SNES Game of the Week 118 - Clock Tower

[excelsior]

• Publisher - THQ
• Developer - Imagineering
• Genre - Action-Platformer
• Initial Release - December 1991

The riches of the McCallister home are under siege again from the Wet Bandit Gang! Young Kevin has to defend his family's treasures against his old foes, Marv and Harry. But this time the bumbling crooks brought some tough friends to even the score! Their recent stretch behind the bars has given them plenty of ideas to exact revenge on our little hero.

Join Kevin as he races through the McCallister mansion and sets off wild booby traps to ensnare the villians. Discover the hidden treasures and secure them in the basement vault. But be careful! Some nasty nightmares await Kevin in the dusty, murky shadows of the cellar! Help Kevin thwart the Wet Bandits (and face his worst fears) in this adventure classic from THQ!

  

  

[excelsior]

Yes. This is what I planned for for the Christmas period. Were you all on my bad list? Perhaps some coal would have gone down better? But don't worry, if you're all good girls and boys next week I'll throw a nice game your way. Besides, it is Christmas themed - despite missing the holiday release in Europe. Who wants to watch or play Home Alone in January? Also, the game is not that bad, actually. Just give it a chance. It doesn't follow the film closely (who are these extra enemies?), but some may consider that a blessing. It's a reasonable enough action game. My biggest issue with it is that it's so darn ugly.

Ranking - C (that's the holiday spirit at work)

[vnisanian2001]

C. Just okay. At least it's better than the NES game.

The Home Alone games on the Genesis seem a lot better.

[spanky]

Were we that bad...what did we do to deserve this?

You know, even as a kid I inherently knew that anything with T*HQ on the box was probably going to be dogshit, but for a rental, what was the risk in trying this out? The NES version of the game is a sort of maze chase game but this is a more standard platformer and action game. There's a Game Boy version as well and it looks pretty similar to the SNES game but with actual boss fights against the Wet Bandits. The Genesis version is probably the best, all things considered. The SNES game is less about setting traps and more about running around and shooting thieves in the nuts with toy guns. Also, I know the McAllister's were well off but they have a comical amount of goods in this game. My favorite is they have an entire wing of their house housing dozens of pets.

As excelsior said it's ug-leee, but in a way it does sort of capture the gaudiness of the McAllister house. And I kinda love how cheap the digitized house looks with a bunch of glowing lights slapped on it. I think you could do a sort of compelling game out of Home Alone. Maybe throw in some adventure elements about an 8 year kid just trying to survive on his own. The ceiling for enjoyment with this game is something you'd rent to burn off some time and nervous energy in the days leading up to Christmas. It's a low C.

[personman]

Had this one growing up and it's always been a thing I would pop in the system just out of sheer boredom and not wanting to get started with anything else. It's not a great game but I wouldn't call it strictly bad either and is half way unique to its credit. Honestly it has some fun renditions of Christmas songs like the main levels reminding me of Run Run Rudolph, two takes on a couple songs from the Nutcracker which are actually kinda nice and then the Basement out of nowhere sounds like you're in a jail or something lol. Speaking of those basements the massive infestation of pests is just funny and one of them is flat out haunted. Good thing they built them with bricks salt or something so they can be beaten lol. This game is goofy as heck and I'm all for it.

Wouldn't tell anyone to touch it outside of a nostalgia trip but you could do worse. It gets by but only barely, C-.

[dsparil]

C seems about right for this. All the Home Alone games are so weird if only for the fact that they came a year after the movie. I'd love to know the story there.

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Interplay
• Developer - Silicon & Synapse
• Genre - Racing
• Initial Release - 4 June 1993

With music and engines scream'n, you pick your car, driver, and weapons--then slam it into gear. Annihilate the competition with laser cannons and cluster bombs as you pit yourself against other lead-footed crazies bent on ruining your day.

  

  

[excelsior]

Well, at least I hope this is a nice game for everyone to bring in the new year. I certainly like it. What a fun combat racer, with a great and lively atmosphere. It did take some time to grow on me, actually, but once it did it really hooked me.

Ranking - A

We're back to a regular schedule now. Please let me know if there's any particular game you want to be discussed in the coming weeks.

[spanky]

Happy New Year! No exaggeration, but this thread is one of my weekly highlights. No suggestions from me, I enjoy the surprise.

Anyway..RnRR might be the best (non sim) racing game on the system that isn't Mario Kart. It's easy to play and shockingly addictive, kind of like a hyper charged (and less infuriating) sci fi sequel to RC Pro Am. It can be tough but you can sort of grind races for cash and upgrades. Given the length of the game, I would have preferred a save feature to a password but that's not really a huge issue in 2023 2024. I have a vague memory of renting this for a Thanksgiving one year and my entire family was gathered around the TV playing it. It's an A!

[vnisanian2001]

Racing and rockin' fun tunes. What more could you ask for. I only the wish the superior SNES version had Golden Earring's Radar Love (the Genesis version had it).

S

[personman]

One of my brother's friends brough this over one time and I actually got to spend some time with it when they were out. Remember it being pretty cool but never got around to revisiting it, I'll see if I can sit down with it a bit this week.

[dr_st]

You can definitely see the similarities in the art style, down to the fonts used between RnRR, Lost Vikings and Blackthorne. While I played the last two extensively, and enjoyed them thoroughly, RnRR somehow whizzed past me. I recall I even downloaded all three at one point when Blizzard started offering its Arcade Collection for free (the individual downloads are still available), but never played RnRR. Maybe I should give it a try.

[dsparil]

I don't disagree with the high praise for this game, but I have a marked preference for racing games in the Pole Position tradition. I personally would give it a B because of that.

[Snake]

Rock n Roll Racing  - Score: B+

Interesting Interplay game using characters from their other franchises. Race as Olaf from Lost Vikings?! Why not?  
The play style would have had me guessing this was a reskin of Rare's RC Pro Am on the NES.  Except without the cheaply impossible orange RC car that would randomly get 120% constant turbo boost.  That said, it was easy to adapt to and get into; the Peter Gunn theme rendition brings back memories of Spy Hunter in the arcade.  Pretty cool vibes overall.


Home Alone - Score: C

Yeah, talk about a haphazard licensed game just thrown together.  At least it's less of an eyesore than its NES counterpart.  Though the level design of the different houses are like someone's jumbled dream.  Finding a slice of cheese pizza popping out of a toilet?  Sure~  First level has you running into clones of a mobster caricature? The wet bandits needed the help of some more muscle I suppose.  

[personman]

After spending some time with it I don't think I care for this one much. I just find the perspective for this kind of game tough to deal with and making corners on tracks as well as grabbing pick ups and hitting boosts I can't seem to get used to, their hit detection seems so nebulous. The games structure I'm not wild about either I like the idea but so far it just seems like it ends up amounting to you having to grind the same small handful of tracks for longer than I care for to upgrade. Getting to the level so I could compete once reaching a new level just felt like a slog and did we really need to repeat that all twice with slightly upgraded opponents?. I was stuck just getting my ass handed to me on the second planet over and over again till I finally got enough scraps from the track's money pickups to upgrade so I could compete. Wasn't enjoying that much, funny that this is a Blizzard game because this seriously reminded me of my old WoW days were all I could do was PvP and this is what it was like till you could earn the gear to stand up to people lol.

I got to the third planet and got the tank like car (seems like I should have chosen the Airblade out the gate but alas) and things got a little easier but the tracks design criss crossing themselves with the perspective is just messing me up. I really don't care for it and honestly I think there is some rose tinted glasses with this one. But at the same time I can see the appeal to a point and I'm a sucker for the old school Blizzard charm .

I'm giving it a C but I guess I'll make it a C+. And I don't really care for the music, I think they only really did Bad to the Bone any justice.