#8/9 - The Addams Family series

  

The first Addams Family game is a triumph, in that, it is a licensed game for the Nintendo that was not made by LJN. Ocean Games is the proud papa of this particular franchise, a series of games that attempt to redefine what “creepy,” “kooky,” “mysterious” and “spooky” mean for the NES. Do they succeed? As Lurch would say, “Ughhhhhhh.”

The first Addams Family game is the epitome of average, a side-scroller that doubles as a collect-a-thon. You play as Gomez, the patriarch of the Addamses', and your goal is to get inside your mansion, collect various knickknacks, and find your beloved family. The game lacks any sort of logical order: why would your family be missing in the mansion? Why are the items of the mansion seeking to take your life? Where is Sully, that wormy guy from the first movie, who should be the main bad guy in this game? I'll give the game this, though: had I picked it up as a kid, I probably would have finished it. It's one of those games that's boring, sure, but not bad enough to truly hate with all your being.

Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt, on the other hand, is the bride of Satan. The game essentially steals the gameplay from the first AF game, and then strips away the layers of mediocrity, until what you're left with is a festering pool of blood and pus on the ground. You play as Pugsley, who bears a strong resemblance to a demon-possessed Bobby Hill, and run around collecting things. At first, I thought the game was some progammer's idea of what it means to be avant-garde on the NES; the controls are broken, the environments are bare, and there is literally no music. An analogy on the barrenness of one's spiritual self, I asked? Then I realised the game was put out in 1993, a time when Street Fighter II and its numerous clones roamed the earth, Sonic was king, and the original Nintendo had one foot and a torso in the grave. The programmers knew this game had no chance, so why bother? Once I came to that conclusion, I agreed with them and turned the game off.

Addams Family: C

Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt: F