Wolfchild

It is always with starry-eyed optimism that I fire up a long time forgotten platformer. If I've been good to the 8-bit Gods they will bestow upon me a treasure of extraordinary magnitude. After playing through Wolfchild, though, I feel as though I've been led astray, or perhaps punished for seeking solace from the greater graphical gods of today. "Master System, Why hast thou forsaken me!?"

Wolfchild reminds me a lot of Werewolf, the old Data East game for the NES, but with flashier graphics; though Werewolf did have some wonderful cut-scenes to capture the transformation from man to beast. I have found no saving grace at work with this piece of garbage. The characters look fairly descent; large and well animated, but ridiculously stupid in terms of AI. The enemies are stationary, and it bothers me to no end that they don't at least advance toward you when you're crouched right in front of them! I'm all for a willing suspension of disbelief, but that' just absurd!

Wolfchild possesses the ability to transform into a wolf...well, not really a wolf, but rather a man with a wolf head. That is also an annoyance in itself. The character model could have been altered at least a little bit more to convey the sense of an actual transformation, rather than what looks like a freak mutation. This transformation also carries with it a shooting ability that is pretty inaccurate and cannot be used in rapid-fire succession. That is a sad superpower. Wolfchild feels much more like a cheesy side-kick than a full-fledged hero.

All these silly factors aside, the gameplay also is nothing special. The level design is poorly conceived and terribly derivative. I cannot even remember the music, which says a lot about how great an impact it had on me. Let's end this review a little short, which is exactly what this game deserves, and let us all pray to those clunky 8-bit gods in the hopes of receiving a worthwhile title in the future.