Spot: The Video Game

"My 7-Up went flat………"

Anyone remember all the 7-Up crap that came out back in 94'? Yeah, that was a strange time. 7-Up had been doing a lot of advertising with everyone's favorite mascot, Cool Spot. Yeah, everyone thought it was just harmless fun. Until Virgin Interactive came into the picture. Suddenly, games started popping up. A few of them were good, a few not so good. This one, sad to say, was the rotten apple in the barrel.

Game play: 9/10
Real simple. The game is played on a 7 x 7 grid with 4 Spots, one in each corner, 2 of one color, the other 2 of the opposite color. The object of the game is to move the Spots around so that when all the spaces are filled, your Spots cover more area than the opponents. Now, this may sound simple, but let me tell you, it's anything but simple. See, Spots can capture one another, increasing a players territory and this can draw a game out for a long time. Fortunately, actually moving them is a simple matter of selecting a Spot then selecting where you want it to go.

Other than the above, there are quite a few custom grids to play on and you have the option of making your own grid if you like. This opens up new possibilities if you have someone else to play with or if you just want to test your skill against the computer.

No real problems, other than the slow as hell controls in the options and custom grid menus.

Graphics: 5/10
This….this game has graphics? Well, yeah, sort of. A grid. Black and white Spots. A big picture of the 7-Up Spot on the title screen. That's about it. One big problem: The Spot colors get all screwed up on a GameBoy Color or newer.

Sound: 1/10
This is the first time I've given a game a Sound score of 1. There are very few sound affects/music and the music is irritating as all get out. Really, I don't want to have to go into detail the way I normally do. That would require me to recall these monstrosities Virgin Interactive likes to call music.

Replayability:
If you enjoy games like Connect Four, limitless. Find a friend, go to town. Or you could just play the computer.

Final Recommendation:
If you like multi-player games such as Connect Four, then you've got yourself a source of unlimited entertainment right here. Otherwise, this game will get boring pretty quick. Hell, I pulled it out of storage after god only knows how many years JUST to write this review.

Overall score 4/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 10/25/04