Fester's Quest

"All Good Game Making Companies Have Their Stinkers. Here's An Example."

Waku Waku 7 proved three things about Sunsoft:

1) They are perfectly capable of making a non-action game that's still very good.
2) They are perfectly capable of making a game with humor that's still very good.
3) They are perfectly capable of making a game where the only thing it has in common with Blaster Master is the what the main character looks like (Rai does look a bit like Jason)

Fester's Quest is almost the total opposite of #3. This game has everything in common with Blaster Master except what the main character looks like. Sure, there's also no tank, thank goodness. But in terms of being in a catacomb, that's dang near how Fester's Quest plays.

I'm really not sure what the plot is suppose to be. I guess it starts off with Fester sunbathing under the night sky, then aliens start destroying the town. The Addams family sets off to save the town with Fester in the lead while the others give support.

I'm just as confused as you are.

The gameplay takes place in an overhead view of Fester and his surroundings. You can't jump, you just run around shooting stuff. You also get some items here and there which help you on your quest. Sometimes you have to go into an underground tunnel, which is very dark. There's an item to help you here. In these tunnels, you've got enemies coming at you from here and there. At the end of the level, you fight some kind of boss. I've never gotten that far because of how frustrating the game is, so I can't say what the bosses are like.

The challenge is high. Very high. You've got stuff flying at you constantly and most take a lot of hits to destroy. They usually take so many hits to destroy that you have to backup to avoid being hit by them. When you finally destroy them, you'll have backed up so much that when you try to pass to what the enemy was guarding, they'll be back. There's another challenge problem that's so big it gets its own little paragraph.

The gun works very poorly. When you upgrade it enough, the path it takes changes. One of these guns appears to shoot little cannon balls in a wide/ circling motion. In the overworld where there's lots of space, this isn't a problem. In the narrow underground tunnels, it's annoying. The shots just end up hitting a wall. And if you go in with a low power gun that goes straight forward, it's too weak to kill anything.

Actually controlling Fester is easy enough. He's very responsive. Now, his movements are bad. Fester can't move diagonally and he's about as fast as a dead turtle on its back, and when he gets paralyzed he goes even slower. Using items can be a bit cumbersome as you have to pull up the menu, select the item from a list of about fifteen, activate it, close the menu, then use the item. And you can't strafe. I really wish Sunsoft had left that in.

The graphics aren't too bad. They're actually the peak of the game. The scenery is well detailed and uses a good variety of colors. Oddly enough, there's enemies from Blaser Master here such as the brain and frogs. Fester on the other hand look like crap. He's all black and gray except for his gun and he animates like Jason in Blaster Master in slowmo.

The sound is pretty average. The quality sounds like your typical Sunsoft game, but the actual music isn't too good. In the overworld, it's not bad and in the case of the first stage feels like you're starting out on your quest. In the underground tunnels, though, it's very slow and boring. Since I could never get very far because of to poor way the gun works and how you have crap flying at you from left and right, I can't rate the music of the other levels.

The sound effects sound like something out of Blaster Master. Sure, Sunsoft also did it in Journey to Silius, but this isn't something only Sunsoft has done. Capcom's used it plenty of times, and is known for recycling the entire game. A few sound effects are missing such as the jumping noise seeing as how you can't jump in this game.

Scorings
Plot: 3/10
Gameplay/Fun Factor: 4/10
Control: 5/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 5/10
Overall: 4/10

Squaresoft and Secret of Mana. Combat system stunk. Capcom and Yo Noid. Would've been fine if not for the damned Pizza Eating Contest. Konami and Bayou Billy. Too hard, too boring, too annoying. Sunsoft and Fester's Quest. Read the review. All the good guys have their low moments. I don't recommend this game. Even if you really liked Blaster Master, don't get this.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 09/11/02, Updated 11/02/02