NES RATING #5 - Cool World

...Cool World... 

Produced by:  Ocean Software

Distributed by: Ocean Software

Released:  June 1993

"Man is in the bedroom."  

Cool World is based off the 1992 film of the same name, where you control Detective Frank Harris (played by Brad Pitt in the film) and navigate through four levels.  Your task, to collect bombs, coins, & generally unleash hell upon the corrupt denizens of this cartoon world, making your way towards the ultimate showdown with Holli Would, a seductive ditzy doodle with bad intentions for the “real” world.

I find this game has been universally bashed, but has some charm alongside its flaws.  First off, the “attack system” has both advantages and disadvantages.  You defeat enemy doodles by sucking them into your ink pen (up to 14 at a time) and then releasing them into empty jars, which restores your health.  While this is an interesting way to stay alive, it also renders attacking pointless when you’re full, which is quite often.  So basically you’re in “run around and dodge everything” mode, which isn’t playing a video game, it’s just trying to get through it.  Still, having plenty of health to play around with enables the user to actually figure our the hints to solving a level, so I think Cool World deserves some credit for that.

The play control, jumping in particular, is the biggest issue here.  Cool World offers a semi-3D environment and the ability to move Frank up and down on the street or wherever you’re walking, but you can’t move diagonally, which can make avoiding enemies difficult, as well as hazardous when setting up a jump.  And you'll jump A LOT.  In the sewer, you have to jump from barrel-to-barrel, with these barrels moving from the front of the screen towards the back, but the lack of diagonal movement prohibits the player from timing these jumps perfectly.  It’s one of the harder parts of the game, for sure.  Also, one of the most glaring graphical problems is that the platforms (especially on street levels) tend to blend in, so a new player will likely be unsure of exactly where to jump.  For such a colorful game, this could have been improved upon.

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There are a few “secret rooms” you can easily find with a little trial and error.  They’re just extra screens to collect some extra items.  While helpful, they don't really add an extra dimension to the game.

I feel this game is actually a bit undervalued as a challenging platformer, especially the cavernous level where you’re dodging falling rocks and locating secret platforms to advance.  But the awkward jumping and lack of diagonal movement really hurt the game.

The graphics are actually pretty decent, but for a 1993-released NES game this is really nothing to brag about.  They’re bright and fairly detailed, but the backgrounds are all repetitive.  Still, everything is clear and well-presented to the player.  The music is looped in segments and can be fairly annoying, especially when you start hearing the same sounds over-and-over again when your character can’t make jumps correctly.

If you were a fan of the film, you won’t find much in this game that’s too familiar (aside from Harris trapping the doodles in the pen and the final level against Holli Would) but if you can familiarize yourself with the jumping, there’s a chance you might enjoy this action platformer.  

Still, Cool World does leave much to be desired.  Doodles are used to jumping in 2D, so I suppose this just isn't a human-friendly game.

Rating:  D+