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System:
MasterSystem
Genre:
Action
Publisher:
SEGA
Developer:
-
Players:
-
Release date/year:
1987
Other systems:
-
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- Alex Kidd in High-Tech World
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1987 SEGA - MS
Alex Kidd is something of a celebrity with the Sega Master System library in which he has appeared in four games that rely more on your ability to stand them, rather than simply play them. In this outing, you must travel from place to place, collecting items that will help you to complete your goal. Unlike most of the other games in the Alex Kidd series, this one requires you to use a bit of your brainpower instead of simply going ballistic on whatever enemy is in your way. If you can stand the simplistic nature of the game and the music that will eventually drive you batty, then you might find this game to be worth your time and your patience!
The story starts out with our hero, Alex Kidd, looking to make it to the arcade before it closes. However, inside of the castle, the map to the Arcade is seemingly destroyed and it is up to him to retrieve the different pieces of the map before the arcade closes down. As strange as it may seem, this is the first time that I’ve personally heard of a game plot being based around finding a map to make it to an arcade before it closes. However, the plot that you have to follow as well as the amount of thinking that you have to do is something that you should take notice of, only if you’re into that type of action game.
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The Game Play
The game play that you find here isn’t what you would expect from an action platform series, and you may be surprised to find that there is quite a bit of thinking involved. From different points in the Castle, to the different points in the land, you have to dodge your opponents as well as keeping your brain sharp for some of the thinking portions of the game. Now, during your quest for the map pieces, you’ll be asked certain questions and be given different items. The trick to the game is to know just what items to use, what questions to answer and know when to avoid certain situations.
One of the downfalls to the game is that the enemies you face seem to have an unfair advantage in the way of speed on your character, and not only that, but you have to be quick with the control in order to survive. Giving you only one chance to take a hit when you’re constantly being under siege from enemies on all sides makes for an annoying time. Not only that, but some of the puzzles in the game will screw you over if you don’t learn just what to do and when to do it, so be aware that the choices you make will effect the outcome of the game later on!
Control is another issue that just doesn’t seem to make the game any fun. Stiff movements from you character lead to death in most cases, and you’ll be spending more lives trying to avoid getting killed than you will actually making progress through the game. The overall control isn’t a problem to learn, but it is a hassle to use and in the end, you might find that the game just slips lower into mediocrity. Tack this onto the plain fact that the game is extremely short and has no replay value, and you’ll find that this is a title you’re best bet is to avoid.
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The Visuals
One of the high points that the game has to offer is with the character movement and detailing that he has. You can see certain expressions on his face and the movement of the character is relatively crisp. The enemies all seem to have a life of their own, though after seeing the same enemy about fifty times, it tends to cancel out the good point. Stages and environments are done with some pretty flashy colors and flare, though the overall detailing on them is fairly limited. For a first generation game, it’s not a bad thing, but it isn’t the most impressive bit of presentation that I’ve seen from an 8-bit game.
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The Audio
This is where the game takes a huge plunge, in which the music and the audio effects are done in a horrible fashion. For the most part, the music has a cute overtone to it that is rather delightful for the first five minutes. But then as the game drags on, you’ll find that the game just doesn’t have any other theme to it and it tends to drag on. The sound effects also tend to slide the same way, with your standard fare of bloops and otherwise to fill out the roster. One of the most annoying sounds that I could find in the game was when your character gets hit, in which you want to stuff cotton balls in your ears and forget you ever heard it!
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The Verdict
This is one of the worst Alex Kidd games in the series that I’ve found thus far. With the limited audio, the shortened game play and the lack of true platform gaming, Alex Kidd in High-Tech World is for the die-hard fans only. If you can stand the limitations that the game has to offer and enjoy the puzzle portion of the game, then you are a better gamer than myself. For those of you who have no desire to deal with thinking during an action game, then you’re better off to leave this one alone and save yourself the trouble of having to go through it!
4/10
//KasketDarkfyre
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