Cliffhanger

"Follows movie, but WAY too difficult."

Cliffhanger Review

Overall Review: 4/10

The individual scores do not affect the final score.

Story line: 7/10 - This game follows the story line pretty close to the movie itself. You are the hero Gabe, Sylvester Stallone, on the treacherous mountain with criminals after three cases containing 100 million dollars. You must reach the cases first before they do, and save Hal, your mountain climbing friend. Many of the other characters are here as well from the movie, such as Jessie, Frank, and the criminals, Heldon, Delmar, Kynette, Ryan, and the leader of them all, Qualen. Some of the movie doesn't apply here though. You will fight many enemies here, as the movie had none except the criminals. An avalanche never chased Gabe, though you are chased by one in the game. Gabe is never found floating on a sheet of ice in a lake. Gabe also never fights the helicopter, yet you perform these actions in the game. Otherwise, the game follows the movie real well.

Difficulty: 9/10 - The game is set only on one difficulty, and I would have to say it is hard. You are given a chosen number of lives and continues, and all combinations are not nearly enough needed to get through the game with entertainment. Most times, you will be concentrating hard as you fight the onslaught of enemies, trying to hurt them, while protecting your little life bar. Some enemies are ridiculously more powerful than you are, that you will be giving up soon, because they either hurt you for a lot, or take away your final lives, giving you game over. You are given several weapons to aid you in your journey, but not even they are helpful enough, and you lose them when you die. There are no health recovery items, except when you get to camp fires, and there are very few of them. Extra lives are difficult to attain, for they are given in the one hundred thousand range of your score, and most enemies you will be fighting give points only in the range of a thousand. This game is very difficult, and most expert players will find themselves losing their last life on stages 3 and 4.

Sound: 7/10 - The sounds of punching your foes, slashing them with knives, shooting them with guns, and hearing the grunts and screams of pain of your foes, and of yourself, are all near realistic in a sense. The sounds of gunfire are of common sense sounding, and the sounds of rocks falling on the mountainsides are close to real. They sound okay, but could be better.

Music: 5/10 - There aren't a lot of music tracks in the game, at least to what I've heard in the first four levels. You'll hear the music for the stage, music for climbing mountainsides, and the boss music. The stage's music sounds dire, and helpless. It is lonesome, and a bit fearful. It gives nice atmosphere to the situation Gabe is in. On a mountain, surviving against impossible odds. The mountain climbing music sounds serious, almost to the point where one wrong move can mean death, and, in most cases, does. It gives sense of the danger of the situation. The boss music is intense, fast, and rises the tension almost immediately and in great amount. The bosses are so hard, that the music is just appropriate for them. There should be more music in the game, and better music too.

Control: 6/10 - Controlling Gabe isn't hard, but not easy at the same time. Most people will have trouble fighting enemies because it is difficult to perform certain fighting moves, which will inflict the damage needed to kill them. Hitting L or R will make Gabe perform a super kick, knocking all his enemies away from him when things get crowded, plus it takes away a bit of Gabe's health, which adds to the difficulty. Running can be a bit hard, because when you want Gabe to run, sometimes he will walk and cause him to die or get hurt, and when you want him to walk, you might find him sprinting off a cliff. Take care when controlling him.

Graphics: 8/10 - The graphics aren't bad, but could be a little better, and a bit clearer. They do a good job creating the pictures of the characters. They almost look like the exact person from the movie. If this game has any good qualities or accomplishments, this is it. I'm impressed with the pictures, and details of the surroundings and mountains. The pictures in the manual are also nice.

Entertainment: 2.5/10 - People who play this will most likely get frustrated with the game's difficulty at the beginning and throw it away somewhere in their closet for a few years. I know I have. Occasionally, I might play this game myself, but only to play a certain level, as it is so hard, I will not have any hope of getting to stage 5 or 6 or the final stage. You might enjoy playing it, but it definitely won't last. I bet Sylvester Stallone wouldn't even buy this.

Buy it or Rent it?

If you bought it, play it until you can't get any further, and either put it away somewhere for good, or sell it to someone who will accept bad games. If you don't have it, and this review somehow makes you want to try it, just rent it if you can find a copy, highly doubtful. If you do rent it, you'll be glad you did after playing it.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/03, Updated 06/08/03