Last Action Hero
Reviewed by Jonathon Naylor
When playing this game, one can't help but feel that this was a title
that was rushed out at the last minute. Perhaps all of the effort put
forth in bringing the bomb Arnold Schwarzenegger movie to video
game land was sapped up by the other four Last Action Hero titles
(for SNES, Genesis, Game Boy and Game Gear). Regardless, this NES
adaptation is a title that, unfortunately, exposes far more weaknesses
of the classic console than strengths. It was one of those games that
made even the most die-hard NES fan realize that the consoles days
were numbered. If they weren't numbered due to 8-bit limitations,
than they were certainly numbered due to the apparent lack of effort
game designers put into the last batch of NES games.
Graphics: 5.5 out of 10
The NES can do some incredible things in the graphics department
despite its 8-bit status. None of them are seen in Last Action Hero.
Although the graphics are decent in some stages, one comes away
from playing this cart knowing they could have been better. The game's
hero, Jack Slater, doesn't really look like the Jack Slater of the movie.
He just looks like the Arnold Schwarzenegger character from two earlier
NES games, Total Recall and T2. The villains are your standard
bad-guys-in-nice-clothes-with-guns, while some of the bosses look
plain pitiful. The background and the in-between-levels storyline
graphics, although colorful, are pretty standard. In a word, the
graphics in this cart are average.
Music and Sound: 6 out of 10
The slightly above average music (by NES standards, anyway) is very
dominant in this game. The below-average sound effects take a back
seat to the music, which is certainly a good thing in this case. Some
of the sound effects, especially when our hero punches out the doors
in Level 2, are out-and-out annoying. A highlight of the music in this
cart is the fact that it comes with some of the best NES 'exciting
you've reached the boss music' I've ever heard. Too bad the rest of
the game couldn't be as special.
Game Challenge: 2.5 out of 10
Have you ever, just for the heck of it, played one of your little brother's
'educational' games? You know, the ones where no matter what you do,
you can't lose? Well, Last Action Hero isn't quite that easy, but it's
close. So easy is the game that one simple formula will allow gamers
to defeat every single boss: Simply duck near your boss and keep
punching. That's it. The bosses will walk towards you, get knocked
back a ways by your fist and repeat the process until they are dead.
Anyone who has owned this game has likely finished it the first day
they had it, if not the first or second time they played it. I was surprised
to see that Galoob included codes for this game for the Game Genie.
If you need the Game Genie to help you with this one, maybe you
should stick with the educational games.
Game Play-Fun: 4 out of 10
At some point, you have to put everything else about a game aside
and ask yourself, 'Is this fun to play?'. The answer to that question
regarding this cart is a firm 'Not really'. Last Action Hero literally
has nothing new to offer. In fact, this is perhaps the best way to sum
up this game; it has all been done before, and it has been done better.
It's a side-scroller that takes Arnie through eight strikingly similar
levels based on scenes from the movie. As in a gazillion other games
before it, you have three options: jump, punch or kick. Even though
Arnie almost always had a gun or two or three in the movie, there
isn't one weapon to pick up along the way. Mind you, if there were
weapons, you certainly wouldn't need them...but they would make
things much more fun!
Frustration
The two big frustrations with this game are that it is simply too
easy and too limited. Although some might disagree, I think this
game had a lot of potential to be good, if not great.
Replayability: 3 out of 10
The fact that it's so easy really takes away from the replayability
value of Last Action Hero. There are no tricks, secrets or anything
else to make things interesting again once you've finished it.
Game Value
I received this game for Christmas a few months after it was
released back in '93. Back then, it certainly wasn't worth the
money it cost. To collectors looking for a somewhat rare game
to round out their NES libraries, it might be worth a single-digit
price tag.
Overall: 4.5 out of 10
Like many film-to-game adaptions, this cart managed to stick
very close its film roots. Unfortunately, designers perhaps worried
to much about staying true to the film and not enough about creating
something people would enjoy. Like the movie, this cart is one most
people will want to forget.