Cool Spot

The Good
The Cool Spot is an anthropomorphic red dot which has apparently peeled himself off of his normal place on a can or bottle of 7-Up lemon-lime soda. He presents an image appropriate to his name, complete with sneakers and black sunglasses, and arrives to tout the virtues of the "un-cola", 7-Up, as an alternative to products like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. From the first, the Cool Spot was a big hit. So perhaps it is not surprising that a game was eventually made featuring the little guy. And, unusual for product tie-ins, the game was actually pretty good.

Cool Spot, the game, is a by-the-numbers platformer. Your character runs, jumps, and fights through a variety of environments filled with obstacles and enemies. Very little is much different from games like the Super Mario Bros. or the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Even so, it is a well-done example of the genre and therefore fun to play. The action is fast and involves a lot of high-flying jumps. It has everything you look for in a solid platformer.

The story, which is as brief as might be expected, is that all of the Spots except one (the player) have been captured. It is naturally up to the hero to go rescue his comrades.

Level design is the most creative part of Cool Spot. Since the main character is a tiny icon off the side of a soda, the environments are all seen from that perspective. The player gets to explore such places as the beach, the inside of a wall, a room full of toys, and the like. Everything is extra large to the diminutive Spot.

There is really only one attack in the game. Cool Spot can "shoot" soda bubbles at his enemies. It is works fine and enemies are never much trouble to dispatch. However, it does lack variety.

Music is pretty good in the game. The soundtrack is a fun and suitably cool set. It matches the subject matter. And the sound effects are decent. The Cool Spot's squeaks are generally amusing.

Graphics are at the high end for the Super Nintendo. The creative levels were all well drawn and animated.

The Bad
The gameplay suffers from a lack of variety by the end. And having only one weapon does not help.

Not being able to save also gets to be a pain.

The Bottom Line
Cool Spot is one of the best tie-in games ever made and an enjoyable game overall. It did not do anything genre breaking, but it is a solid platformer.

The Good
To be able to direct a "cool-looking" star through our microcosmos sounds something unlike any other journey in our computers? Well, in my humble opinion, Cool Spot has tried to be an alternative with that known feel of platform gaming, but rather having more addictive effect; an addiction to see further...

I know its well-drawn graphics and funky soundtrack has that potential. And I bet you can't resist Cool Spot either who yawns, cleans its sunglasses or plays with a yo-yo when you do nothing >8>

The Bad
But Cool Spot has something missing. Yeah, it has difficult gameplay even at its easiest level and a level design which adds no any special feature into its ideas. Maybe you could also blame our 7-Up mascot for its rather slow movement. However, what actually the game is lacking is it doesn't feature a new look-and-feel for a platform game and you don't feel yourself having played something special either.

The Bottom Line
Anyway, without a doubt, Cool Spot is one of the few good platform games available for PC. And if you ever get the chance to play it, don't miss it! It seems that it even hadn't lost any of its features while being converted from the original Mega Drive version! So, highly recommended...

The Good
Well, it's a decent platformer, with a fast engine, smooth graphics and gameplay, good controls and a cute action figure. The design is interesting, if not innovative. A solid game which is fun to play, this is an interesting attempt by Virgin.

The Bad
I didn't like the premise - too silly and commercial. The game is so repetitive I never got passed the first level (if there's more than one anyway...) because it bored me, and the sound effects and music could and should have been better.

The Bottom Line
A cute though somewhat annoying game, which is generally fun to play. 'nuff said.