Action 52

"I can give you 52 reasons NOT to play this game..."

There's a reason Nintendo didn't licence this game. About 52 reasons,probably more! But first a history of this game:
Back in 1991 or some time period like that,a company called Active Entertainment put this game out,claiming it had 52 action packed games. One way to get it was through the Home Shopping Network,for the great price of $200! *cough*ripoff*cough* It had the supposed Action Packed-Guarantee on the front of the box. Can't go wrong with that,can we? Sure,there was no Nintendo Seal of Quality,but that doesn't matter. I mean,Hamtaro for GBC has the Nintendo Seal of Quality. Heroes of the Lance and Bebe's Kids had the Seal of Quality. Besides,this game has a contest connected with it where you can win $104,000! I don't see The Legend of Zelda having that kind of bonus,do you? Anyway,if you forked out $200 (which now buys a PS2 or XBox with 2 games) for the ACTION-PACKED cart,you'd be expecting something great,right? Well,don't get your hopes up.

Story: 2/10 Okay,only one game even had a story,Cheetahmen. The Master Gamer gets pulled into the TV,and 3 Cheetahmen say they will guard him from the evil fiends of the other 51 games. (WTF...?) Other than that,there wasn't a story. And that one didn't make any sense.

Graphics: 1/10 This was made in 1991 and it looks like Atari 2600. They seriously could have done better,even if they are an independent company. AD&D Heroes of the Lance looked better,and that's saying a lot! Notable is the Storm over Desert game,which featured a green desert and pink tanks. Ecchh!

Play Control: 1/10 On the space shooters,the play control is fine,but on any game where you have to jump it's terrible. You have to stop,jump,and hold the directional pad to get across gaps. Gunpei Yokoi is rolling in his grave for the abuse of the D-pad shown in this game. Other than that,it's fine,but the jumping was very awful.

Game design: -2/10 Ugh. Bebe's Kids was better than this. Every third game seems to be a space shooter,and two of the games don't even start up,for Jhonen's sake! All the other games are terrible,from ''Sombreros' where a Mexican guy walks down the street and shoots cars,to Cry baby,where a baby tries to kill people with a bottle(and dies if he falls from a meter-tall chair),from Storm over Desert,with the invincible marching Saddam Hussein,to Non Human which is just plain freaky,from Hambo,the game where a ill-fated pig with a mullet jumps over balls,to Time Searchers(or something) where two fingers flick things,revealing the words ''Time?'' There are so many awful games on this. I named only a few of them. Heck,all of them are awful,but at least the space shooters were generic! Shaq Fu is a better idea than,oh say, Shooting gallery,where you can't die and it eventually freezes up,forcing you to watch the intro again! GAAAHHHH!

Sound/Music 1/10 Ugh...some games didn't have music,and on others,it was irritating. VERY irritating. It makes me want to go back and listen to HotL's ''DODEDO DODODO DODEDO''. The sound isn't good either,heck,I barely realized the sound. There was some decent voicework at the beginning,which was IMO the best part of the game,in graphics,sound,music,and plot.

Replay value: When you have 52 games on one cart at your disposal,and you don't want to replay any of them,you know you've got a bad game on your hands. Replay = Nonexistent

Buy/Emulate: I'd say neither,unless you want a novelty,or to see how bad a game gets. If you want that,I'd also suggest E.T. for Atari 2600.

Overall: 1/10 Believe me,there is NOTHING good about this game. The only things even slightly amusing are the ''Time?'' game,along with Desert Storm,Sombreros,Non Human,and a few others. You'd be best off avoiding this. Thanks for coming,now shut up and PLEASE don't play.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/02, Updated 12/20/02