Cleared on July 12th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 26/160)
Hook is a 2D Adventure game where you play as Peter Pan to get back his kids... wait, Peter Pan has kids?
Yeah, so this game was based on a movie of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg about a workaholic named Peter Bannings who ends up having his past caught up with him when his old nemesis, Captain Hook, hunts him down to kidnap his children and must recall his origins and embrace the inner child that he lost a long time ago. Before playing this game, I never even watched the movie. I've heard about it and people say great things about it despite the critic reviews. I'm not really a "movie" person. I haven't kept up the latest cinema releases, and it's not always the most ideal format for story-telling as it could feel too condensed. But since I have to keep integrity when reviewing a game, I decided to watch the movie, and I won't lie, it's already become one of my favorite movies of all time. Like if I gave it a rating, it would be a 5 stars. It has such a fascinating premise with great acting from Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams, the music was really good, and it's just a really funny movie that left me smiling at the end. The game, on the other hand, is... uhh... it's ok I guess.
The adaptation of the movie feels very condensed. They had it so that Peter transforms into Pan at the very beginning instead of taking an hour to do so, but this is to be expected for an adaptation of the 90s, so I'll let it slide. The game does look nice with a background that does speak to me that this is a movie adaptation with new locations like temples and snow since the movie didn't have a lot to work with. Some of the character sprites don't really register to me as "Hook" though. You could tell it is a Peter Pan game at the least, but I suppose its stylized and looks a lot better than trying to make something realistic in 16 bit. The music depends on the version you're playing. I've ran a comparison and honestly, playing the Sega Genesis version makes me ashamed that I didn't wait until I did the Super Nintendo challenge before doing this because the music in the Super Nintendo version sounds so much better. It even looks better with weather effects too. The Sega CD outright uses the songs from the movie which gives it an orchestral feel too it. The Genesis version is ok, but I wouldn't recommend it since they didn't even try to give the final boss its own theme.
However, the game doesn't really seem any more or less different from how it plays. The game has this sluggish movement that resembles Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusions, a game that I did not enjoy. To its credit, it does feel like its designed with the movement speed in mind and the jump actually feels alright. The game also has a Sprint feature which I unfortunately didn't realize until I got to the pirate town and by that point, I didn't get an opportunity to use it much. Did they honestly expect me to figure out there is a sprint button by holding down the Attack button while moving? I will say that I like the game's approach to water controls better than Mario where it feels like you are playing Flappy Bird. Instead holding the jump button holds you in place and you can move any direction you desire and when you release, you sink. The same controls apply when you are flying which is achieved through the assistance of Tinker Bell who appears throughout the level. You also get a dagger which has a decent range and made even better if you pick up Pan's Sword which gives you a projectile, but you better make the best of it while you can because if you get hit, you lose the power and it may be some time before you get a chance to get it back.
The worst part of this game for me is just the enemy placement and how some of them just come out of nowhere like those air balloons that fire projectiles at high speed. There are projectile enemies during the final two levels that feel almost impossible to avoid and you need to take them down before they take you down, and somehow they are even harder than the final boss which is just... whatever I guess. Also, shout out to the Snow level boss for being a candidate for one of the worst boss battles I've encountered in a Sega Genesis game. So you need to hit bombs on balloons to have it drop on him in the center, but the problem is that the center platform is so narrow with the area in-between that and the two edge platforms are spikes and doing air turn attack (or in Smash Bros terms, the back air) is really difficult to pull off. Thank god it only goes down in three hits.
There's a chance I'll revisit this game on the Super Nintendo and determine where I truly stand, but in the meantime, the game just doesn't really excite me. The movie was great, though.
Hook is a 2D Adventure game where you play as Peter Pan to get back his kids... wait, Peter Pan has kids?
Yeah, so this game was based on a movie of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg about a workaholic named Peter Bannings who ends up having his past caught up with him when his old nemesis, Captain Hook, hunts him down to kidnap his children and must recall his origins and embrace the inner child that he lost a long time ago. Before playing this game, I never even watched the movie. I've heard about it and people say great things about it despite the critic reviews. I'm not really a "movie" person. I haven't kept up the latest cinema releases, and it's not always the most ideal format for story-telling as it could feel too condensed. But since I have to keep integrity when reviewing a game, I decided to watch the movie, and I won't lie, it's already become one of my favorite movies of all time. Like if I gave it a rating, it would be a 5 stars. It has such a fascinating premise with great acting from Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams, the music was really good, and it's just a really funny movie that left me smiling at the end. The game, on the other hand, is... uhh... it's ok I guess.
The adaptation of the movie feels very condensed. They had it so that Peter transforms into Pan at the very beginning instead of taking an hour to do so, but this is to be expected for an adaptation of the 90s, so I'll let it slide. The game does look nice with a background that does speak to me that this is a movie adaptation with new locations like temples and snow since the movie didn't have a lot to work with. Some of the character sprites don't really register to me as "Hook" though. You could tell it is a Peter Pan game at the least, but I suppose its stylized and looks a lot better than trying to make something realistic in 16 bit. The music depends on the version you're playing. I've ran a comparison and honestly, playing the Sega Genesis version makes me ashamed that I didn't wait until I did the Super Nintendo challenge before doing this because the music in the Super Nintendo version sounds so much better. It even looks better with weather effects too. The Sega CD outright uses the songs from the movie which gives it an orchestral feel too it. The Genesis version is ok, but I wouldn't recommend it since they didn't even try to give the final boss its own theme.
However, the game doesn't really seem any more or less different from how it plays. The game has this sluggish movement that resembles Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusions, a game that I did not enjoy. To its credit, it does feel like its designed with the movement speed in mind and the jump actually feels alright. The game also has a Sprint feature which I unfortunately didn't realize until I got to the pirate town and by that point, I didn't get an opportunity to use it much. Did they honestly expect me to figure out there is a sprint button by holding down the Attack button while moving? I will say that I like the game's approach to water controls better than Mario where it feels like you are playing Flappy Bird. Instead holding the jump button holds you in place and you can move any direction you desire and when you release, you sink. The same controls apply when you are flying which is achieved through the assistance of Tinker Bell who appears throughout the level. You also get a dagger which has a decent range and made even better if you pick up Pan's Sword which gives you a projectile, but you better make the best of it while you can because if you get hit, you lose the power and it may be some time before you get a chance to get it back.
The worst part of this game for me is just the enemy placement and how some of them just come out of nowhere like those air balloons that fire projectiles at high speed. There are projectile enemies during the final two levels that feel almost impossible to avoid and you need to take them down before they take you down, and somehow they are even harder than the final boss which is just... whatever I guess. Also, shout out to the Snow level boss for being a candidate for one of the worst boss battles I've encountered in a Sega Genesis game. So you need to hit bombs on balloons to have it drop on him in the center, but the problem is that the center platform is so narrow with the area in-between that and the two edge platforms are spikes and doing air turn attack (or in Smash Bros terms, the back air) is really difficult to pull off. Thank god it only goes down in three hits.
There's a chance I'll revisit this game on the Super Nintendo and determine where I truly stand, but in the meantime, the game just doesn't really excite me. The movie was great, though.