Retro Review - Demolition Man

Continuing with the theme of video games based on movies, this time I bring another video game, which once again, Stallone is its protagonist, both as in the movie as in the video game, being his co-protagonist, Wesley Snipes, known for having played Blade in the trilogy of the same name. Once again a very entertaining action game, which surprisingly is not a piece of crap like most games based on movies. In general terms it is a game very similar to Judge Dreed, which I reviewed two days ago (by the way, the movie that is so bad that it is entertaining and also a classic of the action genre).

That's why today's Retro Review is about: Demolition Man.

The story is basically an adaptation of the movie (with its logical changes to make it a decent videogame). It is set in 1996 and our main character, John Spartan is chasing a very dangerous criminal, Simon Phoenix, who has kidnapped a group of people, however, in all the chaos of the chase and the fight, there was an explosion which kills the hostages. And even though John Spartan captured Simon, they are both sentenced to be frozen, as John is blamed for the death of the hostages for not having fulfilled his mission well (what a garbage justice). Thirty-six years pass and the game is set in the year 2032, in which everything is better, both society and the world live in total prosperous peace. However, that peace was to be short-lived, as Simon is unfrozen to investigate his case, but as expected, Simon breaks free and starts killing everyone in the place on the run before the sight of the police that due to the peaceful times they have lived for a long time, they are not so educated in the field, in short, they are weak. So they unfreeze John Spartan to help them catch Simon... or kill him.

Returning to the graphic section, Demolition Man has a pretty good quality, a game totally in 2D but with enough good elements and graphic quality so that even today it looks good. Dark colors predominate, especially black and gray, but we will also see a lot of red color that achieves a pretty good contrast.

Something that caught my attention and is that although the sprite of our main character, John Spartan is small, has a set of pretty good and varied animations, being a very important aspect in a game in which our character is constantly moving due to the great moments of action that has this game (and there are many). The when varies between two camera modes, the classic 2D side-scrolling and another in area view, in which, we will have a larger field of view of the stage, having enough elements and scenery to be seen well on screen.

Demolition Man is a game that is visually pleasing, with the on-screen elements sufficiently added to create an eye-catching scenario. As I said before, it is a game that has a certain shade of darkness in the scenarios, although this is not present in all, I think it is a hallmark of this game. And although with its obvious and logical graphical limitations, this game is able to recreate decently locations that we can see in the movie, so we can distinguish them very easily.

The music is quite good and decently fulfills its purpose, it is varied, with many rhythms that are consistent with the moments of action, tension and danger that our John Spartan will live. Music with fast, strong and forceful rhythms, what you would expect from an action game. The sound effects such as gunshots and explosions, are regular, but not bad as a whole.

Demolition Man is a side scrolling game, in which we must go shooting and eliminating the enemies that appear on screen, while we go through the scenarios, there will also be some sections of platforms, but they are very easy. But besides being a side scrolling game, in certain occasions it completely changes the game mode to an aerial view shooting game, in which we will have a greater field of vision of the scenery and the exploration factor is added to have to look for certain elements necessary to advance.

It is a much more frenetic game compared to Jugde Dreed, it rewards more when playing by having fast movements when attacking and dodging enemy attacks, so, personally, I liked the gameplay of this game much more, much more action, movement and freneticism. Also, in terms of control it is extremely easy. The final bosses are not at all difficult, it is easy to learn their mechanics to defeat them, which is typical in any video game. A negative point is that it is a fairly short game, in an hour or even less can be completed, although it is logical that has such a short game time.

Demolition Man is a good action, platform and shooting game, quite conventional and not innovative in practically nothing, but it is still a title worth playing.