of course, I am over forty now and can look at things a bit more objectively. Just what kind of video game is Back to the Future?

Back to the Future is a game that likes to keep the player moving. I would almost classify it as a vertically scrolling shooter. The screen is constantly moving up as you try to avoid trouble and collect and endless supply of clocks. The clocks are important as they keep Marty's picture from fading out. If his picture fades out completely, he dies. Or more accurately he fades out of existence. And also, if the regular timer runs out, he dies. How strange is it that this game has two concurrent time limits? I suppose it does fit in with the movie's theme. The enemies are mostly Hill Valley residents, but some of them do actually fight back so it's not all just passive. Marty can occasionally pick up a bowling ball which serves as his weapon, and once again I wish this is something that would've been emphasized in the movie. I love the thought of him leveling bullies with endless supplies of bowling balls. And if a few hula hoop girls get taken out in the process that's just collateral damage. 

Every four levels the gameplay changes to odd arcade-style mini games that are based on scenes from the movie. These levels are this game's version of boss fights, and they can be quite jarring. There's nothing on screen that tells you exactly what to do, and if you don't figure it out quickly you will lose. The first of these levels is by far the hardest, and I can see it turning off confused gamers. It features Marty fighting off waves of bullies in Lou's Cafe until he is thrown out. It's strange because you can get thrown out but have enough points to move on. The others include blocking Loraine's hearts and catching musical notes at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance. 

On paper Back to the Future seems like a decent game. Unfortunately, it has a lack of refinement that is so common in LJN games. I'll give you the most egregious example. The main way Marty can get through the levels is by collecting a bowling ball and then later a skateboard. The skateboard increases Marty's speed significantly, and in the later levels it's almost necessary. The items show up after a certain amount of time has passed, but you have to have the bowling ball before you can get the skateboard. However, the items pop up in completely random places. It's not uncommon to find a skateboard right up against a fence or giant sidewalk crack where it is impossible to get. This makes Back to the Future a game of dumb luck more than anything else. Also, make sure you don't accidentally shoot your skateboard with a bowling ball, because this is also something that can happen. It is possible to get through the levels without the items, but you have to be absolutely perfect. Also, while most boss fights just toss you back a level if you lose, the final stage only gives you one chance. If you don't get the Delorean up to 88 miles per hour it's game over. If you don't like unfair game design or trolly deaths than maybe Back to the Future isn't for you. 

Back to the Future is a game I really want to like, but it is ruined by bad design and confusing gameplay. If the mini game levels made more sense and skateboards were more reliable it might just sqeak by. Instead, it's one of the many games on the NES that people point to when talking about corporate greed. It's remembered more as a symbol than as a game. This reputation isn't entirely earned, but it's not hard to see why it might be a disappointment for excited kids in the early 90s. So Back to the Future falls down into the red section, and the NES adds yet another bad game. I wanted to find 101 good ones to prove IGN wrong, but that's never going to happen if I keep profiling the worst publishers. I'll probably skip around some just so I don't do 20 LGN games in a row and drive myself crazy, but at least I know I have a ton of great games to play in the future. Back to the Future is #42 out of the 54 NES games I have ranked and #144 overall. That's only a few games into the red, so it could be worse. Just wait until I play all the other Back to the Future games. This one might actually be the overall best. How's that for a thought?

NES quality percentage: 25/54 or 46.29%

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NES #53: Jaws

 

Developer: Escape

Publisher: LJN

Release Date: December 1987

Jaws is one of the most important movies of all time. It solidified Stephen Spielberg's reputation as his generation's most popular filmmaker and practically invented the concept of the summer blockbuster. It's a character-based, claustrophobic movie that somehow spawned hundreds of generic explosion-fests. I am tempted to spend this review writing more about the movie than the game, but I have to be careful. Jaws the video game came out in 1987 instead of 1975 which means that it was meant as a tie-in for the abysmal sequel Jaws: The Revenge and not the original movie. Of course, LJN just called the game Jaws, so even they knew the more recent film was a stinker. There's not much plot in this early NES game, but it does have the later film's ending. I don't know if I've ever seen Jaws: The Revenge, but I doubt the rest of the movie resembles the game very much. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. An NES game doesn't have to exactly follow its source material. Jaws: The Revenge has a famously dumb plot anyway, so it was smart to strip it down. Unfortunately, they might have stripped it down a little too much.

I love a game with an overworld, so it was a bit exciting booting up Jaws and seeing all those islands to explore. Unfortunately, while the game does have an overworld, it doesn't really have a world. There are only two points of interest on the whole map. These are two anchor points that sell the items needed to take down the killer shark. The currency in Jaws is conch shells collected by shooting innocent sea life during random cutaway battles. It's very odd that almost the entire game is comprised of shooting mostly harmless stingrays, jellyfish, and snails. Did that happen in the movie? Did the characters have such an axe to grind that they wanted to take out all sea life? Were they weirdly obsessed with shells? Is that why they needed a bigger boat? Did they need room for more shells? Sorry, I started to reference the better original movie again. Either way it's an odd premise for a game.  

All this shell collecting really drags during the slow building first half. It's not a game with many choices. You don't get to pick out your own items and build your own shark killing strategy. The first item is always a completely useless shark finder. It's supposed to help you find Jaws, but since the map is tiny and he's always showing off that famous dorsal fin it is completely unnecessary. I hope you like annoying beeps. The other purchases are power upgrades that make killing Jaws easier. You can't buy two in a row at the same stop, so this drags things out even more. Somehow, I don't want to make more trips to the only place to go on the map. That's not a good sign. Jaws can appear randomly in a cutaway battle, and I do appreciate that you don't have to get every upgrade to be able to move on to the final battle. I think I would completely lose my patience with Jaws if I had to buy everything. 

The final confrontation with Jaws is one of those NES moments where if you don't know what to do it is impossibly confusing, and if you know what to do is ridiculously easy. It's the old "stab him with the boat" ending. Just line him up with the ship, use the strobe to make him jump out of the water, and then push B to make a Jaws-kabob. Sadly, he doesn't explode in this version. I will bump up a game a couple of points if it has an exploding shark. It does show his carcass sinking down into the water so that it at least something. 

Once the game gets going it does get a bit more fun. The cutaway levels get faster and somewhat more challenging, and the shells start dropping faster. I was worried that later upgrades would take longer to obtain, but this wasn't really the case. It doesn't save the overall experience, however. It took me four attempts to beat Jaws for this review, and I was certainly grinding my teeth during the first three. I hate only having two places to go, and the battles are boring. The only harm comes from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I lost most of my lives from getting stung by a jellyfish while picking up a shell. I am sure this a more realistic death than dying in a shark battle, but it doesn't make for a very exciting game. Even Jaws doesn't put up much of a fight. He just passively swims back and forth while getting shot over and over. You'd think getting shot in the tailfin twenty-five times would get some reaction out him, but he just keeps on swimming. It's a bad sign when the game's boss doesn't even what to be there. And hey guess what, if you die at any point you get to buy that shark finder again. What fun!

Jaws is certainly one of the weakest games of the NES's 1987 lineup, but that's not to say it's a total disaster. My fourth and final attempt was entertaining enough to bump it up into the purple section. It's a little too short and easy to make that much of a negative impression, but it's long enough to not feel like a ripoff. The cutaway battles do get better, and sometimes the deaths were more from challenge than just bad luck. It's just too tiny and simple to be considered a good game. It certainly has the tossed-off feel of a cheap cash in. If you played this back in the day, it was almost certainly because of the name on the box, and I can't imagine too many Jaws fans being too enthusiastic about it. Still, I'm sure most people would rather play the game than watch Jaws: The Revenge. It comes in at 128 on the overall list, and 36 on the NES list. It's not great, but if they close the beaches and you have nothing else to do it might still help you get through the day. 

NES Quality Percentage: 25/53 or 47.16