The Preadator has hunted down a truly awful action game.
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Game Title: Predator
Platform: NES
Developer: Pack N Video
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Action
Age Rating: N/A
Release Date: 1987
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Game Score: 2.0/10
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Summery:
The Predator has hunted down a truly awful action game.
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Just like with LJN, Pack N Video is also known for weak movie adaptions for the NES but also they did the Predator game for the NES as well. They had no idea about what they have placed in with this train wreck as if they never actually bothered to watch the movie or just didn't understand it all. Whatever the reason there's plenty of bad design moments with Arnold's video game debut.
Loosely based on the 1987 movie of the same name the game takes you as Major Dutch Schaefer whose goal is to defeat the Predator in order to avenge the deaths of his allies. The cutscenes are actually pretty good or the NES especially when you see when you see one where Schaefer finds his dead allies hanging. It's a shame that the game could have used a bit more of it, just like with Ninja Gaiden.
Believe it or not the Predator actually has over 30 Levels and they are extremely hard to beat for all the wrong reasons. The main game is a side-scroller where you walk all the way to the end and reach the exit without dying, that sounds simple enough but when you get some enemies that no one remembers from the movie such as scorpions, rolling rocks and some other of the Predators pets alongside the bad diffculity when dealing with the enviroments.
The only type of enemy known in the movie is the Guerrilla guys that are after you. The most fun you'll ever get out of this game is raiding on the scorpions in which you don't receive any damage doing this and it's more fun when you punching or Shooting.
The Predator at least has simple controls but how you jump one to another can be a pain because if you jump from an angle or land anywhere other than dead centre you'll fall through to your death. You can also fall through walls which is really a problem and also enemies can litterly push you through the walls which disobeys the laws of phsyics.
The layout of each area is absurd, there's plenty of traps which will either lead you to your death or sometimes you'll may find yourself stuck and cannot progress further which will force you to reset the console and lose all your progress or by killing yourself with a simple code that is Start + B which is ridiculous.
You'll also find Weapons throughout the game like the Machine Gun, Grenades that are called Pine and also the Laser Gun which is the best in the game. The selection isn't much but however after you complete a stage the game takes away your weapon which doesn't make much sense, if a Laser Gun is your only way to survive then who would want to walk around without one. The Pine Grenades are useful for blowing up walls in case you do get stuck and also can be placed down by using the B Button while holding the Down button. This helps out most of time whenever you find yourself blocked and need to blow your way through.
You have only a handful of Lives but you can sometimes find some more if lucky or power ups to restore your health, there's no continues in this game whatsoever, if you fun out of Lives then you're back at the menu and if you want to continue from where you left off then you have to select continue but you can only use it whenever you clear one of the Big Mode stages which is infuriating. These side scrolling portions are the worst the game can offer.
The Predator also introduces a different segment that comes every couple of Levels which is where your character becomes enlarged and the game on rails. Your goal is too shot down orbs that fly toward you while collecting power ups along the way. Power ups include the Machine Gun Shots, Boomerang Bullets which is strange, the Shotgun Bullets and finally the Reaction Bullets which destroy all targets on screen. After a while of shooting waves of orbs you'll have the Predator to face off against and you have to watch for its attack pattern before you fire at him. Surprisingly this is the only time where the game at least shines while everything else about this game is absolute terriable because every few Levels you beat the next Big Mode level comes up and beating that will allowing you to continue on.
The Predator is a messy game with side scrolling stages that are ridiculous and nearly unplayable and Big Mode being its only attraction.
Predator's graphics are strange at the very least. The character animation is decent but however why does the character have a pink colour and same going for the Predator in which it appears as blue for some reason. Environments as already mentioned are badly designed but during Big Mode the game looks even more simple and cheap but at least the characters colours are better. The music track is somewhat passible as well as the sound effects but they do get overused from time to time.
Unless you the kind of gamer who tolerates bad game challenges then you'll heed this message to steer clear of this abomination of an action game. With bad design, infuriating continue system, areas that are horribly designed and it's cruel difficulty makes this game unworthy for hunting for. Just watch the movie but whatever you do, stay away from the Predator's game vision since the Predator has hunted down a truly awful action game.
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The Good Points:
1. Riding the scorpions while punching or shooting is Hilarious fun
2. Decent music
3. Big Mode looks strange but nearly about as fun
The Bad Points:
1. You can fall through objects and walls
2. Your Weapon gets taken away after each Level which makes no sense
3. Areas are horribly designed with plenty of traps which can kill you or force you to restart
4. Infuriating Continue system
5. Big Mode's gameplay design is recycled to much
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (BlaZer91)
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