Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

"Dude! I'm a mediocre adventure game! Sweet!"

Games based on movies are really tough to get a good grasp on without judging the game play if it is based solely on the movie. In this particular case, a rather dense movie it translated into a game that doesn’t match the movie in any way, and it seems to be more or less a puzzle type of game with a little bit of action thrown in for good measure. With most games like this, the fact that you have to go through the game and solve puzzles may turn off some gamers, simply because there isn’t enough thought or depth into it. However, with this title, you may find that the game is tricky in some respects and most of the puzzles are more difficult that you may originally think!

The story line is rather basic in which Death is pissed at you for getting out of the afterlife. In turn, he steals Bill and Ted’s two girlfriends and whisks them away through time in which you take control of either Bill or Ted and have to get them back. Now, where the game goes off the beaten track is that you have to enlist the help of histories most well recognized figures and attempt to find notes to a song that will get them back. Oddly enough, the story line that you encounter here is what makes for the puzzles and most of what you’ll be playing is a wandering game of mazes and random battles with different enemies.

The game play is pretty linear for the most part in which you take one item to another time and use it there in order to further your ability to get into the later stages of the game. Most of the puzzles that you’ll find here are pretty basic and unless you’re looking to really wrack your brain, then just use a little common sense and you should be able to get through them with no problem. One of the more interesting features that the game has to offer is that you can hook up with a friend and he/she can help you through your adventure by completing other tasks, which speeds along the gameplay! This helpful feature is something that I haven’t encountered in a hand held game yet and really does add to the overall theme of what the game tries to portray.

Battle features in the game are relatively simple and you won’t encounter any death or gore throughout the title. The battles themselves are fought mainly with musical instruments that don’t do damage persay, but rather lull your enemy off to sleep. Now, in order to get through the battles, you may have to use a particular instrument to get the desired effect and if you don’t have it, then you can’t pass the battle. Not to worry though, Bill and Ted never die, but are rather transported to an earlier part of the level and the password feature allows you to go to a saved point through the use of a rather interesting password!

Visually, the game is nothing more than an overhead adventure with no scaling or zoom in features throughout. The enemies are pretty basic and the animations, while simple, are done in such a fashion that it is passable as an adventure game. One of the main problems that I had with the visuals is that there just isn't enough speed to go through the game and it seems as though everything looks a little forced in the battles as though none of the characters are really interested in fighting. Colors in the different stages are rather vibrant and you’ll find that each of the time periods are done in such a way that you can find some difference in the mazes and otherwise!

Audio wise, the game has this really low rock soundtrack that follows you through the time periods and adds just a slight hint of variation on the theme of the stage you’re traveling through. All in all though, the music does seem to repeat often and if you really can’t stand it, then you can mute the damned thing and listen to something a little more pleasing somewhere else! The sound effects also seem to fall the same way, with some interesting attributes in the battles, but otherwise, you really have nothing noteworthy or interesting to accentuate the different battles you may encounter. Again, this is a basic section and one that you can live without if you’re really getting annoyed, so the fact that the game isn’t all that sound intensive goes a long way.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is an acquired taste that you really have to get in the mood for in order to play. If you like games that give you some interesting puzzles and allow you to fight battles without any sort of violence, then this one might be right up your alley. Featuring the two-player option does seem to go a long distance in giving the game some variation but overall, the game is a one time through adventure! Based something on the movie, this is an average seek and find type of game that gives you some simple visuals and simple music to go along with a simple game. For the Lynx fan only, you’ve played this game before otherwise and there really is no sense in owning it unless you’re a collector.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/19/02, Updated 01/19/02