Holy moley… I don’t know what happened with the Game Boy version of The Addams Family, but somebody, somewhere dropped the ball with it. The game was developed by Ocean Software (like most of The Addams Family games), and first released in 1991, but unlike most of the other versions of this game: it looks terrible and plays even worse…

Let’s start with the backgrounds, which – inside the house especially – look bare and uninteresting. Then there are the ghosts that float around outside the front door and inside the house. They look pathetic. Even Gomez (the player character) isn’t that well drawn or animated (he looks like Fred Flintstone dressed as Hitler).

Then there’s the gameplay, which is less than acceptable for a platforming powerhouse like the Game Boy. And it bares little resemblance to most of the other versions of The Addams Family. One demonstration of just how bad this is: when you’re hit by an enemy, you flash. And while you’re flashing you can’t shoot! Which is ridiculous…

I was shocked by how bad this port of The Addams Family was. I expected a lot better. It has all the hallmarks of a rushed, unfinished game, released to the general public.

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