Cinema Of Stuff Presents....The Old Dark House!

Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton star in director James Whale and screenwriter Benn Levy's adaptation of the novel by J.B. Priestly...  

Another set of weary travelers, another stormy night, another creepy old mansion filled with freaks.....

Beware The Night!

The Phantom Snow Queen!

Another of tiliban's scans from the Digital Comic Museum, and this one comes from Ace Comics Baffling Mysteries 5 (1951), and is indeed a mystery and baffling!

Who is the mysterious figure Irma sees on the Ski Slope, and what does their appearance mean? Read on to find out.... 

Back To The Future Games Special - Part 2

Wow, the Future is now in the Past..well here at least! It's the 22nd! But if you're reading this when I'm posting it and are in America, then it's still the 21st! Time travel, eh!? It's weird!!!

Anyway. lets get on with this next lot of Back To The Future Games..... 

Super Back To The Future II (SNES) : 

 See, now this is more like it! In this Japan-only SNES game, you're back on the hoverboard again, but in a much better platform-style adventure. It plays a a bit like Sonic The Hedgehog, with Marty zooming through the levels collecting coins and pulling tricks whilst avoiding policemen and futuristic robots..

There's also people flying around in cars, some of which you can use to reach higher platforms. And these weird hover bike things that look really cool....it's just a much more atmospheric and fun game than any of the previous ones I've looked at!

There's even boss Levels where you get to beat up baddies like Griff, and again these look great and emulate the film way better than any previous title. It's a bit of a mystery as to why this was never released outside of Japan really, as it's not as if it wouldn't have sold.....

But yes, so far the only game that I would actually recommend giving a proper bash even if you're not a Back To The Future fan!

Back To The Future Part II & III (NES) :

Oh god....no, just no! I can't do it, I can't play this game after playing through the wonderfulness of the last one! Made by LJN, the same people who did the NES version of the first film, this combines the two sequels and transforms them into something even less recognisable as being Back To The Future than that game.

Biff has stolen the almanac and dropped items all throughout time, y'see and you're supposed to go and collect them all back up again. Only he's ruined time so much, that no-one has ever seen the Back to The Future films and forgotten what was in them. Well, at least that seems to be what's happened, because I certainly don't remember killer fish, walking hamburgers or weird, disembodied faces from any of the sequels.

Although it could be argued that you'll find some small amount of fun bouncing about the levels, it won't be enough fun to warrant putting this into your NES. Avoid, avoid, avoid.....bleurch!

Back To The Future III ( C64,Spectrum,CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, Megadrive/Genesis, PC) : 

Ah! This is the only Back To The Future game I actually bought when it came out. On the ZX Spectrum! Fairly good reviews, good graphics and the fact it looked like it used the licence well made me want to buy it and love it....but then I loaded it up....

I never made it past the first level. Ever. Even now, trying the different versions, I still can't get past it. It's just too damn tricky to judge what's going to fly at my face when I'm sitting on that bloody horse. And you need to have pixel perfect jumping skills to dodge the ravines and chests and whatnot...

It's a shame as the later levels look less frustrtaing and more fun, but I've never been able to play them, and as such, I can't recommend this game either...even if it does have groovy music and presentation. But yeah, even the Megadrive version is really frustrating. I'll put a video here though, so you can have a look at what the later levels will look like if you're not as rubbish as me and can actually see them!

Back To The Future - Blitz Through Time (PC) : 

You can pretty much ignore this. It's just another one of those games. You know, the sort that are everywhere online or on phones, and you end up playing them for hours because they're so addictive, but ultimately pointless and you wonder why you've wasted so much time on them. The type I hate because they make me realise how pointless playing any game for hours actually is. One of those games....  

Back To the Future - The Game (iPad, Mac, PC, Playstation 3, Wii) : 

And this is the one I've been unlucky enough not to have played yet, and probably the only one that actually makes proper use of the licence. Made by Telltale Games, it's that sort of updated Point-and-Click style of adventure that they do so well. It's basically a sequel to the movies, and looks really good! Having not played it though, I don't know what it's actually like, but I'm guessing it'll be the best game in this list by a long shot! You should probably go find out....

So there you go, a quick and rather depressing look at the Back To The Future games! Only the SNES and Telltale game are worth actually tracking down to play. Hopefully someone will get their act together and invent actual time-travel soon, and we can go back and erase the rest from history and make decent ones. Although, then the SNES and Telltale games would probably fade away or something as we'd have ruined the need for them to be any good! Best leave it alone then....

Back To The Future Games Special - Part 1

In case you hadn't noticed, this was the day that Marty & Doc arrived from 1985 in Back To The Future 2, so  I thought I'd have a quick look at the various different games that have been released over the years based on the movie series! And Great Scott, there's a lot of them! I've not got time to look at them all today, but seeing as it will still be the 21st in America, I'll squeeze the rest in another post an put it up in a little while....For the moment though, here's part 1....

Back To The Future (ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC) :

First up we have this game released in 1985, which has Marty walking around trying to find items that he can use to bring his parents together, and stop his mother falling in love with him, erasing him from history! You can tell how well you're doing by the picture of Marty in the bottom left of the screen, which will fade out if things are going wrong. At the bottom right is a picture of your family, that will reveal more of itself as you get things right!

The various characters wander around, and you'll have to figure out what items to use on each to bring them together or keep them apart, and you can hop on a skateboard to zip about a bit faster. There's a nice little version of Johnny B Goode to bop along too as well..

It's fun for a little while, but ultimately isn't very exciting...at least it was pretty close to the plot of the film, so it gets bonus points for that. I only played the Speccy and C64 versions, but it's also available for Amstrad...

Back To The Future (MSX) :

This one is a cute little side-scroller, that has you jumping up at windows to find George and Lorraine whilst avoiding baddies, and then leading them along the screen to a dance, where they can fall in love.

Unlike the movie, you'll need to take them to more than one dance though, and more and more enemies will appear to try and stop you! As far as being close to the plot, well...it isn't really. Getting them to the dance is all you have to do. It's pretty simple stuff, but quite fun all the same, although it can get pretty difficult pretty quickly with all the enemies flying around the screen. 

Better than the last game then, but not as good a use of the licence. It's definitely better than this next one, though....

Back To The Future (NES): 

Oh dear. Where to begin with this mess!? Let's go straight to the first major thing you'll notice that's wrong with this game.....that bloody maddening 'music'.. Its repetitiveness and tone will have you believing that if we're all actually doomed to an afterlife in Hell because of our sins, this is the tune we'll all be forced to listen to for eternity! Still, at least we won't be in the corners of the underworld reserved for the people who made this game...

Okay, so maybe I'm being a little over-harsh on the game...but not really that much. Playing like a horrible version of Paperboy without the papers, this sees Marty trying to make his way up the screen avoiding men carrying sheets of glass, Hula-Hooping girls, killer bees...you know, all those memorable villains from the film! (cough!)

He has to collect clocks to stop himself from fading away to nothingness as well, and can pick up bowling balls to shoot at the enemies. There's also a few bonus stages where the game changes and you do things like avoid kisses from your mother, or throw glasses at Biff, but I couldn't stomach the game long enough to reach those...

It's a truly terrible title, and should be avoided, unless you need some sort of aural torture device, and then it becomes super-effective and brilliant.

Back To The Future 2 (ZX Spectrum, PC, C64, Amiga, Atari ST, Master System, Amstrad CPC):

And so we come to the sequel, and for this game that was released on loads of systems, we're on Marty's hoverboard...side-scrolling away & bashing baddies, avoiding cars and collecting power-ups.

The Speccy version is pretty rubbish, although you do get a nice intro and tune if you load it on the 128k computers...but the graphics are a bit crappy and gameplay is a bit slow and chuggy. 

Slightly better is the C64 version, which I actually played for quite a while. Again you get a nice tune with a snazzy intro, but the gameplay is a bit zippier and the better graphics help too...

Oh, and I forgot to mention you occasionally go diagonally up the screen in all the versions too, which is..y'know...a bit different at least.

Some versions are fun for a while, but again none of them really stand out much and aren't really the best use of the licence that could have happened, only really focusing on one aspect of the movie. Will there be any game in the next lot that actually does a good job and manages to use the licence as it should? Well, I guess you'll just need to come back in the very near future to find out! 

(Yes, I just said that..sorry...)

Gruesome Games III - No.22 - Night Creatures (Turbo Grafx 16)

No.22 - Night Creatures (PC Engine/ Turbo Grafx 16) :

To counter boredom, I'll often find myself out for walks at night, wandering miles just to get out of the house and do something different than sit in front of a TV or PC. Often, there will be many bats...and they'll swoop rather low to catch moths or other bugs, just missing my head! I've often wondered what would happen if one actually collided with my face...and as it turns out, I've been really lucky, if what happens to the poor hero of this game is anything to go by...... 

It turns out that Hecate, Greek Goddess of Witchcraft, Ghosts and Necromancy (amongst other things) likes to fly around in the form of a bat, y'see....and for some reason, she's decided to fly into the back of the hero's head, bite him and turn him into a creature of the night! If he can't break the spell by dawn, he'll be doomed to forever wear black clothes and sunscreen, hang around in graveyards and never again enjoy the taste of Garlic Kievs....

Returning to his village, our hero (let's just call him Norris) is informed by his girlfriend that he'll have to stay away from her for now, which is pretty reasonable I guess, but she does tell you that a wise woman in the village can help you out. So after beating up some rats and bats on the way further into the village, Norris meets said wise woman who tells him "You will find weapons that will help you," which whilst true, isn't really very helpful, as she doesn't tell him where to find these weapons!

Eventually, Norris does find some weapons like axes, guns, holy water, spears, etc. and the wise woman does become a bit  more helpful, popping up after you use a continue to tell you what weapons are effective against what types of enemy....and there's a gruesome bunch of baddies to fight! Werewolves, lizard men, vampires, killer trees, ghosts, skeletons......

There's the occasional bosses too, like a walking pumpkin and a bigger killer tree! Killing these bosses will often give Norris a special ability to help further in his fight against evil. He can turn into a wolf, bear, owl or....uhm...badger...Yes, I said badger!

Getting to see Norris become these creatures is easier said than done though, as this game can be annoyingly tricky! At first it seems like you'll breeze through, as energy pickups happen with every kill. The game soon takes a huge difficulty curve though, and annoying ghosts appear that can kill you instantly before you have a chance to do anything!

It can also be tricky trying to work out what weapon works best against the various creatures, as the wise woman is a bit selective in her recommendations! So it all becomes rather frustrating and difficult and ruins what could have been a pretty decent game.

Its got nice graphics, and a cool game world that you can explore pretty freely, but the tricky gameplay means it's not a game that I'd recommend unless you simply have to play another spooky game on the PC Engine/TG16....

A shame really, as Norris seems a nice chap and it's a pity to leave him in Hecate's clutches! 

Cinema Of Stuff Presents....Random Halloweenia-ness!

Got a wee touch of the dreaded lurgy yet again, and the general malaise that comes with such stuff....so a video post for today...don't worry though, I should still be just about able to get through the rest of the games by reverting to doing more than one at a time again, so we'll see if we can get some of those up tomorrow! In the meantime, enjoy this random selection of spooky videos! :) 

Werewolf Castle!

Time for another of tiliban's scans from The Digital Comic Museum! Another couple stop their car at yet another spooky abode...when will they ever learn??

This story appeared in Ajax-Farrell's Voodoo Issue 18...

Do Not Adjust Your Set......

....normal service will resume shortly! Just had a few days where I've had to shift stuff around due to suddenly acquiring a massive TV, which means my PC is now in totally the wrong place for me to type stuff out properly! 

I should be fixing this tomorrow, so we'll crack on with the games, comics and everything after that! Om the meantime, have some more freaky deaky Halloween pictures!