Developer: Human Entertainment Publisher: Bandai Release: 07/90 Genre: Action
Bandai and its numerous NES licenses never cease to amaze me. They were sitting on a gold mine in Japan but most of them would never see the light of day in the West for obvious reasons. But the stuff they licensed for the US instead is baffling. I want a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde game said no one ever. And the good ones like the Rocketeer and Dick Tracy suffer under shoddy execution. But they pale in comparison to the Adventures of Gilligan’s Island. Make no mistake, the game is bad. But at least there was some thought put in to the game. Unfortunately like most of their output Gilligan’s Island is lacking in polish.
The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island follows the plot of the show. The crew of the S.S. Minnow crashes on a deserted island with no means of communication. Now the crew (Gilligan, the Skipper, Mary Ann, the Professor, Mr. and Mrs. Howley) must find a way back to civilization. The game takes place over four “episodes” and sees the Skipper and Gilligan collecting pieces of a tablet said to grant a wish to whoever completes it in a bid to finally go home.
Rather than a generic side scrolling platformer Gilligan’s Island is an adventure game of sorts. You control the Skipper and must complete a variety of tasks in each episode. These usually boil down to finding a member of your crew and finding the item they ask for to continue. You have a slight inventory but you will not be solving complex puzzles by combining items or anything. Each episode covers a large span of the island and luckily you have a map. There is a time limit for each stage but the game provides hourglasses that grant more regularly. This is a good thing as you spend a good portion of your time babysitting Gilligan.
Gilligan accompanies you everywhere and is controlled by the computer. Unfortunately the AI does a poor job following you. He is slower than you and will fall into holes at every turn unless you are careful. His AI will also bug out causing him to wander aimlessly or perform the same action repeatedly until you leave the screen. It’s like he was designed to waste your time and the game would be infinitely better without him. If you separate from Gilligan a two minute countdown begins. You will need to find him or use the limited ropes to bring him back. You need Gilligan when speaking to other characters and to complete certain tasks sadly. He is invincible but the fact that you must navigate every screen so the idiot does not get stuck in the environment or fall down a waterfall is aggravating.
Even if you can deal with Gilligan and his stupid antics the game has other problems. Even though this is not an action game there is some combat. The game’s hit awful hit detection makes it a chore, to the point that it is better to run from every enemy. The fact that hits will only cause enemies to run away briefly before coming back confirms this. The few boss battles are simply terrible and the game would have been better off without them. Outside of the gorilla at the end of the first episode you will watch in astonishment as your hits do not register. The final boss has a hit box so minute it is laughable. I beat the game and I still do not understand how I beat the bastard.
Combat is awful but what truly ruins Gilligan’s Island is the absurd back tracking. Each episode is nothing but a series of busy work as you are sent back and forth to get items from characters. In the last chapter you ferry items between the same two characters no less than 6 times which is not only tedious but dumb. All the while you listen to the same repetitive dialogue between Gilligan and the Skipper. I give them points for staying true to the show but it adds nothing to the game. Between the back tracking and the frequent mud, quick sand, and water designed to slow you down it is padding of the worst kind. Once you realize each level is progressively longer versions of the same tasks any desire to see it to the end evaporates. But you shouldn’t have bought this game to begin with.
In Closing
I can see what they were going for with Gilligan’s Island. I even like some aspects of the game. But I sure as hell will not recommend it. Gilligan’s Island is a flawed game in just about every aspect that wastes your time rather than respects it. This is another bad license to add to the pile.
