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+ MonsterTurtle's Sweet Home Review.
Famicom Review: Sweet Home
Manufacturer: Capcom
Year: 1989
Notes: Based on the Horror movie by the late Japanese director, Juuzo
Itami;
Was considered for release in the US, but passed on
Sweet Home intrigued me from when I first heard of it in 1990. At the
time, I noticed it in the "Coming Soon" column on Capcom's page in the
Nintendo World Championship program. I figured that it was some kind of
Disney game, seeing how that was the type of game Capcom found
fashionable at the time. I was really, really off.
It turns out that this game was the inspiration for the popular
"Resident Evil" series of games. It is a "Survival Horror" RPG, highly
reminiscent of the original Hellraiser, and Poltergeist movies. This
isn't suprising, seeing that it was based on a highly violent horror
movie by Juuzo Itami (Tampopo, A Taxing Woman). Quite frankly, I don't
know what the hell posessed Capcom to list this game in the first place,
considering Nintendo's stringent "Anti-violence" policy at the time.
The story of the game is as follows: A television crew, and its
producer's daughter go to investigate the frescos in the house of Lady
Mamiya, a famous painter who killed herself. They soon find out that
the house is haunted by Mamiya's soul, and are trapped in the mansion by
a cave-in. Their only hope is to procure weapons and tools, and to
escape.
The gameplay is nontraditional rpg fare: you are in control of five
separate characters, with whom you can control individually, or form
parties (maximum of three members) in order to escape the mansion.
Enemies randomly appear, and you must fight them for experience. Each
character has a special tool specific to him or her (Lighter, vacuum,
key, camera, first aid kit) which is essential to your quest. Because
of this, should anyone die, you need to find a replacement item for that
character's tool, since you cannot resurrect anyone. And unfortunately,
the medicine that restores your life is in short supply, so you need to
be careful when choosing your battles.
One of the things that I like best about this game is the logical use of
items. For instance, some of the tools can be used in battle: the
lighter will burn fire-phobic enemies like maggots, and the camera's
flash will scare away the bats. Also, you need to take into
consideration what type of weapons you're carrying: a holy weapon (ax,
sword, knife) will kill ghosts easily, while a silver weapon will kill
hellborne creatures like devil dolls and zombies.
The graphics are a mixed bag: the backgrounds and battle graphics are
superb, but the characters are simple and dumpy, like in Capcom's
"Destiny of an Emperor." The sound is good, with creepy music and sound
effects which add to the atmosphere.
And lastly, the topic of violence. The reason that Sweet Home never
made it to America was because it was too violent. Sure, the jaded
youth of today would laugh it off like it was nothing (the TV news is
worse), but it's still pretty gruesome. Some enemies, like decapitated
zombies, and the swordsmen ghouls look like something from a Clive
Barker movie. And the realistic death cinemas of your characters
(getting chopped in half, or being splattered against the wall and
leaving a trail of blood) is not exactly something you'd expect from
Capcom, the company of Mega Man, Disney, and Street Fighter.
All in all, Sweet Home is a pretty good game. I'm stuck somewhere in
the middle, since my Japanese sucks, and I can't read the clues on the
frescoes. Anyway, if you can get this game, do it, even if you have to
go through superfami.com and pay his ripoff prices.
Final Analysis:
Graphics: 8.5/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay:10/10
- MonsterTurtle
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