Review Date: May 10, 2021
Release Date: September 20, 1991
Platform: Sega Genesis
Publisher: Wolf Team
Genre: Linear Platformer
Description: Players play as Annet, who is given the job of preventing Restiana and Henry from resurrection Hastur. They’re running this mission out of the Empire State Building in New York. Annet has to go to New York to put a stop to it. She’ll go a few other places first, though.
Positives:
-Wolf Team did a nice job of drawing and animating Annet. Other than the lack of features on her face, the character model looks quite realistic. She moves smoothly, too. The controls respond just how I want them to and Annet does what she’s supposed to when I hit the right button.
-In a RARE display of mercy, Wolf Team gives players no penalty at all for falling off the screen. Stage 2 had a jumping sequence on platforms with windmill like movements and offered players as many tries as needed. Of course, that led to the next challenge, which I’ll get to later on.
Negatives:
-The game gives limited continues, but NO extra lives. It’s ridiculously hard. Functionally, there’s no difference between having 3 extra lives and no continues than having no extra lives and 3 continues. Either way, it’s back to the start of the game in four deaths. The fact that games that lacked systems for saving progress were still coming out in 1991 surprises me.
-To demonstrate the pain of playing, I present to my readers the end of stage 2. Annet comes to a series of floating logs to jump across. The logs collapse on contact, so Annet has to be quick. Inevitable, I’ll press the jump button too early, so Annet falls. The jerks at Wolf Team, though, put a spike pit down below with no way to get back up. I killed Annet. That meant I had to go through all of stage 2 over again. I failed again. That meant I had to go through the WHOLE GAME again. It’s an absurd, unforgiving sequence.
Screenshots:
Final Opinion: There’s some enjoyment to be had out of this title, but players have to be really patient and not get bored with seeing stage 1 over and over.
Grade: C
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