Nerdicus NES Review #26 : Adventures of Rad Gravity

Title : Adventures of Rad Gravity

Publisher : Activision

Release Date : 1990

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $5-$7

I, er. I don't even know where to begin. This might very well be one of the most painful games I've had to play through. And I'm not using painful as a metaphor here. My eyes were ACTUALLY throbbing halfway through my play through. 

Now don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed playing as a Bruce Campbell look a like, and I do love the oddly familiar tunes playing in the background that reminded me of Maniac Mansion music, but the game itself was horrid. It's kind of depressing, since opening sequence and pre-level on board spaceship mission log had me hoping for something a lot more entertaining. Not this lopsided mess.

You start off with a killer title screen, and some incredible 8-bit tunes jamming out in the background. Seriously, just seconds into popping in this game I'm at the edge of my seat. "This is gonna be good." I'm saying to myself. I just really didn't know what the heck I was getting myself into. I feel like the first two scenes are just a tease.

Seriously, tell me this does not look awesome.

I felt like I was in for some of those classic point and click adventures from the PC. It certainly looks like it. But my brain was ignoring the scenes I saw from the back of the box. The side scrolling action that I have yet to experience.

Why? Tell me, why!? WHY IS IT SO BAD!?

Let me explain it to you.

  

By looking at this screenshots, do you have any idea as to what is up or what is down? Do you have any clue as to which of the multi-colored blocks I'm able to stand on? I certainly don't. And I barely had any clue when I was playing the damn game. 

If you think just looking at a single frame is bad, imagine playing through this. To make matters even worse, the game has a horrible clipping rate when moving from screen to the other and it flutters to the point where it makes you nauseous. It was as if the game was going through some sort of memory overloaded seizure where it couldn't process anything on the screen.

Go ahead and take a closer look at that weapon you have. For a better part of the game you have the reach of two centimeters in front of you. It's almost impossible to judge how to strike an enemy, and it doesn't help at all that your character slides around like he's on an ice slick. I've died so many times just accidentally running into enemies over and over trying to kill them. By the time you get a new weapon, you're sick of the game anyway. Some of them are absolutely worthless anyway while others you need to get past certain points on planets.

As the game goes on though, THE FRUSTRATION BUILDS!

I'll admit, some of the level designs are interesting and they really had potential. It's just that for a platformer, controls are key. Unfortunately for this game, the controls are downright horrendous. If they had only taken the time to fine tune it, this game would have been so much better off.

At least there is some variety between missions, and while each one is basically the same (go to point A, collect this, or defeat this, then go to point B, and finally go back to your ship), the quest varies from level to level. I mean going inside a computer is pretty cool, and so is battling your way through a planet filled with dinosaurs, or better yet a planet where the gravity is reversed.

All great attempts at making the game better than what it is.

But AGH!! THE CONTROLS!!!!!!!!!

If it wasn't for the music, which I know some people hate but I love, and the character / enemy designs, I never would have been able to play through as much as I did. Sorry, but this game isn't so Rad.

Final Score (out of 5) :

Until next time. Keep on gaming!