The Holiday season puts me in the mood for all things Christmas. I've decorated my home, listen to a lot of Christmas music, drive around looking at lighted-up homes and watch all my favorite Christmas movies. A classic from my childhood is Home Alone, where young Kevin McCallister is forgotten by his vacationing family and has to not only figure out how to take care of himself but he also ends up defending his home from a couple of burglars known as the "Wet Bandits."

Naturally, video game versions of this popular movie hit multiple consoles. The classic NES being one of its destinations, lets take a look at the Home Alone game that landed on it.

Keep the change, ya filthy animal!

Gameplay

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You begin the game as Kevin and your job is to defend your home from the Wet Bandits. If you can avoid being caught by them for 20 minutes, you win. That’s pretty much it, a glorified version of tag.

As Kevin, you will run around your house looking for items to use as traps to stop the burglars invading your home. Icons are scattered throughout the house and represent traps Kevin used in the movie, from Buzz’s pet tarantula to the Christmas ornaments that served as makeshift caltrops. Each item has the same effect; when either Harry or Marv walk into a trap, which they never avoid, they fall down for a few seconds. Some items seem to incapacitate them for a longer period of time, but they will always get back up and start chasing you again.

There are spots in the house that serve as hiding places, like behind the Christmas tree, but they only work some of the time so its not like you can just set up camp there for 20 minutes and win the game.

The house is fairly large, with three floors, a full basement, front yard and treehouse where you can run around, pick up traps and run from the burglars. Though if you’re out of traps and they’re on your tail, you’ll be caught since they’re faster than you.

Controls are serviceable, though climbing stairs is really difficult and end up getting you caught frequently. You need to be in just the right place to engage the stair climbing animation. Kevin can’t jump, duck or crawl, but he can shimmy up and down the ladder to his treehouse or the drain pipe on his house which gives him more options about where to flee.

Presentation

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The graphics are fairly mediocre. There’s a lot of detail in the house and background sprites aren’t reused very often, but the color scheme is garish to the point of being practically painful on your eyes. Its one of the worst color schemes I’ve ever seen on the NES. I understand they were trying to replicate the red and green color scheme of the movie, but it simply doesn't work well on the limited color palette of the NES. A high note though is that the animation for Kevin is actually really smooth and the Wet Bandits are animated fairly well too.

Sound effects are mostly limited to picking up, putting down or using Kevin’s traps and as far as the music goes, there’s one theme for inside the house and a second one for the treehouse (for some odd reason). Both music tracks are forgettable and borderline irritating.

Verdict

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I’m not sure how much more the developers could do with the concept of turning Home Alone into an engaging video game, but perhaps it never should have been tried. It plays OK, but its simply not that much fun. Every trap has the same effect on the Wet Bandits and I found myself hanging out in the treehouse or clutching to the drain pipe for minutes at a time waiting for one of the burglars to wander into the area where I was hiding.

The game is passable in very short spurts, but even the 20 minutes you’re expected to play in order for the cops to arrive seems excessive. I’d definitely say pass on this game unless you’re a huge fan of the movie and have to see what the game is all about.

Score 3/10

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!