Spot Goes to Hollywood(Published by Virgin - Developed by Burst)

1 player
Memory card *1 Block*
Kids to Adults

Immediately when you boot up Spot, you feel as though Hollywood just 
warped you through a short-flick marathon -- taking you to different 
Hollywood stages set up so your heroin *Spot* can take you exploring 
through superficial million dollar stages only Hollywood could muster. 
Thus Hollywood cinematic adventure presents: "Spot Goes to Hollywood"

Lights! Camera! Action! 

Well, there's reason why platform games have been so popular for the 
16-bit world, mainly, their fun, just plain simple formulas of running/ 
jumping/ stumping/ and shooting gets you hooked. The most simple and 
basic platformers gets you going to rival the levels with fast reflexes 
and old-fashion cunning wit "Run!" This time, the 7-UP mascot character
will again fulfill your platforming needs in your 32-bit machine -- 
only with a twist, this time, Spot will dazzled you in an 
angled-overhead view, much the same way as your popular shooter 
'Zaxxon,' 3/4 view. Does this formula work? Yes.

Spot Goes to Hollywood is what you call a gamer's game: everything that 
you expect from a traditional platformer, this game has it. To begin 
with, you have simple controls to master, run, jump, shoot, and shoot 
special weapon. It doesn't get any more complicated. The start up 
screen is simple, nothing fancy, appropriately displaying: option/new 
game/or continue game. The option screen window will allow you to 
customize your gameplay preferences: these include, Music balance/ 
Sound Fx balance/ and configure controller settings. You will also find 
the load/save feature if you have a memory card. Unfortunately,there is 
no difficulty setting.

The introduction sequence is sharp, short, but has a nice flair that 
keeps you interested, this quality only hints the rest of the FMV 
in-between stages, all attractive and well rendered. Once you begin 
gameplay, 6 unique Hollywood worlds made up with great scenarios wait 
for your gaming pleasure -- each world containing anywhere from 4-6 
levels and various bonuses. When the game begins, you'll notice in your 
upper right hand corner 5 empty stars. In the middle your power up 
weapon glares on the upper left hand corner, your health(three hits) 
and number of lives shows on the screen. Again, very simple, nothing 
complicated. You will notice no score system is use here, so is no time 

limit(clock). You have all the time in the world to complete a level so 
you can explore and search for all the goodies. During the game, you 
will come across weapons and collectibles. These include: 

Breakables -- special weapons
3 way shot
freeze shot
power shot
Bomb (special weapons are limited)

Breakables -- Goodies
Health
1UP
shield(timed invincibility)
Bubble(jump in it and float around and control the bubble to move. 
(Also limited)
Spotdots(collect 100 and gain an extra life)
Warps(teleports you to special areas) some are visible to the eye, some 
hidden.)

Light! Camera! Action!

The first Hollywood stage is the "Pirate Perils" the ship. Here you 
start out on your high sea's adventure, and get a nice retro-flavored 
doze of platform-gaming. The good news: the game is a lot of fun to 
play. What's interesting here is the way the game plays. For every 
level you play, you must find five golden stars in order to advance 
through the world stage -- finishing the level alone is not enough, 
your aim is to finish the game with perfect percentage: you can finish 
a level without finding all the stars to proceed to the next, however, 
you won't be able to play all the levels for that world. So immediately 
you will find yourself looking at every nook and cranny to find the 
five stars. Some of the stars are visible and plain to see. Others hid 
in numerous bogus locations, illusive to find and will require an 
amount of search and investigation to find them.  Teleports will often 
take you to an additional track where there you will be require to do 
tricks to pick up the star. Black holes on the ground will take you to 
bonus levels that include free lives, spotdots, stars, etc. Other 
tricks require you to push blocks, walls, cabinets, and so forth, so in 
other words, this is truly a Hollywood adventure for only pleasure 
seeking gamers.

Once you'd completed a level, the world map appears on screen. 
Progressing through the game means new titles for scenes from the 
current world will appear at the bottom of the screen. Each 
scene(level) displays the numbers of stars you found in it. If you 
found only three stars, you can always go back and do the level again 
and hope you find the other two missing stars. This technique reminds 
me a lot of Crash when you had to scavenge for them colour diamonds for 
every level you completed without dying and finding all the available 
boxes.  So...much like Crash, Spot is an exploration game where -- 
the more you look, the more you find -- the more paths are reveal. 
Though, for this reason. If you have several missing stars in any of 
the levels of the first three worlds, you won't be able to proceed to 
the next three: 'The Wild, Wild, West,' 'Triassic Terror', and 'Science 
Fiction'.

One of the main plusses of the game is the variety of gameplay is 
available in each of the levels comprising this game.  You can ride a 
cannon -- for example -- while avoiding obstacles, and jump ramps while 
collecting spotdots. Float inside an air bubble. Ride trolley cars on 
rail inside mineshafts, while shooting a sign to change rail track. Fly 
over the terrain as you shoot(like Zaxxon). Scale a complex network of 
ladders. Run from boulders, etc. Although everything kept is in the 
angle overhead view(3/4), you can go left/right up, left/right down. 
This game has a nice combination of shooting and 2D gaming that 
includes jumping and running. Furthermore, the enemy bosses have a nice 
blend of strategy to rid of their malice. The perspective of fighting 
these enemies all have their special flair and technique, neither one 
attacks the same, each fighting in its proper environment. The 
difficult setting is set up just right, so passing by them won't be too 
difficult. 

How the game Controls?

I was very surprise to see the sluggish controls in this game. I was 
quite bewilder to find 8-bit controls to this fine packaged. Cool Spot 
on the Sega genesis had excellent controls, everything was very smooth, 
and you could perform precise jumping, as well evading enemies on the 
run with little hassle. Spot Goes to Hollywood on the other hand 
suffers from smoothness. His continuity lacks grace of movement. The 
controls are idle, unresponsive. They are not jerky, but has a backward 
feel to it that is just plain sluggish. Spot has now a heavy feel in 
its 32-bit reincarnation, his no longer light, or quick for that 
matter. Fortunately, the levels don't require precise timing. Only the 
'Watery level' will frustrate you for a small while. Here you will jump 
on snakes as you try avoiding falling into the water, a timing that 
will challenge even the most season gamer. It personally took me about 
an hour to get comfortable with the controls. Although Spot moves more 
sluggish than its 16-bit counter-part, you still are quite able to 
control him with an amount of practice. After a while, you'll be 
jumping and running with ease. Your temperament will change as you move 
further into the game, the fun factor is so illuminating, you'll be 
able to forget or forgive Spots sluggish movement. Still, is good to 
know the controls won't hinder game play. Throughout the areas of 
strolling you travel on flat ground and ledges are wide enough to land 
on.  I can say several levels will be frustrating nevertheless.

Lights! Camera! Great Graphics!

For a 2D game, the graphics are free of glitches, pop-ups that often 
plague 3D games. What you get is a spotless screen with a palette of 
attractive colours pleasing to the eye. The colour dominates in each 
level, and here the power of the PSX shows. Everything is vibrant, 
enhanced, looking like a moving painting scrolling from one side to the 
other. Here, nothing is muddy, nada, just great colours distinguishing 
the highly detailed models of the levels. Everything looks 
professionally hand made, the graphics, although showing their 16-bit 
origin, are simply beautiful. The enemies are all well drawn, and each 
has its unique look, adding to the depth of the game. Every character 
seems to have received the same quality attention, with great cosmetics 
all around. My only complaint is the look and feel of the water. No 
fancy special effects are use here, just simple rendered graphics that 
looks a bit jerky as it tries to emulate the flow of water. The 
landscape fills with their own abundance of spice, over all, excellent 
animation for a 2D game.

How is the music?

Thanks to Tommy Tallarico Studios, the music is nothing less than 
inspirational. The theme reminds you of watching a Hollywood high 
production picture, with great music and an orchestra backing up the 
action as it unfolds. The Fx samples are excellent. I heard no muffled 
sounds taint by hiss and noise. Everything is crystal clear. No doubt, 
the music and Fx surely surpass the Sega Genesis 'Cool Spot'. Again, 
audio is well package here.

The bottom line: This game is quite a joy to play if you could forgive 
the sluggish control. In the 3D obsessed PSX world, this is a nice 
change of pace, and keeps your game library fresh and stock with new 
gaming. 

Graphics(10)
Control   (6)
Music/Fx(10)
Funfactor(8) 

-Leo Rodriguez