Game:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1989)

Duration: 17:09

2,614 views

147

http://www.longplays.org

Played by: BimmyLee83

When you think of Mark Twain, chances are, video games immediately spring to mind. One wonders just how starved for ideas a game company has to be to start drawing inspiration from postbellum-era American novels with social commentary and elements of slavery...and then somehow come out with a Super Mario Bros. clone as an end result.

You may be shocked to realize that nearly NOTHING from the book makes the transition to the video game, save for the characters of Tom, Huck (Player 2), Injun Joe, the forest gnome who gives fellatios to Tom, and Becky Thatcher. The game starts with Tom falling asleep in class one morning and the ensuing adventure is all part of his dream. The object is to save Becky from Injun Joe, who, unsurprisingly, is misrepresented to a huge degree as a stereotypical Indian warrior.

The majority of the game is set up as an action/platformer, Stage 2 being the only departure since it auto-scrolls from an overhead view. You start off with an unlimited supply of rocks at your disposal, which arc when you throw them. The arcing isn't that much of a problem since many enemies are aerial and you can throw several rocks at a time, so you may even be able to take out two or three enemies at once. Sometimes you'll find a slingshot powerup which shoots rapidly in a straight line so it's good for most ground-level foes.

As for the difficulty, it's pretty easy once you learn the enemy patterns and how to get around the stage hazards. The most difficult part is the Sky stage because it gets so unpredictable. Almost all of your enemies are aerial-based and each has a different speed and attack pattern. Unfortunately, like your enemies, you die with one hit, but there are checkpoints for each level.

As bizarre of a concept it was and despite its problems, I can't bring myself to bash the game completely because I remember getting it when it first came out and genuinely enjoying it. I adored the book so I had to have anything bearing the name of Tom Sawyer.

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