Aladdin
Reviewed by Inkhands
Aladdin was a very popular movie and it was adapted many
times to the game format. This version follows the plot of
the movie very closely. Basically, Jafar wants the Lamp from
the Cave of Wonders to use to take over the world. He sends
Aladdin in to get it for him. Aladdin does get the Lamp and
the Genie and the story progresses from there. The levels
follow the plotline of the movie. They take place in streets
and across the rooftops of the town of Agrabah. You then
journey into the Cave of Wonders and then out of it.
Finally, you move on to the last levels and the final battle.
There are a total of nine levels in this game. However,
there are three types of levels. Three of the levels are
your basic platform climbing and item collecting stages.
Avoid enemies, pits, and spikes while picking up keys to use
on doors, and bread and apples to refill your energy. Two of
the levels consist of magic carpet rides. You soar through
the air while avoiding cliffs and falling rocks in one
level. In the other you must avoid birds and buildings.
The final type of level is the one that is the most
interesting and the most fun to play. There are three levels
in which the screen scrolls. Aladdin is running on his own.
You must jump over barrels and pits, while avoiding someone
that is chasing you. Whether it be a guard chasing you or
someone else. These levels may be short, but they are very
fast paced. Also, they are a little too easy, but it does
add something different to the platform jumping levels of
most games of this variety.
The magic carpet rides play nearly the same way. They are
very fast paced and fun to play, but a little too short and
easy. The Cave of Wonders level and the Sultan's Palace
level are the two longest in this game. They require you to
actually do a little thinking, but not much. They also take
the most practice to complete. You have a lot of falling
obstacles to avoid, keys and stones to pick up, and figuring
out how to open doors when you don't have a key. Which
really isn't too hard to figure out. It's a little obvious
in most of the situations.
You begin every game with three hearts. You will lose them
all if you are caught by someone or if you fall into a pit.
You will only lose half a heart at any time you are hit by a
falling rock or a bat. The apple item refills only some of
your health, while the bread item refills it all. They
appear very frequently in the levels, and that really cuts
the challenge factor down.
There are no options in this game. You simply start the game
and play until you are killed. You have unlimited lives.
There isn't even a counter to show you how many lives you
have. When you lose a life, you have the option to continue
your game or quit. If you continue you start at the
beginning of the level, unless you picked up scarab item
that lets you start back at the point you picked the scarab
up at. If you choose to quit you are given a four character
password. This does even more to cut down the challenge
factor. There is no difficulty setting and you have
unlimited lives. Not merely unlimited continues, but
unlimited lives.
The challenge is very low in this game. Mostly for the fact
you can continue so easily and the frequent amount of apples
and bread. The other factors that make this game so easy is
the fact most of the levels are short and don't require much
skill at all. Only two levels might actually take more than
one play to beat. The magic carpet levels and the chase
levels are both very easy. They are actually too easy.
The control is poor in this game. Jumping is setup very
poorly. Sometimes you might jump too far and miss not one
ledge, but two. The buttons do not respond well enough and
in general Aladdin's jumps are very stiff. You don't have
any weapons to use, except occasionally you will pick up a
stone and you can throw it at your enemies to stun them.
There is a dash in this game that you hit the left or right
button twice to complete. If you want to dash right, simply
hit right on the directional pad twice.
You can also dash and slide under certain areas, such as a
low tunnel. You do this by dashing and hitting button one
while dashing. This is actually easy to do, once you figure
out how to do it. You also have the ability to crouch and
sneak around certain obstacles. You simply hold the down
button and press button two while down. This is very useful
in some points of the game. Both the sliding and tip toeing
is easy to do.
Probably the hardest thing to do in terms of control, other
than jumping, is climbing up and down stairs. It's very
annoying and frustrating and hard to do until you figure out
the trick to it. I found myself walking back and forth,
hitting the down button over and over, but still not being
able to move down the stairs. Climbing up the stairs is a
little easier, but still very frustrating. The control is
certainly the worst thing about this game.
The graphics in this game are very good. They are very
colorful and they look really detailed considering this is a
GameGear game. The backgrounds, particularly on level 2 when
you are running across the rooftops with Jasmine look
excellent. It is near sunset and you can see the large
palace in the background. Inside the palace, the walls look
very fancy, complete with shiny things hanging from the
immaculate walls. Inside the Cave of Wonders is very dark,
until you move into the treasure room. In there you will see
piles of gold and it really adds some nice details to the game.
The guards all look exactly alike, but they do look pretty
well. The Genie, of course, is just large and very blue.
Aladdin looks like he does in the movies and he moves very
well. He starts out wearing cheap street clothes, including
a purple vest and baggy white pants. He then moves on to
wearing a white outfit fit for the Prince he is posing as.
In between stages the story of the movie is told through
sequences and text. These sequences look very good and add
to the overall appeal of the game. You can always skip
through them if they bore you, but if you happen to not know
the story, these sequence fill you in on what is going on.
They also just look interesting and give the game a more
story like quality.
The sound isn't quite as well done. The songs from the movie
are included and add to the entire Arabian atmosphere, but
they just don't sound very pleasant. The sound effects
aren't good either. Just jumping around, opening doors, and
throwing rocks. Nothing intersting in terms of the sound
effects. The music is good, but nothing special. When you
die, you get the same little jingle and for the most part it
sounds okay. Overall, the sound is one of the weakest part
of the game. It's not as bad as the control, but it's not as
good as the graphics are.
The replay value is below average. The game is easy the
first time through, but it becomes even easier after
repeated plays. There are only a couple of levels that
provide even a hint of challenge, but once you play them,
they are nearly as easy as the other ones. The game is too
short, with no secrets. The best levels are the chase levels
and the magic carpet rides, but even they become too easy to
have much fun with them. Each of them take under a minute to
complete. Basically, this is a game that can be finished in
a good fifteen or twenty minutes. It's good, but not good
enough to play through more once. At the most, you might
play through it twice.
Overall, poor control and average sound hurt the game. The
lack of challenge also hurts the appeal of the game, but
most of all there is little to no replay value. The best
thing about this game is variety in the game play. Some of
those levels are very interesting and fun to play. The
graphics are also a highlight in this game, as it is a very
nice looking game. Play through it once and that's about it.
It's a little too easy and short, also the control can be
frustrating sometimes, but it's still enjoyable to play a
couple of times. This isn't a game that I would recommend
you go out and buy immediately, but it's not one that I
would recommend you stay away from either. If you get a
chance to play this game though, it might keep you occupied
for about twenty minutes. That's about all the appeal you'll
find in this game.
Graphics - 7/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 4/10
Challenge - 4/10
Appeal - 6/10
Game Play - 7/10
Replay Value - 4/10
Overall - 6/10
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