Cliffhanger

"Lackluster beat 'em up game-play interjected with annoying climbing and obstacle course segments."

I consider myself a fan of the Sylvester Stallone movie this game is based on. I wasn't quite sure how the plot of the movie would translate into a game, since there were less than a dozen bad guys in the film to battle against. To correct this, you will find yourself fighting a bunch of generic thugs while climbing rock faces and outrunning avalanches. Onto the review..

Graphics 6/10

The visuals of Cliffhanger aren't going to win any awards, even by 1993 standards. In the distance I managed to go in the game, I only found two enemy designs with several palette swaps between them even in the first level. The background environments look average, mostly comprised of rock or snow. The graphics here do the job, even if often marginally.

Sound 4/10

The music just kind of droned on, with the battle noise faring about the same. There was the generic knife wielding sound when you fought using a blade, as well as somewhat bland thuds and thumps for combat. Later on, you'll being hearing gunshots from the annoying snipers perched in the climbing sequences, and a dull roar from landslides you have to run from. Overall, I'm not too impressed but at least it didn't hurt my ears like some games (I'm looking at you, Cosmo Police Galivan 2).

Control 5/10

This department is kind of shabby. I didn't like the placement of the buttons, which made landing jump kicks or diving across ravines harder than it should have been. The combat isn't very fluid and often resembles something you would have found in a NES action game.

Game-play 4/10

The game starts with Stallone's character, Gabe, fighting some unnamed villain who sounds like he's ripping Velcro while duking it out. He is later joined by a blade-wielding goon who throws infinite knives and needs to be knocked down to steal a weapon from. Once you have a pig sticker equipped, the brawling becomes a little easier - even giving you the option of heaving your weapon at incoming baddies. About halfway through the first level, you have to jump across a ravine onto a small platform and then onto the opposite bank. This is a little tricky and will swallow all your lives if you aren't careful. Soon after this you will be forced to ascend a rock face while dodging some henchman firing his rifle at you. I didn't like this part or the segment a bit later where you have to outrun an avalanche. In a nutshell, the beat 'em up segments are underwhelming and frequently interrupted by less interesting running or climbing parts. The game proves to be somewhat difficult, with cheap deaths and only allowing up to seven lives in the options menu. To make matters worse, you're bumped back to the beginning of the game after all your lives are gone - no checkpoints.

Replay value 2/10

I've played worse games today, but I'm probably never going to go back to Cliffhanger after messing around with it enough to give an accurate review. It is limited to one player and there's no separate modes to chose from.

Overall 4/10

The experience is below average, and unless you're a huge fan of the movie there's nothing here than hasn't been done better elsewhere. If you have to own a physical copy, paying more than $3 is getting ripped off in my opinion.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/07