Plagued with frustrating controls, Ice Climber falls down a slippery slope.
THE GOOD
-Good level design
-Fun music
THE BAD
-Terrible controls when jumping side to side
OVERVIEW
Ice Climber, for the Nintendo Entertainment System, features two Eskimos named Popo and Nana. The two adventurers are on a quest to scale 32 mountains and recapture the food that was stolen from them by a condor. Now the game is labeled as Ice Climber but it should really be called Ice Jumper because Popo and Nana basically jump there way up the mountain.
GAMEPLAY
Like I said before, Ice Climber features 32 different mountain levels to climb. Each mountain consists of a series of numbered levels with a bonus stage at the top. Your minimum goal is to reach the bonus stage with the optional maximum goal of reaching the condor at the top. This is no easy task because Popo and Nana, equipped with a mallet only, will have to overcome obstacles and enemies along the way. You'll have to jump upwards to knock a hole in the floor of the next platform to advance. There are only three reoccurring enemies in the entire game which are Topies, Nitpickers and Polar bears. A Topi is a small yeti type creature that doesn't like holes in his ice so he'll try to patch things up with ice blocks. A Nitpicker is a small bird that isn't afraid to attack anybody scaling the mountain. Lastly, the Polar bear only appears if you're taking to long on the numbered levels of a mountain. When this bear appears you need to act quickly because he'll cause the bottom level to disappear. The level design is fun and unique. There is plenty of variation in each mountain to give you quite a challenge.
Two players can play at the same time with the first player controlling Popo and the other Nana. The two of you can work together to reach the bonus stage but after that it is every Eskimo for themselves in who can reach the condor first.
Now the game design works well for Ice Climber but unfortunately some of the controls are extremely frustrating. The controls for moving, attacking and jumping upward are fine but jumping from side to side is where the annoyances occur. For some reason our Eskimo friends can't jump very far to the left or right. This makes platforming difficult and since you'll be jumping about 95% of the time, in the game, it can be a real deal breaker.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
The average graphics work for Ice Climber. The level design is probably the best thing this game has going for it.
The peppy music is fun to listen to as you scale each mountain. There is nothing too spectacular with the sound effects although it makes bashing ice blocks more fun.
CONCLUSION
Ice Climber had good intentions but the controls just ruin this game. You'll probably end up swearing at the game more than playing it. I would recommend a rental only. Man, for Ice Climbers, they really suck at climbing mountains.