The Flintstones (SMS) Playthrough [4K]
3"The Flintstones," developed by Tiertex and published by Grandslam, hit home computers in 1988, wasn't released on the Sega Master System until 1991 in Europe and 1992 in Brazil. It features gameplay almost unrelated to the cartoon series.
The game features four stages. The first involves Fred painting a wall while keeping his daughter Pebbles from causing chaos. The challenge here is equal parts finicky controls and the need to keep Pebbles in check within a time limit. Next, you're off to the bowling alley, driving your rock car while navigating rocky terrain. The jumping can be hard to time, and colliding with rocks causes the back wheel of the vehicle to come off, forcing Fred to fix it quickly. There's little time for this task, and failing twice results in a failure of the level.
Then, there's a bowling match against Barney. The bowling stage offers some variety, allowing players to adjust angle, aim, and speed to compete against Barney over 10 frames. Finally, the last level tasks you with rescuing Pebbles from a building site in a platforming environment. None of the stages stand out as particularly engaging, presenting a jumble of broken ideas and repetitive gameplay.
The graphics stay faithful to the cartoon, featuring recognizable characters and locations from the cartoon series. The game offers variety with all four levels being distinctively different in terms of gameplay. Unfortuntely, they all fail in their execution in some way or another. Overall, it is a lackluster game, offering little entertainment for players.