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"Are you gooniey enough??"

There have been a lot of games based on movies and I have played quite a few of these games based on movies (this being one of quite a few). While I loved the movie, the game itself is somewhat par to the movie but good as some movie based games.

I will separate the game into 5 categories so that that I can rate them and show you how I got the score I gave it

Graphics-4
The graphics for this game were decent. You are able to tell each of the characters apart by a certain trade mark like Andi's red hair, Chunk is a little bigger the others. The ground, other characters and enemies, other things in the game are decent (and distinguishable) but nothing too special.

Difficulty-7
This game is basically like the movie but there are a few minor differences. The game takes you from the mansion through the caves while avoid bats and getting crushed by booty traps (a joke in the movie) to get both character to the end of and with each stage. Each stage get more difficult as you progress with more to do to get to the end of the stage and more difficult traps and enemies to avoid.

Game play-6
The game play is decent because while it takes from the movie, instead of having all 6 characters to help you get past the stage you have only 2. Using both characters you must to get past traps that prevent you from reaching the end of the level. While doing this you also must avoid killer bats, getting killed by the booty traps and other things that may prevent you getting to the end of the level.

Story/Concept-5
While the game takes from the movie there are a few things that make it interesting. The few things make it different are the bats, and water (?) and other things that kill you. Also there are a few minor changes from the movie to the game stages to make it more playable as a game.

Sounds and Music-3
There are no sound effects for the game but there is music which is a basic remix of the music from the movie. Nothing more then that.

Replay Value-3
Again I loved the movie and I would watch over and over. The game I will say has little replay value except to play it again.

Overall-
While the game was almost like the movie there were a few minor things that made it not as good as it could be.
(The score is rounded up)


Reviewer's Score: 5/10 | Originally Posted: 06/08/03, Updated 06/08/03

Yet another game-of-the-film hits the market with the release of US Gold's Goonies. Not much is known about the new Steven Spielberg film since it hasn't yet been released over here, but the game gives a little clue to its storyline (that's if the game does follow its storyline) of a group of children on a treasure trove adventure.

The idea of the game is to get through the eight different screens and collect the chest of gold from the pirate ship on the final screen. Each screen has its own problems which have to be negotiated before the player can progress to the next one.

Playing Goonies is a pretty novel experience, since two characters have to be used in tandem to complete a screen. It's not as complicated as it sounds and playing with this control method isn't at all hard.

The screens are all platform variants and the whole game plays rather like Bruce Lee -- your character can run and jump everywhere.

When you start you see your two characters somewhere on the screen. Toggling the joystick results in one of the characters moving. If you press the fire button, then control is switched to the other character. To solve a screen, both characters have to complete a task, for example on the first screen one character has to start a machine then the other has to knock over a tub of water. Once that has happened, then both characters can dodge round the meany which patrols the bottom of the screen. Using two characters like this is really fun and is a control method which should be expanded upon.

All the screens have to be completed in similar fashion, and as you progress through the eight screens the puzzles get trickier and require quite a bit working out. When you finally get the treasure then you are transported back to screen one and have to start again, with the same objectives.

I find it very hard to play a game of a film I haven't yet seen. The whole plot escaped me and I suspect a lot of the game's appeal did as well. What was left was an eight screen platform game with a few new features. The control method was quite good; I can see how a two-player game could be great fun. Graphically Goonies was extremely poor, looking very similar to other Datasoft releases. Looking upon the packaging I saw someone was actually credited for designing the graphics. Well whoever did design them is more than likely to still be in nursery school and must be working for Datasoft part time. The game itself was quite reasonable, though some gamesters may well find eight screens a bit limiting. Maybe worth a look if you're a platform games freak.

This is quite a good little game, marred by the fact that it only has eight screens and those have awful graphics. The problems posed on each screen are nicety thought out and pretty ingenious. The only problem is that once you've gone through them (which isn't too difficult) there is a tendency not to return to the game. The sound isn't too bad and the tunes get a little grating at times, but the graphics are a real disappointment. They're very reminiscent of those on Conan, very crude with awful colours, it's a shame that the game hasn't been exploited to its full potential; as it stands it seems only part finished.

Presentation 68%
Rather dull compared with most US offerings.

Graphics 42%
Crude in appearance and certainly lacking in colour, but good standard of animation.

Sound 35%
Terrible tunes and few FX.

Hookability 79%
Novel control method is fun.

Lastability 64%
But there's only eight screens.

Value For Money 62%
Average game at an average price.

Overall 67%
Fun, but we hope the movie's better.