"A very accurate port of the classic arcade game!"

Q*Bert was originally an Arcade game that came out in the early 80's. Though not nearly as popular as Pac-Man, it was an original and addicting game that got enough popularity to prove successful. The game has been ported to several systems including the Atari 2600, Intellivision, Commodore 64, etc. This is a review of one of those ports, the NES version.

Graphics: 5/10

What you see is blocks stacked to make a shape of a pyramid. The blocks are in 3-D, and the tops can be changed into many different colors. Though in 3-D, the graphics in the Arcade version were still pretty simple (But colorful). The NES's graphical capabilities and colors just manage to make this version have the same graphics as the Arcade version. Still, this game was released in 1989 so they're dated now.

Animation: 4/10

Not a heck of alot. Q-Bert looks the same as he was in the Arcade version: orange, with a bit of a mad look when he faces you and a happy look when his back is facing you...There really isn't much animation. Q-Bert just jumps around, and enemies do the same thing.

Control: 8/10

The game has an isometric 3-D view and you can only move in 4 directions: up, down, left and right. This takes some getting used to, but it didn't take me too long to get used to it.

Music: 2/10

What music? The game has a "level introduction" tune, a "level complete" tune and a game over tune. All 3 tunes are incredibly short (About 2 seconds long for each tune). Before you start playing (Where you configure controls), there is music that plays and repeats and repeats until you're done but it's nothing special.

Gameplay: 9/10

Here's the good stuff! You control Q-Bert, an orange, hopping...thing. There are 9 levels in this game and they all have the same layout (3-D blocks forming a pyramid). Each one requires you to hop on all 28 blocks to change the color of the tops. Later levels will be loaded with enemies coming in your direction, trying to land on you. Some enemies can change the tops of blocks you've landed on, some enemies can defeat you just by landing on you, and there is also a ball you can collect to freeze all the enemies. There are discs on the left and right sides of the levels which you can use to get to the top of the level to run away from enemies. And you do all this to get the highest score (Make sense. This a port of an ARCADE game after all). It's fun and addicting.

Overall: 9/10

The graphics and animation I don't care about. The gameplay is good and the controls are simple and customizable, so Q*Bert gets a 9/10 from me. Good game. Even after 16 years of the original release date, the NES version of Q*Bert is still the most arcade perfect port in existence. Buy it if you can find it for 15 bucks or less.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/06