As a young lad I can remember watching two programs from the decade I was born, the 1960s, both of which involved the comedy antics of families of horror movie monsters living among the normal human inhabitants of America. One of them was the Munsters (which I admit I preferred), and the other was The Addams Family. Today we are talking about the game of the TV series The Addams Family, and specifically the ZX Spectrum version of this game which appeared on multiple formats in the 1990s.
The ZX Spectrum version of the Addams Family platform game looks pretty amazing, and manages to keep the comic look of the Addams mansion, and characters intact despite the Speccys bright colour palette. The game has you searching for your family members to release them, and your playground is the whole of the mansion and its grounds. It is one tough game though, with everything on every level trying to stop your quest by taking your (after)Life.
The title screen plays the theme from the Addams Family as only the Spectrum could really, but it is instantly recognisable, and you get to choose your controls. Then the mayhem begins, pixel perfect jumps, various beasties and guards, ghouls and ghosts to jump on, over or avoid. Doorways take you from room to room but beware as sometimes you need to be moving, or jumping as soon as you enter a room, and this makes the game so extremely tough and also frustrating to play.
Now I know you’re thinking that I probably don’t like this game, I keep saying it is tough, but that isn’t to say it’s not a good game. Everything follows a pattern, so learning the enemy patterns and how to avoid or kill them allows progress to be made, eventually. This takes time, but the game is possible to master and therefore not a waste of time if you have time to master it, and if you do then this will be a great game to play through and ultimately enjoy.
I missed the deadline for the Retro Games Forever high score challenge, but I will probably return to The Addams Family game again, and you can take a look right now, and see if it is for you. Also let us know either here in a comment or in the video comments which was your favourite ghoulish family, the Munsters or The Addams Family (duh duh de dun, duh duh de dun etcetera)
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