Best of the Addams Family games isn't saying much. by archcorenth on August 30, 2008
There are seven unique Addams Family games for various systems. Fester's Quest for the NES, Addams Family for the NES and SMS, Addams Family for the SNES Genesis and some other platforms, Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt for the SNES, Addams Family Values for the SNES and Genesis, Addams Family for the Turbografx CD, and finally The New Addams Family for the gameboy advance.
With the exception of the gameboy game they are all action with Gomez or Pugsley jumping on enemies heads throughout the mansion or Fester shooting aliens. The point being, don't play these games if you want to roleplay as a member of the family yourself.
But how do they stand on their own merits? Ugh. Well the best thing I can say for the series is that despite the graphical changing enormously the mansion keeps generally the same layout through out all of them except Fester's Quest and Values. This is really nice to see and a detail which almost makes them worth a look. It's also why I bring up the series as a whole when I mean to talk about the version for the NES and SMS.
Addams Family for the NES and SMS is clearly the best of what there is to offer. Unlike the other games, the mansion actually feels something like a mansion with reasonably sized rooms inside. Even better you even get to interact with your family members unlike the other games where they more or less exist as trophies. Even better the game includes some light adventure elements (primarily taking the form of fetch quests) which is always nice to see in a platformer.
It's still middling though. It's annoying that the main purpose of the game is to collect Gomez's money spread throughout the mansion especially as you can screw up and the game without a method to achieve the required sum. (Some of the money you get as it falls from the sky never to return). Also, although I love that the adventure elements give the game a direction more than, let's get to the end of the level, they could have been more along the line of actually puzzles a la Lost Vikings, for instance. Finally, I don't like jumping on heads as a method of dispatching enemies. Gomez should fence as he actually does in the series.
Of the two versions of the game the SMS is the one to play sporting much better graphics and that's why I reviewed it rather than the NES version.
3/5.
