"It appears Krusty wasn't satisfied with just having an average TV show.....he's got an average game now too!"

Krusty’s Funhouse is an endearing little puzzle game that is quite a bit more cerebral than it’s cartoon show background may normally suggest. In this title you are put in the shoes of Springfield’s local funnyman Herschel Krustofsky, better known as Krusty the Clown. Vermin have invaded his “Funhouse” and it’s up to him to exterminate them by using traps manned by well-known Simpson characters. Despite its numerous flaws (you’ll find out about all of them soon) Krusty’s Funhouse was one of the best spin off games to come from The Simpsons cartoon, this fact really doesn’t say much for the other games but it’s the truth.

GRAPHICS
The graphics of this game are of a reasonable standard, the level of detail here is a bit below standards but generally the visuals are okay. The majority of Krusty’s backgrounds and surroundings are nothing to get excited about, they’re just generally plain patterns or merely single colours, perhaps with a mouse hole or a window thrown in now and again for good measure. Most of the colours throughout the game are of a brighter nature giving the game a very light-hearted atmosphere. There is a bit of variety however, in the course of a few levels you can travel through a cheerful, seeming friendly carnival atmosphere with palm trees and lovely posters of Krusty on the wall, to a dull level full of dangerous machinery and lasers, then back again.
Krusty himself has been translated from the show to the game faithfully and accurately, right down to the little white gloves on his hands. His animation's are of a good quality, maintaining a cheerful disposition for most of the time. The enemies that he goes up against are good in theory, but have been let down in the execution of their design, you’ll find yourself battling against creatures such as over-sized snakes that spit balls of stuff at you, laser toting Martians and maybe even a flying pig or two. Whilst some of these ideas are original and sound good on paper, for the most part they look ridiculous from head to foot.
The various in-game objects strewn throughout the place look pretty good, created realistically despite usually being way out of proportion with everything. The mice that Krusty is continuously feuding with as tall as his stomach, and for some reason (despite his girth) Krusty can jump up to three times his own height. This is only a minor complaint, but it can be very weird at times.
Overall, the graphics of Krusty’s Funhouse do have their flaws. But despite this it’s a pretty reasonable effort, one that won’t hurt your eyes to look at too much at all. There were certainly some improvements that could have been implemented but generally it’s okay.

SOUND
The sound of Krusty’s Funhouse is where the standard starts to sink a little bit, this isn’t a game that one will enjoy listening to for extended periods of time. There is a different background tune for each of the five levels, and since these levels can take up somewhere between half an hour and an hour to pass it doesn’t make enjoyable listening. The underlying theme of this music is great, it’s fantastic clown music, bright and happy themes that work wonders in cheering up little kiddies. The biggest flaw here is the repetitiveness of it, there are only so many times you can listen to the same section of song before putting your foot through the screen and this game tests that limit.
Sound effects are a common occurrence here but unfortunately their standards aren’t too high either. The only good thing one can say about them is that they complement the music, but going past that one will find that they’re whiny, irritating little sounds that have a nasty habit of grating a persons nerves. Just another reason for you to turn the volume ALL the way down.
Overall, the audio aspects are a huge disappointment, there is not a single redeeming feature that makes this game even semi-listenable and it’s highly recommended that you either switch it off, turn it down or invest in a high quality pair of ear-muffs.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is a bit of a mixed-bag here, it has it’s ups and downs and it’s really up to the taste of the player as to which category is more common an occurrence. At the start of each level you’re presented with the same ubiquitous goal, destroy all of the mice in this section of the funhouse. Each of these parts is filled with enemies, obstacles and helpful objects to aid you in your quest. The objects that you’re given include such handy things as blocks, springs, glass jars for mouse transportation and even some pipe sections. It’s up to you to place these objects at your disposal in such a way that the mice (which just continuously keep walking forward) will reach one of the traps and be exterminated.
The controls are simple and shouldn’t present a big problem to the player, one of the buttons will make Krusty jump, the second will perform the other actions and the directional buttons will make Krusty walk and pick up the various tools that the developers have so kindly left for him.
Progressing through, and eventually completing the game will take a lot of heavy thinking, lateral and otherwise, this is quite a change from the other Simpson games out there and certainly a welcome one. Some of the situations you’re put in however, can be confusing and take a helluva lot of repeat performances to eventually complete the level, just an extra bit of frustration there.
The levels have a decent bit of variety in them, some of the levels may require you to use your brains and some great strategies whilst others may be a race against time to reach a certain point in the level and act accordingly. Despite this semi-wide range one can tire of the level choices quite quickly thus denting the lifespan of the game considerably at times. The traps waiting for you at the end inject a bit of oddball humour into the game, you may see Bart squash them, Homer fry them or if your lucky be treated to the disgusting sight of Corporal Punishment devouring them. It makes it all worthwhile to get to the end of the levels to see these animation's.
Throughout the levels there’s a good amount of pick ups and other objects for Krusty to collect, most of them are just score boosters but there are some other helpful little tid-bits such as health and weapons (the weapons are pretty basic, either cream pies or funny purple balls). Another problem with this game is the matter of Krusty’s health, there’s no health bar or meter for you to gawk at and judge his medical state. The only way to see if he’s been hurt is to stop walking, if he’s panting and looking miserable then it’s time to start worrying, this method is very irritating and a meter on screen would have been a lot more helpful.
For those that lack the will power to repeat early stages a countless number of times there is a password system, the passwords are well known names and phrases from the TV show and are a great help in zipping straight to your level of choice (especially if you’re as lazy as I am).
Overall, the gameplay has quite a few flaws and it makes the game less enjoyable than it perhaps could have been, if you can accept these problems and live with them then one may just be able to get a kick out of this game but it’s a long shot. There were some innovative ideas tried out but it just falls short at the end of the day.

LIFESPAN
If you can get into the gameplay and excuse the various grievances that the game has then you should get a pretty good lifespan out of this game. If one plans on finishing Krusty’s Funhouse then they’re in for a long (not to mention torrid) journey right up until the end. There are quite a large number of areas to complete in each level and finishing them all in one sitting is quite a long and daunting task. For those that cant stand the cerebral approach to platforming that this game offers certainly won’t enjoy this game for as long as someone else would, it’s a matter of the gamers taste.

FUN FACTOR
Being a Simpsons spin-off one might think that this game would exude the fun that abounds in the show, this is certainly not the case however. It can be a very frustrating game at times and its puzzling nature ruins any large amount of enjoyment that one can have from this game. There are a few sections that one might describe as “comical” but these are few and far between, certainly not enough of them to warrant a higher fun-factor than earlier suggested.

CHALLENGE
The challenge of Krusty’s Funhouse is somewhere between medium-hard and downright impossible. There is a good learning curve, starting off easy and getting harder at a reasonable pace, but towards the end some of the situations that poor ol’ Krusty is placed in are truly mind-boggling. You’ll be faced by a number of the hardest puzzles to ever appear on a Genesis game and it’ll take a very smart person to win the game. Definitely too hard for the more average gamer, the difficulty will just overwhelm a person in the later levels.

THE FINAL PARAGRAPH
Overall, Krusty’s Funhouse had a lot of potential, unfortunately there have been too many flaws and annoyances that have found their way into the game to make it really good playing. Perhaps if you have a Genesis and you’re REALLY intellectual then this could be a game right up your alley, otherwise it’s hard to find a way to really enjoy this game to a decent extent.

Message to Krusty the Clown: Don’t quit your day job
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GOOD POINTS
- It’s Krusty! Most people love Krusty…..
- Some pretty good puzzle elements to spice up the platforming themes
- Squishing mice in a big trap is actually a lot of fun

NOT SO GOOD POINTS
- A pretty bland audio/video combination
- Puzzles so hard they can make your eyes bleed
- I’d really like to know how Krusty can jump that high…..
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GRAPHICS – 8/10
SOUND – 4/10
GAMEPLAY – 6/10
LIFESPAN – 5/10
FUN FACTOR – 3/10
CHALLENGE – 4/10
OVERALL – 5/10