"Chaotic fun in a house of DEATH!"

You may never know, at first, how much you truly like a game until you've played it to its fullest extent. When I first obtained Final Fantasy 7, I hated the game simply because it wasn't Final Fantasy 6. Everything that I expected to be in FF7 from 6 was just not there and I grew more and more disappointed as I played the game. Before long, I grew to realize just how well put together and solidly developed FF7 truly was, and it rose to being my favorite in the series. The same can be said of this game, Dr. Chaos. At first, I utterly hated the game simply because I was a youngster that just did not understand the intricacies of the game. I could not figure out at all what to do, where to go, or what the ultimate objective was of the title. After about a year of owning the game and actually finding out what to do, I actually began to really enjoy the game, it's all around original concept, and the addictive gameplay that would follow. Dr. Chaos soon became among my favorite NES games, and I looked forward to playing it every time I had the chance.

In Dr. Chaos, you play as a young man named Michael who has gone to visit his older brother who does not seem to be home. However, due to experimentation with time and space, the doctor had accidentally unleashed strange creatures from another dimension all over his house. As well, there are portals everywhere leading to the other dimension. So, Micheal decides to search for his brother somewhere in the dimension and throughout the house overrun with interloping beasts. But first, he must build an extremely powerful gun his brother invented that just might help quite a bit.

Okay, so maybe the plot sounds slightly like “save-the-maiden,” only replacing “maiden” with “brother.” However, the developers at Pony Canyon added quite a bit more to what would have been a typical, eye-rolling storyline. The concept they did come up with left a lot of questions and provoked a bit of thought about what could have happened to his brother.

There are two screens of gameplay in Dr. Chaos: Third-person view which is the basic view of the game, and first-person view, which is a lot like Shadowgate.

In third-person view, you do the usual jumping and attacking that comes with most platformers. You get an array of weapons, starting with your knife and eventually gaining a pistol, a machine gun, some grenades, etc. Once you enter a portal (done through first-person mode) you enter level full of monsters and various other perils. At the end of each dimensional level is a boss which will give you a piece of this game's BFG, which you will need in order to kill the final boss.

In first-person mode, you can search the various rooms of the house for portals or weapons. This mode is actually quite unique. sometimes, you can gain items from hitting pictures that are hanging on the wall. Other items can appear in closets or in windows. Items are not the only things that will pop out closets and such. Sometimes, a monster will pop out and you will be forced to leave the room and battle the monster.

What makes this game so original in its own respect is the way it feels like a hybrid Shadowgate/arbitrary platformer combination. While searching out rooms, you must look for different closets, windows, etc. that contain portals to the other dimension (damn Saban!). Finding it and exploring to find out which level you should go to next took away the linearity of this game, making it a much better adventure than many have given it credit for. The hybrid takes what usually goes sour in a Shadowgate style game, which is the lack of full on interactivity, and supplements what is brutally necessary.

The graphics really aren't too incredibly bad. For the most part, the strongest area of the graphics is the boss designs. They may not instantly strike up the thought of H.P. Lovecraft, but they definitely hold a strong sense of monstrous design. Colors are used decently, although I think this game could've used just a bit more color. It seems they stuck too much to contrasting colors and didn't emphasize enough different tones of color.

The sound is where I draw a small qualm in the game is from the music and sound effects. The music really just has a strange, corny appeal to it. It makes the game a bit more authentic in its own way, but the I felt the music was just not very well composed and doesn't really capture the feeling of alternate dimensions or houses full of evil beasts. The only music that really does do a good job in that area was the opening music at the beginning of the game. The sound effects also sound a bit strange. The stabbing noise sounds like a strange honk. Is he stabbing the enemies with a knife or a horn? The explosions just sound really devoid of any MMPH or excitement that they could've put into them. FCI really didn't put their sound effects together well enough in this game.

I've seen this make a few ''worst game lists,'' but I think most of those lists ignore a few games that should be on there (*coughbeatemandeatemcough*). This game may not fully have the visual and auditory appeal that some games have for NES, but this definitely isn't a bad game by any means. It wasn't the looks and sounds that saved this game. It was the originality and the adventure sense that gave this game its lasting appeal. I enjoy the non-linear gameplay and the original plot idea. I'd say FCI blended two styles of game for the better. The only major downsides this game really seems to hold lies in the music and sound effects. The music just about makes my ears bleed and then you have the sound effects, which sound improperly placed or just obnoxiously quirky, even dry of the proper MMPH. Sounds definitely would've bumped this up to a 9.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Nice 8/10
Sounds: Need a bit of help 3/10
Control: Can take a bit of getting used to. For the most part, they felt a bit too stiff, especially when jumping. 7/10
Plot/Storyline: Pretty different from the usual grain of NES storylines 8/10
Gameplay: Quite fun 8/10
All Together: 8/10

Perks
*Good adventure appeal
*Original plot
*Non-linear
*Decent graphics, especially in boss designs

Downers
*Sounds could use a major upgrade
*Stiff controls when jumping

Recommendations
If you can still find this game, it would make a worthy addition to your NES collection. I paid about $10 for this game as it was being discontinued at the time. This game is pretty rare, so it might be a bit hard to find the actual cartridge. Adventure fans or collectors may want to keep their eyes open for this.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/00, Updated 06/06/06