The Adventures of Willy Beamish

"One of the systems better titles"

The Adventures of Willy Beamish was one of my favorite games for the ill-fated Sega CD system. I remember grumbling because this game was originally PC only, and I of course, had a Mac. I was so happy when I heard it would be released for the Sega CD. To a kid, this game just looks cool. It has the look and feel of a cartoon, done from a kids perspective, well at least a kid who would be playing this game's. You take control of Willy, a boy who loves video games and playing pranks, but those pranks are sending him on a one-way route straight to military school, a just before the Nintari Championships too!

It's a point and click adventure game, but not a typical one. The more bad things you do, or should I say, get caught doing, the more your meter rises. If it reaches the top, well it's off to military school with you, a.k.a. Game Over. The game starts you off with a short movie in which Willy plays a prank on the school's principal during an assembly. You take over controls from detention. Make sure you clear the answering machine to cover your tracks at home! This game is like a crash course in being sneaky and getting away with murder. Well, not literally of course.

It looks pretty good on this system too, with plenty of colors, animations, and well drawn characters, and detailed backgrounds. The only trouble I had was with the loading times, which it seems, takes forever. I found myself doing as much as I could in one room, before leaving, then while the next room was loading I would walk away from the system and grab a snack, or something to drink or even take a phone call. It almost makes you not want to play, but the game really is fun enough, to make up for that. And of course if you get really sick of it there's always the save feature.

But where adventure games really shine, this one does as well. The thing about adventure games is that there is always a set list of events that one must complete in order to finish the game. The good part is those aren't you only option. You can do plenty and plenty of extra stuff that is just plain cool, but not needed to finish the game. Take, for example, Maniac Mansion. In this game you could, if you wanted, and knew how, obtain a gerbil, place it in the microwave, and turn it on. Then if you really wanted, you could return the dead animal to it's owner. This did not help you in any way with your quest, but it was there. The same is true for this game. Plenty of extra stuff that is fun. This sort of adds to the replay value. Although this game doesn't have any extra endings, I'm sure your first time through you won't find every single thing to do. Searching for those little extras is one of my favorite thing in any game, but adventure games are notorious for them, and this one did not fail.

Since this title is for the Sega CD you can pick it up fairly cheap, at used video game stores, or online auction sites like eBay. I suggest you do if you are lucky enough to own a Sega CD. It's a big step up from other such let downs on the system.

And now for the scoring (out of 10):
Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 7
Sound: 9
Control: 9
Replay: 7

Difficulty: (low, med., high) Medium
Value: (Rent, Purchase) Purchase

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/02, Updated 01/16/02