I watched the movie to prepare for this game. I don’t think that was a good idea. This is apparently based off an MSX game by the same developers. I actually didn’t know Pack-In-Video made video games to be honest. I played the Famicom version and yep, it was bad but surprisingly didn’t anger me that much.

The game gives a very weird first impression, it starts with a super brief plot synopsis of the beginning quarter of the movie and all of a sudden the game is like BIG MODE and the game is like your character as a huge character shooting orbs and smaller orbs. Your character and the boss are actually background objects to make the size even work but there’s just not much thought put into these. There’s upgrades you can get but they always go to the right making it a pain to get. They also apparently have ammo? I never ran out though. I only got the one that’s like III because it gives you autofire. You’ll always fight the predator here and he’s usually pretty easy. These levels also act as your checkpoint when using continues and there’s seven big mode levels in the game.

Now there’s the rest of the game which is just your usual sidescroller. There’s not much to say, the platforming design is pretty amateurish with a big obsession with one block platforming. The controls take a bit to get used to especially for the small platforms. You also start with a punch for each level which makes no sense cause he doesn’t do this in big mode and he clearly has a gun on his sprite. You can get a machine gun for projectiles, a grenade to explode enemies and walls, and a laser gun that just combines both weapons. Yeah, remember when the humans used a laser gun in the movie? Even stupider, for some reason you can’t crouch and punch yet you can with the other weapons! The enemies also just feel like they just cherry picked elements of the movie like that one scene with the scorpion getting stepped on so now there’s scorpion enemies. Then you just have stuff that just feels made up and I don’t get it.

That level design man, it has some annoying traps in later levels. There’s one very late into the game that has a large pit you can’t jump over, so how do you do it? Well, haven't you watched the movie stupid? You obviously have to ride on top of a ghost to make it. Oh yeah, you can stand on some enemies and that’s apparently one of them. It also just feels like a lot of the time, they designed stuff to make getting weapons a pain or just having paths that feel tedious for the sake of challenge. There’s even level design that just has dead ends just to mess with you, what jerks! Also you better not pause because if you press the A or B button then you immediately die, why? Was this incase you softlocked yourself? Have I mentioned yet there’s 30 levels of this? (if you don’t count level skips).

There’s only two bosses in these levels and it’s always the Predator himself. First of all, he looks terrible. Second, he’s a joke every time you fight him. Just find a safe spot and just shoot when he’s not jumping. Wasn’t the whole point of him was that he cloaked himself and was a constant scary threat?? Also why does he look and move like the Ninja Turtles from the first TMNT game on this system. There’s even a green one! He is a Ninja Turtle! The last boss is…just his head? I really don’t get this but at least you get to see him without the helmet but this fight sucks and is boring. Once you beat him then you get the scene of him self destructing and then it’s over, CONGRATULATION!

Nothing about the game looks all that impressive even for 1988. Honestly I shouldn’t be shocked but hey I guess big mode doesn’t look too awful but with so little variety, it gets old looking especially with some horribly used color backgrounds. A lot of the environments in the main stages also just feel nothing like the movie which is a shame. The music on the other hand isn’t too bad, at least I don’t think it is. It can get a bit repetitive but otherwise, I kind of was enjoying it.

Sigh, conflicted right now. I think it’s a bad game but I somehow didn’t despise it. I think I’ve just hit that point where I’ve played some of the lowest of the low that something like this can just be like bad but not bad enough. I don’t blame people for despising this game but to me, it’s just not the worst thing ever. I am disappointed it doesn’t really follow the movie. I guess I should know better but why even make it then? I’m sure they tried their best but it’s not recommended you play this. It should also be noted this game is easier in the US. Also this Famicom cover is disgusting. That’s all for now, see ya!