Welcome to another edition of Genesis Does. The review article that looks at all things Sega Genesis. Movie licensed games have been something I’ve talked about a lot in recent months. I think for the most part because despite some very bad titles, many film licenses were able to apply themselves into surprisingly good video games. For every Back to the Future 3, or Batman Forever, you had something like Aladdin, or True Lies. So, with that in mind, which way does Hook go? Is it a classic game, or does it deserve to go in the Boo Box with Glenn Close? Let’s not waste much time, and fly into this week’s game.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1992
PUBLISHER: Sony Imagesoft
GENRE: Action Platformer
Hook was a 1991 family adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and Julia Roberts. The film tells the story of what would happen if Peter Pan had left Neverland, and grew up. The middle aged Peter Banning, now a workaholic who barely has time for his own children discovers that they’re kidnapped, learns of his forgotten past as Peter Pan, and has to go to Neverland to save his kids who are held captive by the evil Captain James Hook.
The movie was a success at the box office, despite high critical negativity. Despite the critics, the success of Hook was enough to warrant a video game. And rights to the franchise would go to Sony Imagesoft, a still very new company at the time. There were several different Hook games released on multiple consoles like the NES, Game Boy, SNES, Amiga, Sega CD, and the console we’re of course looking at, the Sega Genesis.
The SNES and Genesis ports were both very similar to one another in pretty much every way. However, while the SNES port was developed by Japanese designer Ukiyotei (hence its more anime-ish look), the Genesis port was handled by Core Design, which took the Ukiyotei version and redid it to the best of the Genesis’ capabilities. The game was released in 1992 to decent sales. But is it a classic? Let’s look further.
COVER STORY
A really nicely desinged cover, with amazing artwork, and enough eye catching action. It does the important job of showing off the film’s main characters Peter and Hook, which is definitely important. I would say though that if I did have one minor issue with this cover is that Peter Pan looks nothing like Robin Williams. Perhaps they couldn’t get the rights to use Robin’s likeness on the cover, or perhaps they felt a younger looking Peter would be more pleasing to the eye. Either way, this is definitely one of my favourite box arts on the Genesis.
STORY
What if Peter Pan, the boy who never grew old… grew old? The once former Peter Pan, now Peter Banning, has become a middle aged workaholic, who neglects his children Jack and Maggie. One night, Jack and Maggie disappear, and all that’s left is a note from Captain Hook telling Peter to meet him in Neverland. After reuniting with Tinkerbell, Peter begins to learn of his past, and has to head to Neverland once again to face off with his pirate nemesis for the last time and save his children.
GAMEPLAY
Hook is a one player action platformer. You control Peter Pan as he has to go from level to level to defeat the many pirates standing in your way from your ultimate final batter with the nefarious Captain Hook. You control Peter with the D-Pad, can jump/fly with the B button, and attack with A, and can also sprint or fly faster while holding the button down. The C button does nothing, nor is the 6 button controller a necessity.
You will go through eleven levels in the game, while following some events from the movie. For example, the first level will have to face off with the lost boys, as you have to defeat each one to get further. When you get to the end of the level, you will fight leader Rufio in order to earn back your sword. From there, you’ll go through caves, forests, the stock ice stage, and even cross a sea with the help of mermaids as you make your way to Hook’s ship for your big encounter.
Peter is equipped with a dagger, which is your main weapon through the game. After beating Rufio, you upgrade to a sword which can shoot a wave that can damage enemies from afar. It is a definite plus to have, especially as the game goes on. The downside to this weapon though is that by taking just one hit, you will lose it, and not have a chance to get it back until you find it later in the game. That was always one issue that bugged me when I played it. Imagine if you got the Master Sword in the Legend of Zelda, and by taking one hit, you were downgraded back to the starting sword, with no chance of getting your master sword back until later in the game. That would be a pisser, wouldn’t it?
Of course with this being a game about Peter Pan, you would expect Peter to be able to fly. And he can, with the help of Tinkerbell. Whenever you see Tink, stand under her to earn enough fairy dust to raise your fly meter on the top of the screen. Once full, jump then press jump again to fly. While holding A, you can fly for a faster amount of time. Your meter runs out super quick, so you have to fly to the area you’re going as quickly as possible.
You start with three lives, and can take up to three hits. Your health is represented by blue leaves above your fly meter. You can earn more hit points by finding leaves in each level, and can rack up to two more hit points, which is definitely helpful as the game can get pretty tough by the end. Hover, if you get game over, you will lose all of your extra leaves. You can heal up your hit points by use of items like apples and cherries. You can also find jewels and treasure, which will increase your score.
Most of the levels are basic left to right, or upwards and through style levels, but there are some different levels that keep it from being monotonous. For example, there is one level where you’re in a dark cave, and have to continue moving along with a fireball to keep seeing your way through the cave. Go too far, and everything gets dark. Another stage has you flying from tree to tree as the level scrolls. And as I mentioned previously, another has you moving over water with the help of the mermaids.
The game has okay controls, despite a few issues. For one thing, I would have preferred the dash be designated for the C button, since the A button is also the attack button, it does leave you defenseless. Despite that, the game never suffers from bad hit detection. The difficulty is pretty solid, with no real severe challenge, without feeling way too easy. There are continues, but no passwords or save features. Despite the amount of levels, none of them are too long, so once you get the hang of it, it should take an hour or so to beat.
GRAPHICS
The game has great graphics. It has the look and feel of the movie, and all the character sprites look exactly like their movie counterparts. Although, again, I’d say that Peter’s Pan form looks nothing like Robin Williams. Another issue is that the colours are definitely more faded out, but being a Genesis game, that’s to be expected. Despite that, it still looks really great.
MUSIC
The game has solid music. Most of the tracks are redone versions of songs from the movie’s soundtrack. The original tracks are also quite good, and all sound solid with the Genesis sound chip. If you enjoyed the soundtrack from the film, you should definitely find something to enjoy in this game.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Hook is a solid game for the Genesis. It has decent controls, great graphics and sound, and follows the look and feel of the movie near perfectly. There are a few minor issues that keep it from being one of the best action platformers on the console, but for what it is, I personally feel its somewhat underrated. If you can find this game, give it a try. You might get “Hooked”
RATING: Thumbs Up