{"id":1444,"date":"2025-11-26T19:00:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T00:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2025-11-26T21:52:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T02:52:56","slug":"1444","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2025\/11\/26\/1444\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein \u2014 Issue 54"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mary Shel\u00adley\u2019s Franken\u00adstein (SNES<\/span>) <\/span><\/strong>
\nBits Stu\u00addios, 1994<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A Crea\u00adture this piti\u00adful should have shuf\u00adfled off the mor\u00adtal coil<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Shel\u00adley, in her gild\u00aded cof\u00adfin of prose and man and mad\u00adness, must have rolled over in her grave when this abom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion based on her great\u00adest work was released. As if the \u201990s did\u00adn\u2019t have enough ter\u00adri\u00adble movie-to-game ties, along sham\u00adbles the vit\u00adri\u00adolic cash grab that is Mary Shel\u00adley\u2019s Frankenstein.<\/span><\/p>\n

The plot is tied direct\u00adly to the 1994 movie direct\u00aded by the inim\u00aditable Ken\u00adneth Branaugh and star\u00adring the leg\u00adendary Robert De Niro. Vic\u00adtor Franken\u00adstein, a med\u00adical stu\u00addent, brings his cre\u00adation to life through sci\u00adence. The Crea\u00adture, which is sound\u00adly reject\u00aded as an abom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion by soci\u00adety, wan\u00adders the Earth attempt\u00ading to find Vic\u00adtor and exact revenge. <\/span>
\nThe orig\u00adi\u00adnal sto\u00adry is com\u00adpelling. The video game ver\u00adsion is not. As some\u00adone who read Franken\u00adstein, Or the Mod\u00adern Prometheus pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly, I have expo\u00adsure to the sto\u00adry and the char\u00adac\u00adters. The game does noth\u00ading to tie the movie or the sto\u00adry to the game. You start the game as a being with no expla\u00adna\u00adtion of who you are or what you\u2019re sup\u00adposed to be doing. The strug\u00adgle is imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly and painful\u00adly obvi\u00adous once you\u2019re dropped on the scene of a tired brown vil\u00adlage. As I lat\u00ader learned, I start as the Crea\u00adture, and I\u2019m sup\u00adposed to be flee\u00ading the vil\u00adlage. The vil\u00adlagers assume the Crea\u00adture is a demon and are try\u00ading to kill him while he\u2019s on the way to find and kill Vic\u00adtor. That\u2019s the gist of the sto\u00adry, but I had to piece that togeth\u00ader while watch\u00ading oth\u00ader playthroughs. That was atro\u00adcious in 1994 and is still atro\u00adcious today.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nEqual\u00adly ter\u00adri\u00adble are the game\u00adplay and graph\u00adics, which go hand in hand. There is noth\u00ading redeem\u00ading about play\u00ading as the Crea\u00adture. He ani\u00admates ter\u00adri\u00adbly and plays just as ter\u00adri\u00adbly. He moves slow\u00adly through every motion and looks hor\u00adri\u00adble while doing so. His shuf\u00adfling gait stark\u00adly con\u00adtrasts with his spry yet stale jump\u00ading, and his abil\u00adi\u00adties to swing a weapon are sub\u00adpar at best. Of spe\u00adcial note, the plat\u00adform\u00ading ele\u00adments are absolute\u00adly garbage. Egre\u00adgious\u00adly, there is no map to indi\u00adcate pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly vis\u00adit\u00aded areas or loca\u00adtions of inter\u00adest. That\u2019s nec\u00ades\u00adsary if you\u2019re ask\u00ading me to back\u00adtrack and solve hid\u00adden item puz\u00adzles in a large play\u00adfield. In an age where Super Metroid had been recent\u00adly released, there is no excuse for this type of ludi\u00adcrous over\u00adsight. Sure, this is a quick movie tie-in, but the least you can do as a devel\u00adop\u00ader is take notes from a mas\u00adter of the craft and at least halfway attempt to steal basic con\u00adcepts such as a map. <\/span><\/p>\n

And about the only redeem\u00ading fac\u00adtor is the music. The tracks are repet\u00adi\u00adtive but they\u2019re 1990s house music and goth\u00adic mean\u00adder\u00adings so it\u2019s tol\u00ader\u00ada\u00adble. But that can\u2019t save the oth\u00ader\u00adwise mediocre prod\u00aduct that groaned out of Mary Shel\u00adley\u2019s mas\u00adter\u00adpiece novel.<\/span>
\nThe obvi\u00adous draw of Mary Shel\u00adley\u2019s Franken\u00adstein is, in fact, the Crea\u00adture but you would\u00adn\u2019t know it from the way this plays over\u00adall. There is noth\u00ading here, except for the sound\u00adtrack, that is worth both\u00ader\u00ading with and even then, that\u2019s ques\u00adtion\u00adable. Much like De Niro\u2019s choice to play the Crea\u00adture, the biggest ques\u00adtion of this whole trav\u00ades\u00adty is why?<\/span><\/p>\n