Canon Video Game Reviews: Back to the Future and Bill and Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure (Part 2: Bill and Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure)

I would have done this sooner, but today was the start of the NCAA Tournament, and what a start it was. Plenty of close games, a couple of buzzer beaters, and quite a few upsets. Who would have thought that Ohio would beat Georgetown? or that Robert Morris would have beaten Villanova had the referees not bailed the Wildcats out? All in all, it was a great day of basketball. I wish I could say that it was a great day of video gaming for me, but it wasn't. In the previous post, I reviewed Back to the Future and how much it sucked. Now it's time for Bill and Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure. Here's the video game cover, courtesy of theoldcomputer.com

It's Bill and Ted on top of their telephone booth time machine, with Rufus in a moon for some reason. Looks like they are in outer space, which is odd because they never went to outer space in the first movie, nor do they in the game. Well, whatever. The game was published by LJN and released in 1991, around the time the Bill and Ted sequel was released. The game starts out promising enough, as Rufus appears on screen to inform both Ted and Bill separately that space-time rebels have kidnapped historical figures and placed them in different times. To save the world, Bill and Ted must go back in time, collect the historical figures and put them in their actual time. They must do this before their concert, which according to Rufus is the one where the Wyld Stallyns get discovered and start on their road to become the most influential band in the universe. The story picks up right where the movie left off, which is more than you can say about the previous game. There are 12 historical figures to collect in all, ranging from King Arthur to Elvis, and each person has a number which the guys have to dial in order to go back to the proper time. You play as either Bill and Ted, depending on whose turn it is, as Ted starts, then Bill goes, and so on. In order to get the person to follow you, you must find a piece of "historical bait" hidden in the game, as well as being able to find the person.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well it is not that simple. For one thing, the levels are huge for an NES game. Which would be fine, except a lot of it is a bunch of empty space. There are certain parts where your character can walk, and other parts where your character can't walk and is forced to jump towards an area where he can walk. You can get hints from guards standing still, but a lot of it is contradictory, and really you have no idea what direction is east or north or anything. The guards are easily pissed off, though. If you run into them while moving, they will either take one of your coins or send you to jail. Other guards are so angry that they will chase you down and if they catch you, they send you to jail no matter what. Yet if they're standing still, most of them will give you stuff like keys and firecrackers and other stuff to defend yourself against the very guards giving you these gifts. Go figure.

There are also a few houses you can into, a lot of them have people in them and many of them won't be too helpful and won't be happy to see your slacker self at all. Often times, when you leave a house, there will be a gang of guards around trying to catch you, so get your firecrackers and dangerous textbooks (weapons you can use) ready. This game is rather tedious, as most of it is your character either walking or jumping and trying to avoid guards. Plus, you're given so many dang keys to get out of jail that you are rarely in danger of losing the game. Maybe it would help if I were better at video games, I don't know, but ultimately, I got so bored that I quit after about an hour or so, without finding Thomas Edison or any other historical figure, for that matter.

For an NES game, the graphics aren't too bad. I wish there was more details put into the levels, but what there is does look sharp. The audio is, rather interesting. With each level, there's a theme song. However, it only last about 25 seconds and after that there is nothing but silence. Then, once you exit a house, the theme starts again. I will say the one theme I heard wasn't terrible, I just found it odd that most of the game is played without background music.

In conclusion, as far as how this game relates to the film its based on, I would say that Bill and Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure at least gets that right by keeping the main theme of the movie while coming up with an original concept based on that theme. So as far as that goes, I'll give it a 8.4 out of 10. As for the actual game, well, at least it's better than Back to the Future, but that's like saying being kicked by a horse is better than being forced to swallow a bowling ball. Out of 10, I'll give this game a 2.5 out of 10, as it had potential, but ended up falling way short. Thanks for reading, and I hope you found it interesting. If you have any ideas for future posts, or would like to contribute something to The Canon Review, then let me know either by leaving a comment on this blog or by email at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Posts can be about anything, even something as simple as a bottle of soda. Tomorrow, I'll be reviewing a movie, although I really don't know which one yet, or even if I'll do one or two, so stay tuned.

Canon Movie Review: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

This review came about because of an idea from reader Sonny V. He requested that I play the NES versions of both Back to the Future and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and compare how closely those games follow the movie's script. Well, since I've seen Back to the Future recently, I pretty much know that script, but since it has been a long time since I've seen Bill and Ted, I decided I must familiarize myself with the film, and therefore made the decision to watch the movie. Also, since I'm watching it anyway, I might as well do a review about it. As it turns out, it was probably unnecessary since the plot is so simple that anyone with half a brain can understand it. Basically, two California teenage rockers have to pass their history report, or otherwise one of them, Ted "Theodore" Logan, will be sent to an Alaskan military school. However, the future depends on Ted and his partner in crime, Bill S. Preston ESQ. to stick together and perfect their rock music and the band the Wyld Stallyns. So George Carlin goes back in time and gives the two guys a time traveling phone booth to assist them on their report. They end up collecting a bunch of historical figures for their report, but various hyjinx ensues. So the rest of the movie has the two trying to make it to their school on time for the report. Got it? Good. Now here are a few thoughts on the movie.

- Bill's dad was a bit of a creep. For one thing, he married a girl that went to high school with his son. That's a mid-life crisis if I've ever heard of one. Another thing is that he gives Bill some money to go to the Circle K so he can do his wife Missy right on his bed. Hopefully, Bill changed his sheets once he got home. Come to think of it, Socrates and Sigmund Freud shouldn't be hitting on teenage girls at the mall either.

- Ted's father is a jerk as well. I understand that Ted's an underachiever and all that, but if you want to send your son all the way to Alaska, then you must really not want to deal with him anymore. I'm sure there are many military schools in California, but instead Mr. Logan wants to send his son all the way to Alaska. That's a bit extreme, don't you think?

- The portrayal of the various historical figures is rather interesting. Most of them seem to act as a stranger in a strange land, which many people probably would act like if they had been brought forward in time through a cramped phone booth. Billy the Kid, however, seems to take to time traveling rather quickly, even adopting some of Bill and Ted's language as his own.

- Meanwhile, Napoleon somehow got stuck with Ted's younger brother Deacon. Like any sane person would do with a French Emporer from the 1800s, Deacon decides to take Napoleon with him on a date with two girls. Napoleon eats a giant bowl of ice cream, and then they go bowling, where Napoleon knows nothing about the sport except how to cheat. Eventually, Deacon and girls ditch Napoleon at the bowling alley because, as Deacon told Ted later in the movie, "he was a dick" Probably the most accurate description of Napoleon in cinematic history.

- Towards the end of the movie, all of the historic figures brought forward in time get arrested for various crimes at a shopping mall. Genghis Kahn got arrested when he grabbed a metal bat and started beating a mannequin with it. He then proceeded to attack the mall cops, which isn't a good idea, even for Genghis Kahn. Most of them probably deserved it, but I was perplexed by Beethoven's arrest. All he did was put together a couple of keyboards and started playing them, to the amusement of the large crowd gathered around him. Sure, the owners would probably kick him out of the store after a while, but I don't see where he committed a crime serious enough to warrant arrest. If you ask me, those mall cops are a bunch of jerks, arresting Beethoven like that.

- Before Rufus (George Carlin) saves the day with his time machine, Bill and Ted decide that the best way to learn about history is to ask people at the Circle-K. I shudder to think what answers I would get if I tried this method at some of the gas stations in my area.

- Unlike most of his recent work, Keanu Reaves showed more than one emotion in this film. He even had a different look on his face besides the blank stare he always has. It was quite refreshing. Actually, both Reaves (Ted) and Alex Winter (Bill) were quite excellent in this film. Most of the actors did pretty good, with some minor exceptions (particularly the rescued princesses who were supposed to be attracted to the two, but looked as if they'd rather crawl through 100 yards of garbage). But overall, I can't complain too much.

Overall, this movie is very good for what it is. It's not a movie made to taken seriously, or to be remembered as an epic film like Citizen Kane. It's simply a fun film that provides some laughs and should entertain most audiences. I'll give this film a 7.5 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, than either share them by leaving a comment or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. As a bonus, here's a video not from this movie, but rather it is from Mitchell. I should have posted it earlier, but what can you do? Anyway, this sequence was cut out of the MST3K version, and features Mitchell being chased by dune buggies. Enjoy: