Last Action Hero (video game)

Last Action Hero
NES cover art
Developer(s)	Super NES: Bits Studios Commodore Amiga: Psygnosis
Publisher(s)	Sony Imagesoft
Composer(s)	Super NES: Shahid Ahmad Sega Genesis: Shahid Ahmad
Platform(s)	NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Amiga, MS-DOS
Release date(s)	Super NES: NA October 1993 EU December 10, 1993 NES: NA October 1993 Sega Genesis: NA 1993
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	Cartridge Floppy disks

Last Action Hero is a multiplatform action video game. It was released for various systems; including the NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy and Sega Game Gear.

Summary

This video game is an adaptation of the film of the same name; which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the main character of the film (Jack Slater). A Sega Master System version was also developed, but never released. Unlike many such adaptations, the game closely follows the plot and scenery of the movie. The game, like the movie, was not received with much enthusiasm from the public. In fact, all versions of the game faced an even poorer reception than the film, receiving mostly negative reviews. A separate version was released on the Commodore Amiga and was developed by Psygnosis. Only the MS-DOS version offers cut scenes from the actual motion picture.

Taking the form of a Final Fight-style scrolling beat-em-up, the game was critically panned due to its poor graphics, limited set of moves and repetitive gameplay. Players have a strict time limit to defeat each and every level of the game. Time easily runs out in the levels of the game; resulting in an instant death and an automatic loss of a life. Every version of the game has the climatic showdown with Mr. Benedict (the movie's primary villain). His most unrealistic portrayal was in the Super NES version is where he teleports around the screen and shoots bubbles at the player. There are two car chase stages: one in Jack Slater's "movie" world and another in Danny Madigan's "real" world.

The NES version of this video game has an original element that none of the other versions have: a stage that potrays Danny Madigan's "version" of the classic Shakespeare play Hamlet. While it might have been good for a game like Day Dreamin' Davey, it only deals with the film on a subconscious level.

Easter eggs

The MS-DOS version of the video game allows the player to run over innocent pedestrians while trying to solve the mission objective.

Due to censorship reasons from Columbia Pictures, the player isn't allowed to shoot the enemies or at any of the armored trucks. In the driving stages, the car is only allowed to bump into the truck and damage it. Schwarzenegger was starting to get involved in comedy movies like Kindergarten Cop so he wanted the violence in his film-based video games to be toned down. However, the game designers made it so that players can run over pedestrians in both the driving levels as a comeback. Columbia Pictures never implemented any censorship information and the feature remained in the MS-DOS version where the player can freely roam about the map.

There is a semi-hidden area of one of the maps where a swimming pool is in the shape of a swastika; indicating a former Nazi war criminal. One of the producers from Psygnosis saw it and it was bowlderdized into a simple rectangle. Every car in the driving stages manages to observe junctions and lane changes even when at the extreme edges of the map. The game designer found the code for this behavior to be "fun" to write; even if the game did turn out to be mediocre. Every version of the game was completely different from each other in terms of artistic merit and creative integrity. For example, the MS-DOS version was shipped with the Amiga's manual (with a single sheet describing controls for the MS-DOS PC). Arnold Schwarzenegger's appearance was made more scrawny in an attempt to be depicted more as a comedy film star than an action hero.

This video game was the only movie-based video game to be created by Psygnosis (along with Bram Stoker's Dracula). Had Columbia Pictures not been owned by Sony during the early/mid 1990s, this game would not have been possible to make.

External links

• Last Action Hero at MobyGames