Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Review by staroxideradio

"Just another usual bad game based on a great movie."

I'm pretty sure even the most elite of gamers who have been gaming for 20 years had their mistakes when they were just beginning. When I got my first Gameboy when I was five, I was pretty excited. I got to play a whole lot of games on it that were extremely fun. Of course, also being new at gaming and being the young naive age of five, I didn't care which game I got since my Mom picked them out for me. Luckily for me, my Mom got me mostly enjoyable games. But no one is perfect, and my Mom sometimes got me a game that could scar a child for life. It wasn't her fault, since she knew as much about gaming as I did back then. One of these games were Home Alone 2.

Home Alone 2 was one of my favorite movies, so it's common sense to get a video game based on the movie, since after all, if the movie was great the game would be too right?

Remember, I didn't know much about gaming when I got it so I didn't know how bad most Movie-to-Games were, or how bad THQ really was. But somehow, I actually enjoyed this game when I was young. Maybe it was because it was the only game we could get at the time [we weren't the richest family in the neighborhood] or it was like how little kids can play around with a box all day, which is ten times more enjoyable whether you're a kid or an adult than this game. Why, you say? Let's find out!

Home Alone 2 for the Gameboy is a simple platformer where you guide Kevin McCalister through four levels of evil suitcases, old ladies, bomber chandeliers, various random objects and animals, and sexual predators. That sounds all good and mighty, but combine this with the gameplay, controls, sounds, and graphics and you get one horrible, cliché Movie to Game that could've saved this game.

Gameplay: 2/5

It's a platformer, so you jump on things and all that good stuff. Kevin's weaponry includes a stun gun, a Bazooka [most people call it a hand gun, but it looks like a bazooka to me], a ''Super'' Bazooka, and a necklace. The stun gun is self explanatory. It stuns your enemies. It's useful in the first level, but rather useless in later levels. Unfourtanely, the designers thought that this would be the most useful weapon and stuffed every level with tons of stun gun ammo. By the time you beat the game, you'll probably end up with at least 20+ stun gun shots.

The Bazooka and ''Super'' Bazooka are the only useful weapons in the game, but apparently to make the game more difficult than it already is, the designers decided to add only one or two Bazooka powerups in each stage. With the Bazooka, you can actually get rid of your enemies. The ''Super'' Bazooka does the same, only it goes through enemies and knocks out anyone else behind them. I'd understand it if this weapon was hard to find, but the Bazooka? Then again, despite their purpose, you'll probably end up not using them since most enemies later on in the game are immune to them anyway.

And lastly, there's the necklace. It's more like a trap-type of weapon. Basically you throw it on the ground and wait for the unsuspecting enemy to meet their maker! unfourtanely, like the other weapons, it's only useful in the first stage.

The only other way of attacking is sliding, which is the only useful attack for most of the levels. You can't slide into some enemies like the old men who'll, er... ''strangle'' you and cost you a life.

Speaking of old men, let's talk about the enemies in the game. There's the enemies which are nothing really special like the suitcases, mops, old ladies, and maids who just either move left or right or jump up or down [with the exception of the maids who throw pillows at you which costs you HP. or the vacuum cleaner which if you run into costs you a life. I don't know why.]. Most of them can be ridden of by a Bazooka shot of a necklace. Then there are the enemies who are rather... interesting. Conigere and some old men are out to get Kevin in the first level. Touch them once and they'll strangle him, making him lose a life. I know the kid cost the hotel a lot of money, but isn't strangling the guy a bit much? Then again, the strangling animation doesn't look right at all... you'll see what I'm talking about later on.

There are also obstacles like falling dishes, trashcan lids, bomber chandeliers and thugs, and animals who either throw banana peels or try to eat poor Kevin. You know, if you're going to make a Movie-to-Game, make sure you add things that would actually fit in the movie. I don't recall Kevin running around a zoo in the movie.

Speaking of zoos, let get on the levels! There are actually only four levels in the game: The Plaza Hotel, Central Park, Uncle Merv's house, and the Final Level with the Christmas Tree for a lack of a better name. There is a stage between Central Park and the House, but all you do it run straight while avoiding doves. That is after you make it through the hoards of, er floating things that are all over the first part of the sub stage. The house stage is some attempt of a puzzle stage where you have to get keys to get to the next floor. The last stage is where you have to run from Harry and Marv while avoiding various flying objects including a falling TV [!?] and finally the Christmas tree were you have to climb up to the Pigeon lady and win the game. The level designs poorly designed however and can even screw you up at some places. Central Park even has some weird bug that can cause you to get stuck in a certain area forever forcing you to reset your game.

There are powerups like pizza pieces which if you collect a certain amount you get a 1-up, an entire pizza which is an 1-up, cookies which where you collect a certain amount you gain back one HP [you have 4 HP total in the game], a bell that enables you to jump higher, and finally some bottle where you become invincible. The powerups themselves are neat, but don't make up for the rest of the game.

Controls: 2/10

Actually, this game wouldn't have been as bad if the controls were tolerable, but they aren't. The controls themselves are easy to understand. One button for jumping, one for using your weapon, and the select button for changing you weapon.

Trying to control Kevin himself is another story. Despite the fact he looks like he's running, Kevin moves a bit slower than he actually should. It takes a while for Kevin to respond to the jump button, which can be troublesome in some areas of the game. Add the sluggish control to the bad level design and you got yourself a game with cheap challenges.

Sound: 1/10 [Overall]

Music: 1/5

Judging from the SNES version [which is EXACTLY the same as the NES and Gameboy games] they tried to emulate the excellent orchestra soundtrack from the movie. Unfourtanely they failed miserably. The music is VERY repetitive and you'll eventually get tired of it.

SFX: 1/5

Nothing spectacular here really. The noise you make while sliding will also get on your nerves.

Visuals: 1/10 [overall]

Animation: 1/5

I tried to be lighter here, but I had to give it a 1. Most of the enemies have only two frames of animation and Kevin himself doesn't look bad walking but his jumping animation looks awkward. His falling animation is the same as his ducking animation and his sliding animation doesn't look right at all. When he's sliding, he's on his knees and has his body slanted back. Granted some people slide like that but not while trying to dodge bombs or knives. It looks really wrong in the game. Oh yeah, remember how some of the enemies ''strangle'' you? Well, not only does it look wrong, it too only has two frames of animation. Maybe I'm being a tad too harsh in the animation department but they could've made the animation look a little less perverted. Or maybe I have a too big of a perverted mind. It's probably the latter, but the animation is still horrible.

Graphics: 1/5

Not much in the graphics department. Sprites and backgrounds aren't really that too detailed. If it wasn't for the fact that Herv and Marv have totally different body builds, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between the two in this game. Also there are cutscenes, but they're mostly lines from the movie and involve badly scanned pictures of the movie character heads on somewhat-detailed bodies. Actually, the only detailed graphics in the entire game are in the cutscene. They even look better than the SNES version which doesn't even have detailed bodies.

The Ultimate Element of Quality [aka Fun Factor]: 1/5

This game will surely frustrate more than entertain. I even remember when I was a kid getting frustrated from time to time. I'm not sure how I managed to enjoy this game when I was young, but I do remember playing Link's Awakening and Kirby's Dreamland later on and enjoying those games much more than this.

If you happen to find the Gameboy, NES, and/or SNES version of this game in a store, don't bother to pick it up unless you're a collector. They're all the same. But out of all the Nintendo versions of this game I played, this one is unfourtanely the best one, gameplay wise. I don't think THQ even attempted to take advantage of the SNES's power [despite the fact they used the ''pixelation'' screen transitions] and just avoid the NES version at all costs. It's just horrible.

However if you do manage to find the Genesis/Megadrive version of this game, keep it. It's actually good. I may write a review of it soon. Well, this is Staroxide going off, who should probably inform that this is my first review, so it's not exactly professional work... yet ^_^;