Review Date: March 28, 2021
Release Date: May 1, 1988
Platform: NES
Publisher: Acclaim
Genre: Nonlinear Platformer
Anecdotes: Looking around the Internet, there seems to be a general opinion that Acclaim ripped off Zelda II and pretty much copied nearly anything they could. However, Rambo was released first, as I haven’t covered Zelda II yet. (It’s scheduled for April 4.) So how could Rambo have cloned a game that didn’t exist yet? Well, that required checking out the release dates in Japan. Zelda II was released at the start of 1987; Rambo was released in December of that year. They had 11 months to rip it off and they STILL failed to make it halfway decent.
Description: Half naked idiot in a jungle? Where have I seen this before? What’s with all these games taking place in jungles? Other than them ripping off the jungle shooters, they also ripped off even harder Zelda II. I mean, look at this:
Positives: The game offers infinite continues and even a password if players realize that “pausing” during a dialogue scene will bring it up. It also uses every conversation as a checkpoint, so if Rambo dies, he goes back to the last person he talked to.
Negatives: There’s so much crap that I don’t even know where to begin. Ignoring how characters look in the action screens, what is up with the ridiculous, cartoonish look of the characters in the dialogue boxes? Take a look:
Only Co got away with a good portrait. Everyone else looks absurd.
While that’s just silly, the game’s mapping system should have been left on the cutting floor. The North/South tiles are fine, but often, they are one way, so players can’t return easily. That’s bad, but the East/West navigation is much worse. Rooms can loop around. Rooms can lead into other rooms north or south of the current room. Rooms also can lead to something totally different by exiting the same way Rambo entered. It’s impossible to map and difficult to memorize.
Grade: F