Developer: Data East Publisher: Data East Release: November 16, 1990 Genre: Platformer
As I revisit the NES library my feelings toward a lot of titles have changed over the years. There are games like Contra and Mega Man that remain timeless. Then there are the titles like Deadly Towers and Rambo that were awful back then and are still terrible now. But in the middle are games like Bad Dudes that I remember liking but can see for the flawed titles that they are. Werewolf: the Last Warrior fits that description to a tee. It has its high points but has issues that keep it from being great.
Werewolf has a somewhat elaborate backstory but it isn’t detailed in the game. The game came with a comic book that explained its plot. A scientist named Dr. Faryan creates a chemical weapon that causes mutations in anything it touches. The government sends his crazy ass on vacation but things go terribly wrong. Dr. Faryan unleashes an ancient evil that possesses his body and convinces him to release his weapon into the atmosphere. Meanwhile Chief Warwolf communes with the great wolf spirit and undergoes a month long training ritual to gain the powers of the Werewolf. He emerges from his training to find the world changed, with mutants roaming the streets courtesy of Dr. Faryan. As the only one in the world with the power to stop him Warwolf sets out.
Werewolf wastes no time throwing you into the action. The game begins with a miniboss battle in your human form. As a human you are fragile, with a weak punch and sonic scream as your only offense. The sonic scream is very strong and can be chained if you hold the button after the first release. The fight is easy though and once complete it you are given an item that transforms you into the double bladed werewolf.
Your werewolf form is powerful and the game does a good job making you feel strong. You move faster, jump higher, and have longer reach thanks to your blades. The blades allow you to climb walls and walk hand over hand on pipes and fixtures. The most important skill however is the back flip. You can back flip endlessly by holding attack and pressing jump. During this you are invincible, making it a critical skill to avoid traps and more importantly certain boss attacks. There is also the power ray, which will instantly kill most enemies and heavily damage bosses. Unfortunately it drains half your life bar, with another hit changing you back, making it useless.
The game encourages exploration by hiding items within every part of the environment. Aside from health and points you’ll also find orbs that power your anger meter. At full power you become a super werewolf, able to leap two screens high and much more powerful. You’ll also find reverse werewolf icons that will turn you back into a human. Your exploration has to be tempered somewhat as the clock is always ticking, even during boss battles. But you need to do at least some investigation as the game can be stingy with hearts and you will need the extra time hourglasses award. It is up to you to strike that balance.
Werewolf is a game that seems to be at odds with itself. The game was clearly designed around the werewolf’s abilities yet it does its novel best to force you back into human form. As a normie you can’t crawl or jump very high which in most levels means you will have to die to continue. There is a decided lack of polish that bleeds into nearly all of its elements. You have an amazing command of the environment but it is wonky. You’ll latch on to objects you don’t want to while the pipes needed to continue just won’t work. The hit detection is also iffy at times. Most enemies have a second of invincibility after a hit but even that can be unreliable. For every one good element there is a down side that undermines it.
Werewolf has two faces. It is at its best when you are using its mechanics to cheat through a difficult boss battle. Some boss fights can seem near impossible like Fireman. But once you spot it the patterns make them simple; it comes down to execution. But getting to these boss battles is frustrating. Midway through the game the amount of enemies thrown in your path becomes ridiculous. The upper path in the forest is so chock full of enemies it almost becomes comical. The game becomes sadistic with bad enemy placement and just awful level design after that point. The high difficulty kind of ruins the game at a certain point. One last pass to smooth out its rough edges would have done wonders.
In Closing
I want to like Werewolf and I do, to an extent. But its high difficulty, bad enemy placement, and general lack of polish turn me off. There is fun to be had here but only if you can tolerate some jank. Otherwise I would say look elsewhere.
