Le Geek - Retrogaming Reviews

Rating
Graphics:	2
Sound:	3
Control:	4
Depth:	4
Overall:	3

Goonies

By: Scott Spanburg
Published By: Data Soft
Released: 1985

Do you have fond memories of classic 8-bit computer games, where the graphics were only four colors, but the gameplay made up for it? Your answer to this question probably has a direct correlation to how much you'll enjoy The Goonies.

Like many of the earlier computer games that were easily ported to different systems, the graphics are "low-fi" even by Commodore 64 standards, but there is a decent amount of animation on each screen and—if you give it a chance—a pretty good action/puzzle game.

On each level, you control two Goonies as you try to get the exit without either one getting killed. Other than Sloth, Chunk or Short Round (Whoops...wrong movie!) it can be hard to recognize which Goonie is which, but it is nice that the game mixes the characters up. Control is entirely directional as the joystick button switches between your two players.

There are eight screens total, some directly lifted from the film, while others seem more stand alone. There is a nice balance between action sequences and puzzles, and the difficulty ramps up nicely. The music, while as far as I can tell having no relation to the film, is catchy and varies for each screen.

I had fun playing through it again, and think it's one of the few early movie games that would be fun even without the license.

- Ben Langberg