The Little Mermaid

"Definitely a kids game; very easy"

As you might have already guessed, The Little Mermaid is a game for children. It's not particularly hard, and it IS based on the movie of the same name, after all. You are Ariel, a mermaid, and your quest is to destroy Ursula, the evil half woman, half octopus with the big pitchfork. You travel through several levels of side scrolling, swimming action. You destroy enemies with your tail. You trap enemies in an air bubble and then throw them at other enemies. You kill bosses this way, by trapping smaller enemies and throwing them at the big guy. Shells can also be found and used as weapons. For one player only.

Graphics: 7/10

Not too bad for an NES game. You can tell by looking what movie the game is based on, and some of the bosses look OK.

Sound: 7/10

Very cutesy, but it fits well because of the type of game we're talking about. Kids will enjoy it.

Gameplay: 6/10

Not complex, by any means. You swim, trap and throw, and that's about it. There may be a couple of areas that will frustrate young players for a while, but the bottom line is that this is an easy game. The bosses follow a pattern and most of the regular enemies do as well. Control is good, however, and you won't lose many lives because of errors in that respect. A few characters from the movie are recognizable, so that's a plus.

Replay: 2/10

Hmm. Truthfully, absolutely nothing to bring you back for a second outing. Once you've finished this short game, that's it. You've done everything you can.

Overall: 6/10

A perfect game for children. Some challenge, but not enough to frustrate them a lot or make it impossible to be finished. Overall, the game isn't bad, but most older gamers would most likely not be interested. If you have some kind of craving to play the only game based on this movie, or if you have small children, give it a try. Otherwise, there's nothing here worth seeing.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99