Pandemonium!

"A stupid name for a stupid game!"

INTRO

I had $10 to blow and I had nothing else I wanted so I just felt like getting a game. Mainly, because I couldn't get clothes, a skateboard, or a new CD which I wanted more and I usually don't put games before everything else so this was new for me. I went to Blockbuster because I didn't think I could buy a game with $10, but I was wrong. In some section of the store there are a couple games that are sold cheap, but are old. I saw Pandemonium for $5 and I remember seeing this game a long time ago so I decided to buy it and try it out. I went home and popped this into my Playstation only to be disappointed by this game which sucks. Well, it doesn't suck, but you'll find out more as I continue with this review. Pandemonium is made by Sony in 1996 and is one of the first Playstation games. This is a normal adventure game and is somewhat unnoticed. Mainly because this review is the only one for this game. Oh well, let's continue.

STORY: (4/10)

The story is rather dull. Even for an adventure game Sony could've made a better story, but oh well, what's done is done. Here's the story so you can know what I'm talking about. Two characters, (forgot their names) one is a jester and the other is a sorcereress. They were fooling around with a magic book outside the castle on a balcony and the girl tried out various spells. Sometimes they would be amazed, but one certain spell ruined them. This spell summoned a demon and it is running wild and destroying things. The two people are responsible for this and now they are going to venture off and find that demon and destroy it. Now that may sound OK to some of you, but I personally think anyone could think of that story in a minute. It's weak in my opinion and caused this game to be less enjoyable. Overall, the story is pretty bad and could've definitely been improved if Sony spent more time on a story.

GAMEPLAY: (6/10)

Well, not the greatest but it's still pretty fun for about the first four levels. The game play has both downfalls and good points, but the good points are very minimal. First I'll talk about what's good with the game. The fact that it's an adventure game and is very similar to Super Nintendo adventure games are a good thing. The really good thing about this game is that during the whole game you can change between the two characters so if you start with the guy or girl you won't have to be them through out the whole game. I usually switch between the characters by odd levels (ex: level #1 guy, level #2 girl, level #3 guy, etc.). The characters each have their own special technique so their is diversity amongst the characters other than just being a male and female and it does matter who you pick. The guy has a cartwheel special and the girl has a double jump. Now those are the good things, but now here comes the bad things. Sometimes throughout the level you'll encounter an enemy and their are only three ways to kill it. A bop on the head, a special (cartwheel or jump), and a fireball. This is similar to a Super Nintendo action game, but I don't want too much similarities to a Super Nintendo game because they are good, but this is Playstation! I want an adventure game with thousands of weapons, new ideas, cool characters, good story, etc.. The Playstation did not truly use its power for this game, but it was an experiment. OK, sorry for the rant. Now the weird thing about getting a fireball is that you get it sometimes after killing an opponent. The bad thing is that you don't know how much you have, so if you are preparing to attack a monster you might not have the fireball. Their are three-forms of a fireball; fire, ice and lightning. Now let me talk about the levels. Of course there is a map for you to move on level to level, which is where you can change your characters. There are a decent amount of levels in the game, but the problem is that they are too long. It takes about 4-7 minutes to finish a level. That might sound like a good thing, but it's not because it's the same stuff over and over. There are no mini games or side quests to do. All you do is play the next level and their are no big surprises in any of the levels except for a trampoline coin thingy. I can't explain it, but you hop on a trampoline and hit some statue with a fireball and out comes coins. Coins are the form of life in this game and there is no way to gain more, or at least I don't know of any way. That's pretty much all there is to say about Pandemonium. Overall, average game play.

CONTROLS: (7/10)

The controls are surpassingly the best thing about this game. Since this game is 2D there is not a lot of places to run around freely so the controls are easy and somewhat responsive. The buttons are really easy, but I don't like the controls for some reason. They're fine, but yet again this could've all been distributed onto a Super Nintendo and not just the game but the controls too. There are three buttons used in the whole game. Jump, shoot, and special. This is convenient because you won't have to worry about the controls, but I still think these controls aren't perfect. More along the line of adequate would be a better term for the controls. Overall, the controls should be no problem for you.

MUSIC/SOUND: (5/10)

Now I don't really remember any tunes or certain themes to the game. That is why it has an average score. Games with great music is always remembered and in some cases, a CD of that music is bought. Not here. I don't remember anything about Pandemonium. I'm not saying the music is really bad or really good. The music is clear, but there are no good beats that you can hum to yourself. Now the sounds were OK, but nothing special. The sounds of the fireball being shot is pretty good and somewhat loud. There is nothing really noticeable about the sounds. I do remember one thing about the game where the boulder is chasing me and you can hear the rolling. This used a bit of the Playstations power, but not a lot of it. Another thing that Sony used was voice acting which is an example of the Playstations power. Well, they did not sound exactly good (more annoying) but it still showed people a sample of what the Playstation can do. Overall the audio in Pandemonium is nothing special nor memorable. Just average.

GRAPHICS: (7/10)

The graphics are impressive for 1996, but even for 1996 I've seen a bit better. This yet again shows off the power of the Playstation, but as I always say ''graphics don't make everything.'' Well, they don't and they don't make anything in Pandemonium. There are some good things about the graphics. One of them would be that it's very colorful and bright. The first stage especially is loaded with bright colors. The backgrounds are nicely detailed. This, however, cannot make up for the reason why the graphics are bad. That is because of repetition which some games suffer from, mainly adventure games. Well, first you see mountains with trees in the background and then you see it 3 minutes later. They should've used more ideas then just giving the whole level three different looks and repeating them. Also, the game is in 2D (ay)! which I prefer in an adventure game because if the company doesn't spend too much time on graphics then they'll pay more attention to game play. Unfortunately that is not the case always. That's about everything to say about the graphics. Overall, nice bright and detailed graphics but over used.

CHALLENGE: (4/10)

The difficulty in Pandemonium can vary depending on what level you do with who. Still, it's not much of a challenge. The only thing wrong with the game is that the levels are too long and there are no saves during the level so it can easily get boring. Another challenge is to see how long you can last :P. I'm just kidding, but seriously this game is kind of boring. The enemies aren't really hard and neither are the bosses. There's not much of a challenge in the game because there are no puzzles, no hard levels and nothing else that may confuse or puzzle someone. Overall the challenge for Pandemonium is rather low. Anyone can beat it unless your like me and get bored of it.

REPLAY: (5/10)

Since there is no mini games or anything extra that comes along with the game it seems as if you are just stuck with the adventure portion of Pandemonium. Since this is one of the first games on Playstation I decided to give it some slack because there were not many games back in 1996 with a lot of replay value. I chose to give it an average score mainly because all adventure games are replayable at some point. Adventure games are the funnest to play over mainly because of their fun factor, but since Pandemonium doesn't have so much of it it's just average. Overall, the replay value for Pandemonium is just average as is the other parts.

PROS
- Easy controls
- Bright and colorful graphics
- Not so difficult

CONS
- Really lame story
- Stupid characters
- Basic game play; similar to SNES type games
- Repetitive graphics

OVERALL: (5/10)

OK, I know this isn't one of my best reviews, but I just have to tell it like it is. I seriously would think twice about getting this game and not just because it is old. There are plenty of great old games, but I won't go there. Now if you want to know what I'd recommend for you to do it's quite simple. Just ignore this game. It shouldn't be too hard, but if you are the type that really likes action games the next best thing is to rent it and that is what I recommend. Now I know that there is a Pandemonium 2, but I have never played it. I know that the jester is still there and it did look like a cool game. It came out about a year after this game so there might be some improvements. I doubt it. I just hope for this game titles sake that it better do some serious thinking if they want this to turn into a great series. Well, that's basically all that I have to say about Pandemonium so I hope this helps you decide whether to buy it or not. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/00, Updated 08/12/00