NES Game Reviews #22 – Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
Home Alone 2 has the sort of control that makes you want to take a hammer to your cartridge!
For a film with only one game worthy transferable scene, it’s amazing they actually composed a NES game for Home Alone 2. The hotel level has more in common with the Overlook hotel from the Shining than it does with Home Alone 2. Just about everything bar a lift full of blood is out to get Kevin. The goal is to find the service lift to the kitchen. Unfortunately you’ll have a jolly jaunt across every floor of this lunatic asylum before you can find it. When you arrive on a new floor, the next lift you need is right there, however you’re forced to walk to the end of the corridor then back again before you can use it, why? You’ll have to repeat this process on every floor!
There is a real menagerie of power-ups and weapons to collect, some of which you only find once, the aftershave for example!
The most over-powered item grants you the power to dispatch foes with a somersault, this greatly improves your chances and lasts the entire game if you don’t take a hit! There is a range of projectile based weapons, however a knee slide is a helpful attack that is ammo free. Caution is advised though as it only works on some enemies and the only way know is trial and error, that’s fun right?
After defeating a stripping chef, you’re in Central Park. Its seedy as all hell! Rats run freely around and raincoat wearing men jump out of bushes for a good groping of Kevin. There’s a jumping maze later which controls so bad you’d probably be better off just mashing the controller with your eyes closed!.
After avoiding a flock of seagulls who literally shit on you (I like to imagine they’re the programmers), you make it to the abandoned house.
You can actually use traps to catch Marv and Harry here. You get little time to work out how, but its satisfying when it works. Literally the only good bit of the game! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, the jumping sections in this level are best explained as ‘nightmare’ and ‘hell’.
A clunky chase follows, after which I drop some shit on the bandits and it’s all smiles from a pixelated Kevin and his family. A truly horrible game… Next!
