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Fire & Ice |
Master System |
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Review by Doug Jackson |
TecToy |
Platform |
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Graphics: 9.5 |
Sound: 5.5 |
Gameplay: 7 |
Overall: 7 |
| We Americans only saw the tip of the iceberg with the Master System as
far as game releases and graphics capability are concerned. Unless you have some of the
very late US releases you are in the dark for graphics, and when I played FIRE &
ICE I saw what the system could pull off graphically. Some games make the NES look
like child's play, this game being one of them. Before I go any further, this game is not all that the above paragraph makes it out to be. It's like a cross between Cool Spot meets Bubble Bobble. You play as a ground hog or some little fuzzy animal but I can't figure out just what it is yet, and you have to collect enough ice to finish the level. You shoot out little ice shots at your enemies who then turn into little frozen chunks. You then have to run up and shatter them, hence where the Bubble Bobble idea is borrowed from. The graphics are great as described above. The main character is extremely well animated and the backgrounds are incredible, especially in level two (the forest), just WOW. Unfortunately, the graphics are the best part and the rest is what brings this game down. Don't get me wrong. These following problems don't kill the game by any means, they just keep it from being exceptional. Sound in the game is missing something. It sounds like it was coming from the Game Boy. The music is rather dull and boring but has a couple of catchy moments, though. The sound effects are lackluster at best; it really seems like TecToy forgot to finish the sound here. The gameplay is decent here; jump around Cool Spot style levels and freeze enemies to exit the level. The problem is that it has a very clichéd and stale feel to it. The control is what bogs this game down the most. In and of itself the control is fairly decent but somewhat slippery causing you to slip off some small platforms sometimes. What really makes this game tedious is that TecToy never polished off the scrolling. When you move, the scrolling seems to have a delay and when you are walking it seems jumpy. When you have to jump left to right, it gets obnoxious and tedious. This causes frustration in a game that should play better. If you ever played Pink Panther on the Genesis you know what I mean. This problem doesn't kill the game, it just shows that the game lacks polish and needs to be tweaked. Still, this is one of TecToy's better games and tons better than Battlemaniacs. I recommend this if you are looking for a new platform game to try, but if you need something fresh and innovative there are better games that are more exciting. |