Personally, I'm a sucker for any game that's a made up word. This new vocabulary unintentionally created by NES that promises great game playing adventures because you have no frame of reference for what the heck they mean. For example: Gyruss, Zanac, Gradius, Xexyx, Klax, Sqoon, Faxanadu, Hydlide, Trog, Gyromite, Xevious, Qix, etc., etc. I believe it takes a lot of creativity to not just make the game, but make up a WORD that goes with it. This type of unbridled, total creativity is largely missing today. It is very appealing because a made up word as a title commits to nothing. You take your chances with it, because there has never been anything like it. The results might be great, like Zanac, or, they might be a frustrating Life Force knockoff that is SO incredibly hard it takes all the fun out of the game. As you might have guessed, I'm referring to the word that NEVER should have been made up: ABADOX.
The subtitle of the game is "the deadly inner war", and the sub-sub title should have been "just go and play Life Force instead". Not that Life Force is SUCH a great game (I prefer Gradius, which is a similar but superior Konami title.) But why would you knock off a less-than-excellent game like Life Force anyway? That's such a strange choice. Abadox has many of the same ideas and even some of the same villains, bosses and obstacles. (note the big teeth that go up and down in level 1 and the boss of level 1) I don't have a huge frame of reference beyond level 2, because I've never gotten past it, nor has any other human being on this planet. The main flaw of the game is that it is JUST TOO HARD. It's good to have challenge in a game, but it shouldn't be impossible. I realize it must have been hard to strike that balance as a game developer, but this just errs far too far on the side of "let's drive the kid that just paid however much for the game completely insane." Nice motivation.
Released in the U.S. in March 1990 by the Milton Bradley Company - "Milton Bradley Presents" on the title screen not usually heralding a GREAT video gaming experience (i.e. Cabal) - these guys should stick to board games. The plot consists of a little space man in "the belly of the beast" - you shoot what are supposedly things inside the stomach of a large being, like flying eyeballs, pterodactyls and the skeletons of cows. Practically the only enjoyable thing about this game, and it's a cold comfort, is just how WEIRD and demented the baddies are. This NES surrealism that I really like tends to be overshadowed by the fact that you can't touch the walls or floors without dying, the obstacles are too busy and difficult to navigate, and the bosses take far too many hits.
However, this game ALWAYS works in my player (not all games always do) and once you hear that familiar roaring/rumbling sound on the title screen, the bile begins to rise in your throat simply in ANTICIPATION of the frustration and annoyance you know you are going to feel, based on past experience. I rarely play the game, and there are many other space shooters I would recommend before this one (see titles mentioned previously in this article)...maybe they figured by 1990 kids were getting "too good" at video games and Natsume and MB felt they should knock kids down a few pegs because they were getting too arrogant. On a system practically built upon hard, hard games, along with the infamously difficult Ghosts N' Goblins, I would say Abadox is the hardest. I would say buy this game only if you have to box or fight someone later that day and you want to get all fired up and angry. You will surely win the fight, and perhaps punch their entire head off.
No comments:
Post a Comment