Ren & Stimpy: Time Warp is a bizarre and frustrating side-scroller based on the chaotic cartoon. The graphics are decent for the era, and the music will probably get stuck in your head for days. However, the controls are clunky, hit detection is awful, and some levels feel practically impossible to beat without using cheats. It's really only worth playing if you have hardcore nostalgia for the show and enjoy a brutal challenge.
I didn't really grow up watching Ren & Stimpy. I might've not been allowed to as a kid, I can't really remember. When I gained some interest in it I quickly learned creator John Kricfalusi is a sexual predator. Not great!
Recently I noticed there are four different Ren & Stimpy games on SNES, so I picked them up out of boredom and played them each for a bit and they were all some of the worst shit I ever played. This is probably the best of the stack, somehow. It's mostly just a shitty beatemup with some dull flying segments in between that wildly fluctuate in difficulty.
I see a lot of reviews online saying how this captures the spirit of the show nicely, but is that really true? There are some things going for this, but only barely. The animation and spritework is pretty good, and that's the only thing without drawbacks really. The sound design and clear samples seem acceptable at first, but it becomes really grating in a matter of minutes. Most of all, the game is just really lethargic, much unlike the breakneck pace and absurdity of the show itself. If you look around for playthroughs online, they're typically 1-2 hours long (without mistakes), but the game only consists of four levels. They go on for ages, reuse bits of stage design on occasion, and the enemies and other faces you meet are all really bland. In fact, most enemies are just mosquitos and shit that fly in your face. How fucking boring! Surely for a show that's supposedly so off-the-wall you can think of better enemies than goddamn mosquitos, and furthermore just a whole lot of more interesting stuff than what's presented here.
This game is really bad. I'd imagine the only reason it gets any credit is because the other Ren & Stimpy games set the bar so low. For example, Fire Dogs is unplayable, full stop. Buckeroo$ has barely any music tracks at all, and none are longer than 20 second loops. That is the level of quality we're working with here. Don't let those convince you that Time Warp is a competent game, though.
Recently I noticed there are four different Ren & Stimpy games on SNES, so I picked them up out of boredom and played them each for a bit and they were all some of the worst shit I ever played. This is probably the best of the stack, somehow. It's mostly just a shitty beatemup with some dull flying segments in between that wildly fluctuate in difficulty.
I see a lot of reviews online saying how this captures the spirit of the show nicely, but is that really true? There are some things going for this, but only barely. The animation and spritework is pretty good, and that's the only thing without drawbacks really. The sound design and clear samples seem acceptable at first, but it becomes really grating in a matter of minutes. Most of all, the game is just really lethargic, much unlike the breakneck pace and absurdity of the show itself. If you look around for playthroughs online, they're typically 1-2 hours long (without mistakes), but the game only consists of four levels. They go on for ages, reuse bits of stage design on occasion, and the enemies and other faces you meet are all really bland. In fact, most enemies are just mosquitos and shit that fly in your face. How fucking boring! Surely for a show that's supposedly so off-the-wall you can think of better enemies than goddamn mosquitos, and furthermore just a whole lot of more interesting stuff than what's presented here.
This game is really bad. I'd imagine the only reason it gets any credit is because the other Ren & Stimpy games set the bar so low. For example, Fire Dogs is unplayable, full stop. Buckeroo$ has barely any music tracks at all, and none are longer than 20 second loops. That is the level of quality we're working with here. Don't let those convince you that Time Warp is a competent game, though.
I used to really like this game when I was a kid but I don't really see the fun in it now. Sure, it's got the bizarre charm of the show, and I still love that, but as a game this isn't very fun at all. A lot of the stuff here just feels kind of cheap and annoying to deal with, so I ended up just shutting the game off after the Haunted House level. I don't really wanna bother with the rest, and from what little I remember of the actual ending, I remember it being really underwhelming.
4/10
4/10
It honestly baffles the crap out of me that there exists four whole Ren & Stimpy games on the SNES and all of them blow varying levels of hot ass.
Time Warp is probably my favorite out of the losers, but it manages to annoy me because it brings the best idea for a Ren & Stimpy game. Imagine a blend of beat'em up/collectathon where you run around slapping the shit out of people with Ren? It sounds great, but here they fucked it up with all sorts of bad shit like insects constantly attacking you, fences beating the shit out of you and bosses that are just giant hitboxes that run at you that tank way too many hits.
The worst I think though is the mode 7 "time warp" segments in-between areas that are horrifically boring, at least until they have you do a turbo tunnel segment straight out of Battletoads that is borderline impossible to get through unharmed without heavy memorization.
What a waste.
Time Warp is probably my favorite out of the losers, but it manages to annoy me because it brings the best idea for a Ren & Stimpy game. Imagine a blend of beat'em up/collectathon where you run around slapping the shit out of people with Ren? It sounds great, but here they fucked it up with all sorts of bad shit like insects constantly attacking you, fences beating the shit out of you and bosses that are just giant hitboxes that run at you that tank way too many hits.
The worst I think though is the mode 7 "time warp" segments in-between areas that are horrifically boring, at least until they have you do a turbo tunnel segment straight out of Battletoads that is borderline impossible to get through unharmed without heavy memorization.
What a waste.