Embodies many faults in NES games. Avoid if you're looking for any measure of fun.
I start the game up and am thrown into an office, apparently I don't get to play as Roger, but as some faceless detective with Roger following him around like mama duck...alright. I spent 2 minutes in this office looking for anything of interest, and end up punching Roger several times out of initial frustration. I finally find out how to escape, and appear out on a street corner. I see what appears to be a briefcase, so I go to grab it; then in typical NES fashion a potted plant falls on my head and:
2 Lives left
So far I've concluded that this title sticks to the infamous NES theme of "everything is out to get you" You know, where everything except the kitchen sink is thrown at you in an attempt to give the game substance that the story simply doesn't have on its own. The potted plant attests to that. I proceed up the street and within 5 seconds I am mowed down by a car and:
1 Life left
Rinse and repeat the previous steps, however this time I aptly dodge the cars and work my way up the street. Keep in mind that nothing has been explained to me whatsoever up to this point. All I know is that I'm in a city, and things hate me. I work my way up the streets hoping to find something of substance, then hear a shrill beeping. I then see two masked characters approaching at a faster pace than I could ever hope to go myself. I flee parallel to a street and watch them get hit by a car, yes! However, they get right back up and continue pursuit. They get hit around 5 more times until they mystically move through a solid wall to finally catch up to me and another scene starts. These characters appear to have taken Roger hostage and start speaking drivel of which I am unfamiliar. I blindly proceed through the confusing dialog and am prompted with "WRONG PUNCH LINE! and:
0 Lives left
Its do or die now, and I still know nothing about this game's plot. I continue up the street into a mountainous region and hear the beeping once again. The masked characters are in hot pursuit and just before they reach me again I find a cave. I enter the cave and see a snake on the other end of the darkness. Nothing has made sense up to this point, and a talking snake is the next logical step. I hope the snake character can shine some light on the plot. Halfway across the cave I fall into a pit that I couldn't see, and:
Game Over
I proceed to turn the system off. I remember watching kids playing this game back in Elementary School, and thats why I originally checked it out, hoping for a nostalgic kick. However I hazily remember them never getting out of the first area, and I can clearly see why. This game embodies all that goes wrong in NES games. The graphics are par at best, the music is poor, nothing is explained (and not in a good way like Zelda), and the game contains puzzle-solving attributes; which rarely, if ever work in NES titles. I may have been interested in the Roger Rabbit Movies but this game killed it entirely, a true waste of time. I'm judging this game on its merits alone. Many reviews seem to give games above-average scores just because of nostalgic value, ignoring the gameplay itself.
Not even nostalgia can save Roger.