The Addams Family

Right here we go... the first game I have decided to review is the great platformer 'The Addams Family'. I have chosen this classic for a few reasons really. Firstly this is one of the first game I got on my SNES back in the 90's and playing it again brings the memories flooding back. Secondly, this is one of those games that I used to spend hours of my youth on but never seemed to actually complete? The reasons why came back once I started playing the game again.

Like the TV program and the following movie the game is based on a strange and kooky family consisting of Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, Granny and Uncle Fester... but we all know who the Addams Family are any way don't we!! In the game you play Gomez and it is your job to locate the rest of the family who have gotten lost or trapped around your huge mansion. While doing this you are also trying to find the family vault to claim back the family fortune! (Que the Movie!)

To start with let me just say, if you are planning to play this game without cheating... forget it! I'm not saying it would be impossible but with the crappy number of lives they have given you and the amount of places in the game where you can easily loose them all in sudden death is going to make it a very hard game! Thus this is why I think the creators of the game made one of the easiest cheat codes to ever find available... On the password screen just enter the code '11111' and this will start you off in the game with 100 lives! Simple! See this is a much fairer number of lives to give us to tackle this dangerous game.

Ok so when the game first loads you are treated to a cool little clip of Thing in his box accompanied by the classic Addams Family theme song. The music throughout this game is good. Quite quirky and fun and doesn't get too repetitive. The sound effects are good too.

Gomez starts his journey outside the Addams Family mansion and from here you are given the choice of which area you want to explore first by way of doors to different places around the house. This was one of the best game design features of the game as it meant that people like me who never completed the game never got bored of popping it back in and playing it as each time you could just go and choose to play a room you haven't been in previously! So the life of the game was good value for money too.

To complete the game however, I would suggest that before going anywhere on your way to save your family members you try and find a couple of the sub bosses hidden in the game who once defeated will add very valuable hearts to your life counter at the side of the screen. As you only start with 2 you will quickly get frustrated when every time you die you are put back to the start of the room you are in! The quickest and easiest boss to get one from is the Big Bird above the tree in the garden level. Climb the branches to the top of the tree and simply every time he swoops below you give him a foot in the head for his troubles! He will soon take the big dirt nap and you will be on your way with 3 hearts to tackle the house with...

In general the game is well made and there is not much wrong with it.. however, a few points I feel I must make is you need to learn to land feet first on all enemies as hitting them slightly sideways will take a heart point. Also, certain creatures such as the plants will spit what looks like little fire balls at Gomez, these to can be killed by jumping on them. Strange but at least it makes it easier for us to kill so who's complaining?

Several levels in this game you will come across and find that your lives will fly by as one simple wrong jump will kill you instantly. For example the 'Chamber of Walls' and 'The Big Books'. However these levels do also have a few hidden areas which can be found throughout the game by walking through hidden walls and finding hidden blocks to stand on.

The best hidden area in the game is just inside the house before selecting a level to play, come into the house via the front door and walk left until you are under the door on the first landing area. Now just simply press up and you will find a secret room! Lots of goodies to be have here. (See the attached pics to see where the door is!)

Other annoying levels include 'Jesters Jump' where because the platforms are close together it is easy to bump your head if not timed right which makes you plummet to the fire below. Also, the must have ice level 'Penguin Problems' where no matter how careful you are the floor is as slippery as shit and unless you keep running and jumping you can kiss your ass good bye!

A good tip for this game is that when ever you die or get hit for a couple of seconds Gomez becomes invincible.. use this time to your advantage and run past any monsters or obstacles that stand in your way. Also, you will find in this game several power-ups spotted around. These however are not that great apart from the fact that they give you one more hit from an enemy before taking another heart off you. I would say the most fun power-up would be Gomez's Fez Cap which will allow you to fly for a period of time and helps greatly in some levels to bypass annoying monsters etc.

There are a few great little touches to this game too. Like the Train Ride level and the Gondola. These stop the game becoming samey and also connects back to the film. However, who ever in the art department designed the water in this game needs a kick up the arse as apart for this the graphics are pretty sweet. The water looks as if they animated it using two frames and the fish, that are meant to be Puranas??? Apart from they die if you hit them and they squeak as if they are birds? Weird!

This game does have some fantastic end of level baddies, some a bit easy to kill, but good graphics and fun to kill... The worst of which is the Wacky Scientist. Those spinning axe things annoyed the crap out of me but once he was dead I will just say check out the pipe pugsley was standing on for a treat!

Also, is it just me or does anyone else think that the level called 'Amazing Chains' reminds you off the late great game 'FRED' on the ZX Spectrum?? (Now that was a game ha ha!)

So on the whole apart from a pointless point system (as there is no high score of reason to use points??) and some annoying levels using spring blocks that would make Sonic the Hedgehog piss his pants with laughter! This game is well worth a go and not too hard to complete if you try hard enough. (Completed it in a couple of days in the end!)


So out of 100 I think I would give this game a mysterious and spooky 75...!
*click click*