Uncle Fester's Quest: The Addams Family

Granted, that is not saying much as the only other Addam's Family game I have played I think was for the Genesis and it was based off the movie and just was not good; though, that is most games based on movies. This one is basically built upon the concept of the television show, so it was not a rush or quick cash grab idea; plus, it was made by Sunsoft which is a fairly decent gaming company. That being said, this one has its flaws, but it is a bit fun. Just needed a few more RPG elements added to combat the ever spawning enemies and perhaps a larger map and above all else, some freaking checkpoints!

The story has Uncle Fester bathing in the moon at the start of the game when an UFO appears and begins sucking up the citizens! Fester grabs a megaphone gun and begins blasting his way through the hordes of alien beasts! He also gets help from the rest of the family as they provide him with potions to restore health and weaponry to help combat the alien scum! Fester must make his way to the alien spacecraft and destroy it before it successfully abducts the town.

The game play is overhead and is basically three huge maps: one the town, two the sewers and three the spaceship. Unfortunately, the town is the only place that has good scenery to look at as both the sewers and spaceship are drab and lifeless. There are also a number of 3D mazes you have to traverse; usually, leading to a boss battle. There was one I found that simply had a health extender. I only found the one, but I know there is at least one more as most videos of the game show Fester with four health bars. Combat can get very monotonous as the enemies spawn at the Ninja Gaiden rate, which is very annoying when you are not leveling up and you get virtually nothing of interest when killing the enemies once your gun and whip are at full power, most of the time they give you things to de-power both your weapons! You get a lot of money, but the only thing it is good for is health at the few and far between, hot dog stands. Still, it is a challenge and one game where I do not feel guilty using save states on an emulator as having to start from the beginning each time is ridiculous!

The game is not too bad and as I said, better than the only other Addam's Family game I've played. I like that the characters are based on the television show and always thought the movies should of done Lurch like the show rather than the obscure comics virtually no one read. The combat could have been a bit easier had the offered a leveling up process, as it is, this game would be super difficult trying to win on the cartridge without save states.