The Blues Brothers

"A Forgotten Piece Of Platforming Excellence"

The Blues Brothers. What springs to mind when you hear those words? Car chases! John Belushi! Toe tapping music!

How about homicidal lawnmowers?

Yes, LAWNMOWERS. One of this games enemies is a lawnmower. Why? When were lawnmowers EVER in the movie? Come to think of it... when did Jake and Elwood ever transform into muscle-bound homoerotic superheroes after eating cake? WHEN did Jake and Elwood RIDE A DRAGON!?

But I digress. The Blues Brothers is a fine, fine game. It features single or dual-player modes, each with a different mix of levels. It plays similarly to Super Mario.

GAMEPLAY

This is the high point! The controls are beautiful. They are totally responsive and not even remotely difficult to grasp. One button jumps, one button fires, one button runs. Perfect.

The level design is exquisite. True, the game features every platforming cliche known to mankind... but the ways they are implemented is what makes the game so addictive. Each level is bitesize, so the game never feels like anything more than a good FUN sidescroller. Once a level is beaten you have an urge to play on! There are no gimmicks tacked on to improve the games lifespan, which is both a blessing and a curse. Blues Brothers is a tough game, but when it's done, it's done. This is where the two player co-operative mode comes to the rescue...

A la Battletoads, both Brothers appear onscreen at once. They must work together to navigate the levels by picking up and carrying and throwing one another. When you play this game with a friend the two of you will ALWAYS be talking, discussing your next move. This is a SOCIAL game!

GRAPHICS

A bit of an anomaly. The graphics are fine, they look good, they suit the games style perfectly, but there is a neverending suspicion that this game was never meant to be a movie license. I can see the meeting at Titus now...

''Hey, boss! We finished our new platformer!''
''We just got the Blues Brothers license! get to work!''
''Meh, we'll just change the characters into Jake and Elwood and the coins into records.''
''You're fired!''

Nevertheless, the graphics are very... appropriate.

SOUND

Lovely! Bleepy and blurpy renditions of all your favourite Blues Brothers tunes! Well... two of them. There's no denying that the sound here is catchy (And the speech is HILARIOUS). Um. A few more tunes would have been nice, I guess.

OVERALL

Buy it. It won't blow you away with its awesome graphics or stun you with its absorbing tunes, but it's one of the most straight down the middle, bona fide, no holds barred FUN platformers I've ever played.

PROS

-Excellent design
-Addictive gameplay
-A fair challenge
-Awesome dual-player mode

CONS
-Absolutely nothing to do with the movie
-Too short in single-player mode

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/03