Wayne's World

"Party On!"

In a world where every major movie release seems to have a game, it is hardly a surprise that Wayne's World is no different. This game is your basic 2D platformer: you move left, you move right. You jump around and collect items. The Super Nintendo is filled with these games, and Wayne's World does very little to go against convention. While there are a few cheap laughs here for people who have enjoyed the movies, these are only found in the cutscenes between acts. The levels themselves have nothing to do with the movie at all, with the exception of the Gasworks, and even this is only connected through its name, not its content.

The story is not based on the movies at all, and rather is about Wayne attempting to save his friend Garth from a video game that he was sucked into. It takes the form of a story being re-told by Wayne and Garth, with cutscenes between each of the acts to help break up the story. The story is pretty paper-thin, and mainly serves as an excuse for what is happening.

GAMEPLAY - 5

It seems like if you have played any 2D platformer on the SNES, you have played the lot. With the exception of a couple of games (like Donkey Kong Country), Wayne's World sticks to the simple concepts of 2D platforming. At the same time, it doesn't manage to break it like many worse games have. The game is split into four acts, each of which are fairly different from each other, with a fair variety of different baddies. The game is of a moderate length, and does end fairly abruptly. It is fairly challenging, often in the frustrating sense, yet it is usually clear what you have to do. The game has a collect of items, most notably the guitar upgrades, which help to give the game a slightly more varied nature.

GRAPHICS - 3

Nothing special here at all. The worlds are filled with rather dull-looking and over-used backgrounds and items. It never really gets in the way of playing the game, but other games from this era often look much better.

SOUND - 3

The same annoying tune loops in the background during the levels and cutscenes, broken by the sound of you firing a shot or getting hurt. Some more variation in the tunes would have been nice, but alas, it does not happen. The good news is you can always mute the game like I did and listen to some music or something.

CONTROLS - 7

The game generally controls quite well, mainly because of how basic the controls are. Most of the time you will simply move around, jumping and shooting. Some improvements could have been made for when you jump and shoot, and sometimes it is a little hard to hit the mark perfectly with a jump, but generally speaking the controls in this game are fine.

LASTIBILITY - 3

Not really the sort of game you are likely to play again any time soon after you have finished it, and the game offers nothing in the way of unlockables or extras. A tougher version would have been nice, but once you have taken the couple of hours to finish the game, you have seen everything there is to see.

FINAL MARK - 4

This game isn't really "bad", its just nothing special. At the same time, if you are a fan of the movies, you will get a few cheap laughs out of some of the jokes, and for that alone it is worth playing if you have some free time to kill. Hopefully it will be available for download on the Revolution. If it is, give it a go, and party on!

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/06