The Final Word game review

Johnny Bazookatone -- USGold

In the future, Johnny Bazookatone has brought peace to the world through his music. The future is now, and Mr. L. Diablo, Lord of the Underworld, has stollen Johnny's cherished guitar in an envious rage. Diablo has also kidnapped many of the legends of music as well. Your job as Johnny is to bring hell to its knees and bring back music to the world. USGold's Johnny Bazookatone is available for the Sega Saturn.

E.Phoenix
I have the same feelings toward this version as the PlayStation version except few one major difference and a few minor ones. Major difference: you can configure the controls in a logical and familiar layout (i.e.: the main attack button is on the left, and jump is on the right). Minor differences: the music is a little clearer on the Saturn version, and the graphics have a few added touches such as thunder flashes in the foreground and a rotating life meter. On the down side, the Saturn's graphics are a little grainier. Skip this one too.

R.I.P.
Exactly the same as the PlayStation release in nearly all respects (ok, the cinemas are a little grainier) -- you can't go far wrong with this game. The music was pretty good even though the musicians are from Bon Jovi (cack!). Gameplay was pretty standard for a platform game. My only real complaint is how you can get hung up from time to time on a level because there is no obvious way to progress forward. An example of this is the ferry man stage... I'll save you some time, yes you shoot the fish, but you have to pump steady rounds into them for a good 30 seconds before they give you a coin (I thought this was ridiculous but that's just me). Replay value was pretty good in this title, and to be honest I thought that overall game control was easiest on the Saturn release compared to the other platforms, which in turn brought me back to this version more than the others. If you're into platformers, check this game out.

------ 34.0/50 -------		--E.Phoenix--	--R.I.P.--
Graphics		4.0	4.0
Sound		4.0	4.0
Gameplay/Control		2.5	4.0
Longevity/Playability		1.5	4.0
Overall		2.5	3.5
Total		14.5	19.5

(09/96)