Showing posts with label Bob Hoskins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bob Hoskins. Show all posts

Saturday, 4 July 2020

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Looky, looky, I've got Hooky

In Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) - a live-action sequel to JM Barrie's novel, Peter and Wendy - we're introduced to a grown-up Peter Banning who has long-since forgotten his mystical childhood Neverland capers, today preoccupied with profiteering and soul-sucking lawyering. When the dastardly Captain Hook crosses worlds to kidnap his children out of sheer boredom and malice, Peter is forced to reacquaint with his old swashbuckling, pirate-tormenting ways to save the day and his dormant imagination. In the process, Peter reassesses his priorities, putting family first on his return to planet earth.

Ocean Software were the team behind Hook's translation to the medium of gaming. In contrast to their action-platformer published for the Commodore 64, Game Boy, and NES, the Amiga, DOS and Atari ST iteration is a point and click adventure game, clearly taking inspiration from Monkey Island and earlier Lucasarts puzzle-solving titles. How does it compare to the much-revered output of the leaders in this forsaken genre? How well does it embody the plot and themes of the movie? I investigate.  

Saturday, 27 June 2020

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Merry-go-round broke-down

Disney's live-action, animated mystery comedy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is so surreal you'd be forgiven for thinking you were looking at an anything-goes video game. It's funny you should think that right after I'd deliberately planted the idea in your head... because there is one. Inspired by several pivotal silver screen moments, it's a hodgepodge of action mini-games developed by 'Silent' and published in 1988 in conjunction with the movie, courtesy of Buena Vista themselves. Naturally, the quirky puzzle-platformer stars all our favourite characters, with Judge Doom taking his rightful place as Roger's dastardly bete noir. Marginally different iterations based on the same design were released for the Amiga, Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari ST and DOS PC.