GRAPHICS SOUND CONTROL FRUSTRATION FUN FACTOR OVERALL

NES 1 Player Light Gun The Nintendo zapper was one hell of an accessory. I'm sure about 90% of the people who own or have owned a Nes has had a zapper at one time or another. Although the zapper was quite popular, there never were many games for it. Most zapper games are all the same; featuring 3 or 4 levels that just get harder each time you play them. Sadly, Gotcha! is exactly like that except with paintballs. One time after playing this game I noticed how they had tagged "The Sport!" onto the title. I thought this was pretty stupid, but figured that there had to be a reason behind it. So after doing some research I found out that the game was based on a movie. Yes, a movie. Now I know that LJN has done some really stupid things, but this tops all those. Why LJN would base a game on a movie that roughly 7 people saw is beyond me. Supposedly, the movie had the guy who played Goose from Top Gun in it. Not that anyone actually cares, but that's what I'm here for, to tell people stuff they don't care about. I've never actually seen the movie (thankfully), but knowing LJN, the game has nothing to do with it besides sharing the same name. Graphics: To tell you the truth, the graphics aren't half bad. Not that they're good or anything, but you can tell the developers might have put a little effort into it. Everything is really colorful which does help out sometimes. Other times, though, the colors will blend together and you won't be able to tell things apart. It's pretty hard to mess up the graphics on a game that has 3 levels, and luckily they aren't messed up. Overall, Gotcha! has bland graphics that somehow work out with the rest of the game. Sound: There isn't much quality in the sound department. The saving point is that clicking noise that the gun makes every time you shoot. For some reason that noise will never get old. The music tries to give the game that commando-like feel, but it doesn't come off like that. It's pretty much just one 3 second beat over and over. Although the main music is really annoying, it still isn't annoying as the music that plays when a guy aims at you. It plays this "sudden danger" music that will have you annoyed in less than a second. Add that to the fact that it plays about every 5 seconds, and you'll have a reason to shoot the enemy instead of just cheating and running through the whole level. Gameplay: Gotcha! makes an attempt at being a fun game, but just can't pull it off. The game consists of you going through each level, which is just a forest, a city, and a snow place (which repeats every 3 levels) and trying to retrieve the enemy's flag and take it back to your base. To do you this you move with a controller and shoot with a zapper. This really sucks since you have to move and shoot at the same time, which means holding the controller in one hand and the zapper in the other. Or you can stand up and control the D-pad with one of your feet, but that gets old since toe cramps are five times as worse as Nintendo thumb. You could also get someone else to move around for you, but I doubt you can find anyone stupid enough to do that. The game also sucks because the levels repeat, only that the guys will fire faster each time. The game does have 3 modes, but they're all the same, except for more guys. All in all everything is as bland as LJN could have made it. Replay: Each time you play Gotcha! and the levels start to repeat you'll want to play less and less. You may say that is an unfair statement since most other zapper games on the Nes, such as Duck hunt, have the same levels over and over, but to be honest I've never really liked Duck hunt either. One time I attempted to see if Gotcha! had an ending, only to make it to round 53 and have my Nes crash on me. After that I didn't play the game again for about a year, which was when I decided to do this review. It's very frustrating when you're doing well in the game and get shot by an enemy. This has led me to turn off the game many times before, and I'm a pretty calm guy. Even when I was playing the game before I wrote this review I slammed my zapper down pretty hard. That doesn't mean you'll do the same (and I hope you don't get the game at all), but the chances are pretty high. ......BOTTOM LINE: When people talk about great zapper games on the Nes, somehow Gotcha is always mentioned. The only reason they usually give to why they like it is because you get to use the zapper, which is true but still doesn't hold up the entire game. I, too, used to like the game, but was quickly turned off by how repetitive it is. The truth is Gotcha! really lacks in replay value and it's very hard to ignore. So, if you want a new zapper game to kill some time (in a very bland way) you might want to get Gotcha!. Otherwise avoid this game unless you're just really into frustrating, mind-numbing games. But Gotcha! still holds a question in store. Does it have an ending? If you know, please email me and tell me, because I sure as hell am not going to play it again to find out. -lynx561