Gremlins 2 Review (NES), Criticism requested

[DrLitch]

My brother is in process of developing a website. His business for the past few years has been building and customizing PC's / Servers and the like - mainly for large offices. He has been prosperous but he want's to extend his business to cover gaming as well and is developing a website for this purpose. He thought it would be a good idea to run a top 100 list for clickbait. I suggested I could help. I have never written reviews before, so please give me your 2C. You do not need to worry about offending (yeah we know that old one, first comment in less than glowing terms = triggered or defensive individual). I work in R&D, 9 in 10 ideas lead to failure, my line of work tends to bulwark my sense of entitlement. So have it, criticism will be much appreciated.

100.
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Gremlins 2 (NES)(1990)
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Every top 100 list needs at least one title that goes against the grain of common consensus. This is a video game adaption of a popular 1990 film, during a time where every publisher felt the need to translate a movie into a game cart. Usually these end up average or abysmal, particularly in the 8 bit era which was contaminated by extremely poor movie tie ins. Gremlins 2 bucks that trend. It was developed by Sunsoft with the game taking the form of a top down platformer borrowing some Super C style shooting elements. Our little hero Gizmo attacks enemies with projectiles that have astonishing firepower, such as ripe tomatoes, matchsticks, and various assortments of stationary. The top down viewpoint rarely works well when perilous platforming is involved but this game pulls that off better than most. If you do fall off an edge (it will happen quite often) you have one get out of jail free card - a little balloon pops out which you can use to float across the troublesome section. If you do not have a balloon, then at least falling into a pit does not equate to instant death. You can purchase balloon's from a store tucked away on each level but other items are stocked and you can only buy a single piece per visit. Naturally given the choice between a balloon, a free guy or weapon powerup, the balloon will not be a purchase you will make very often. As for gameplay, this is a typical action platformer done very well (albeit with a top down viewpoint). The usual staples are present such as perilous pits, difficult platforming with hazards to navigate, and an assortment of bad guys to kill including large bouncing tomatoes (I do not recall seeing them in the film), rats, bats, homing bombs, and of course Gremlins in various guises. Naturally, each area will have a boss to kill and Gremlins 2 offered some good ones (the end boss is great). What really stood out for this game were the awesome graphics and an incredible soundtrack. This is par for the course with Sunsoft in their NES days. Like many NES titles, this one was short in length with 5 areas divided up into two or three sub stages but it offered bang for the buck in terms of difficulty. While presenting a reasonably formidable challenge, it was not brutal or unfair for the most part (although there are sections involving jumps and a chain smoking Gremlin that will definitely make you consider a smoking habit for stress relief). A novice player will be able to clear two areas before seeing a continue screen. This game starts becoming more of a challenge in the third area but it is beatable with practice. I definitely recommend you try this one out, it is actually very good, rare for a movie tie in game in the 1980's/1990's. I must add that this game actually follows the plot of the film and most recognizable bad guys are present. Quite unusual given that many developers would, at best, use the film in name only. This game did not attract too much attention but deserves to be considered a great NES title. If I were to assemble a list of 10 greatest NES titles, I would have a hard time leaving this one off of it.

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

1. Paragraph breaks.

2. Your lead sentence is redundant, and is going to look absurd if you intend to tackle the top 100 games for the NES. Other licensed titles are going to appear in it, if its any good at all.

3. You introduce us to the tomatoes twice.

4. You have no idea how to breakdown the graphics and sound. What actually makes this game's presentation more appealing than say, Robocop?

4. Right now, you have no sense of flow. You have no hooks to grab people. You're just very dry, even by the standards of most source code. Which can be a bad thing, when you're looking to run a program through your audience's wetworks.

There's a lot of competition for our time.

May I suggest a book on writing style, before you continue? Stephen King's On Writing is a decent place to begin.

Positives: Passion, willingness to accept criticism, and good taste in games. Negatives: Lack of experience. This is a first stab at a review, and it shows.

Overall grade: Incomplete.

[DrLitch]

1. Paragraph breaks.

2. Your lead sentence is redundant, and is going to look absurd if you intend to tackle the top 100 games for the NES. Other licensed titles are going to appear in it, if its any good at all.

3. You introduce us to the tomatoes twice.

4. You have no idea how to breakdown the graphics and sound. What actually makes this game's presentation more appealing than say, Robocop?

4. Right now, you have no sense of flow. You have no hooks to grab people. You're just very dry, even by the standards of most source code. Which can be a bad thing, when you're looking to run a program through your audience's wetworks.

There's a lot of competition for our time.

May I suggest a book on writing style, before you continue? Stephen King's On Writing is a decent place to begin.

Positives: Passion, willingness to accept criticism, and good taste in games. Negatives: Lack of experience. This is a first stab at a review, and it shows.

Overall grade: Incomplete.

Thank you for taking the time to read and correspond your criticism. It is much appreciated. I will definitely look into writing style and rhetoric. This is actually an important exercise for personal development since I am in the process of steering my career away from industry and towards academia where the expectation will be the coauthor must evolve towards the author. Thank you for your constructive criticism. In due course, with the benefit of learning, I will submit another review of a game I enjoy.