"Smash! Bang! Boom!"

In 1987, a movie based on a book by Stephen King was entitled "The Running Man." Now fast forward to 1990 and you get the inspiration of the same result that is Smash TV.

GAME PLAY: You play a contestant whose consolation prize is your life. To keep yourself up in the game, you must go through every nook & cranny of all 3 mazes using only 2 joysticks. (If you're at home playing this, the controllers may be your best bet) Avoid all mines and collect prizes like VCRs and toasters for more points. In addition to all of this, collect all 10 keys, or more than that, to get into the pleasure room, and defeat the evil MC to win the game. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. You can use a buddy to join in anytime. Sweet !
10/10

GRAPHICS: Well, you can count for graphics, but you get to see the floors open when enemies go out the door. Arrows light up when you go on to the next room, and the text is very colorful when you enter it. Each room may go by a different name, and by the start of each maze, there's a map telling you where the bonuses and the bosses are. Between rooms, camera crews keep your eye on every move. Plus, the whole thing is in "top view" mode. And at the end of every stage, your player could be happy or not if you score more points than your opponent.
9/10

SOUNDS: The music is very adrenaline-pumping except for the 3rd maze which reminds me of a Tori Amos song. Plus, a harpsichord tells you if you got a key or an extra life. Also, your players yell if you get a prize or you throw a bomb to hit all enemies. The crowd can react if you made a room or got dead. BTW, the host sounds courageous by yelling his famous line "Total Carnage!"
10/10

REPLAY VALUE: You know I hate to say this, but for the most part, every time you use 3 lives, 4 lives, or 5 lives gone, you have to start over from the point where you were. However, Smash TV is the fun quarter-munching game where you play by wasting your paycheck to get through it.
7/10

OVERALL PRESENTATION: Out of all the quarter-munchers including NARC, Total Carnage and Gauntlet, Smash TV continues in this period as one of the greatest games of all-time. Its mazes, enemies, prizes and format keep Williams as the overall leader in video games of the 90's decade.

Score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/07/06