Dr. K's Waiting Room

Released: 1992
Developer: Teeny Weeny Games
Also Available For: Game Gear and Master System

A Brief Background:
Predator (McTiernan, 1987) was birthed from a simple concept: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) versus aliens! However, it soon evolved into a B-movie with a budget that became a critical and commercial hit. Predator was accompanied by a middling and bizarre sidescrolling shooter that was a far cry from the celebrated action brawlers and crossover shooters it would later inspire. Although development of the under-rated Predator 2 (Hopkins, 1990) took some time and resulted in a less profitable, but more critically lauded, movie that not only developed a cult following but was also followed by a videogame adaptation. There were actually two Predator 2 videogames: the first came in 1990 and was a frustrating rail shooter released for Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, and other platforms, and the second was this semi-isometric shooter which released exclusively for SEGA’s consoles. Though largely regarded as merely an average shooter, Predator 2 made it into my Mega Drive library and was the last solo Predator videogame for twelve years. Although the fan-created “Predator Day” clashes with “Superman Day”, I still like to celebrate the Predator franchise around this time so this seems like a good excuse to see what this videogame has to offer.

The Review:
I’m doing things a little differently for this review of the Mega Drive adaptation of Predator 2; it’s mainly getting a shorter review because it’s not a very lengthy game so I don’t see the point in dragging things out that much, but I was also able to finish it so I want to discuss it and give it a proper rating. Predator 2 is primarily a semi-isometric arcade-style shooter that looks and plays a lot like the amazing Smash TV (Williams, 1990), with some levels in Predator 2 even adopting more of a top-down perspective. Like the movie, the game follows the efforts of hardened Lieutenant Mike Harrigan in quelling the violent gangs of Los Angeles and you basically do this by blasting everything and everyone in sight. This is accomplished by tapping or holding A to fire your current weapon; you can use B to lock Mike in place to open fire on specific targets, but I found it much more beneficial to keep moving as there are a lot of respawning enemies in Predator 2’s maps. C selects a different weapon and there’s a decent range to pick from apart from your default rifle, which has unlimited ammo: you can grab a scattergun for a spread shot, a ridiculously powerful sawed-off shotgun, grenades, and eventually make use of the Predator’s own weapons, such as a circling smart disc, a spear, and a net to pin enemies to walls or push them back. All of these additional weapons have limited ammo so, despite them being quite prominent, they’re best saved for when you need to destroy taxis, large trucks, or battle the Predators.

Predator 2 sees you shooting your way across seven levels, all ripped right out of the movie; your main objective is to rescue a certain number of hostages, with a helpful onscreen arrow and cries for help pointing you in the right direction, before the Predator can kill them with its plasma cannon. You’ll know when one’s in immediate danger as you’ll see the familiar red dots of the Predator’s aiming reticule appear onscreen. A red skull icon will also pop up to show when a hostage has been killed and the game’s difficulty is directly tied to how many hostages can be lost before your mission fails as well as how many shots the flak jacket power-up protects you from. On “Easy”, four hostages can be lost and Mike can take eight hits; on “Normal”, its three and six, and on “Hard” it’s one and four, meaning the game can get pretty challenging on harder difficulties as enemies constantly spawn into the map and locations can get a bit maze-like at times. Although there isn’t a timer in the strictest sense, there kind of is; you’re in a race against the Predator to find those hostages and, after you have freed them all (which isn’t tracked in any way; you’ll only know when you’ve succeeded, failed, and how many have died, not how many are left), you need to hurry to the exit before the Predator one-shots you with its cannon. Every enemy you gun down drops a variety of drug-related paraphernalia (such as bags of cocaine, syringes, and pill bottles) that you can pick up for points. Although this is in keeping with the movie, I was still a bit surprised to see drugs make it into a home console game! You can also grab the aforementioned flak jacket to reduce damage taken and restore your health and a first aid kit for an extra life, but it’s game over with no continues once all your lives are exhausted. Thankfully, the game is super generous with its checkpoints; if you rescue all the hostages and then die, for example, you don’t have to find them all again. After clearing each level, you’ll also get a password that you can use to continue at a later date and there are also passwords to award infinite health (though the Predator can still kill you) and other perks.

Although the character and enemy sprites aren’t very detailed and have very little animation (most enemies just walk into you to damage you), the environments are surprisingly complex. Enemies pop up from manholes, come through doors, and Predators decloak in each environment, which sometimes bars your progress with taxis that need to be destroyed and barriers that’ll only lower when you’ve rescued enough hostages. I really enjoyed level 2, 4, and 7, which have you exploring the city rooftops, subway, and the Predator ship, respectively. There’s some fun, quasi-3D effects happening on the rooftops and a lot of depth given to the skyscrapers by the isometric perspective; enemies pour out of heavily-graffitied subway trains in the subway and the Predator will even take shots at you from atop the trains; and the spaceship is unexpectedly faithful to the movie in its details with its mist-covered floor, alien architecture, and even trophy walls featuring the Predator’s previous victories. I think I disliked the levels that take place on the streets and in the slaughterhouse the most; the streets can get very repetitive and it’s surprisingly easy to get lost with the limited perspective and wide-open areas. The slaughterhouse, while suitably gory and full of hanging carcasses, was quite frustrating as it’s a very large map with multiple vertical levels so it can be a bit hectic trying to rescue all of those hostages. As much as I enjoyed the visuals of Predator 2, which also features an impressive thermal image of Los Angeles on the title screen and some pixelated movie stills before each level, the sound was really jarring; the game is full of this strangely upbeat music that really doesn’t fit with the franchise (though it does keep your adrenaline pumping). There’s also no in-game story text and the ending is really anti-climactic, but I liked how a big image of the Predator appears in the foreground at times to let you know to hurry to the exit. The game over screen features the Predator standing on a rooftop holding a skull and spine (presumably Mike’s), and Mike explodes into bloody chunks if he gets blasted by the Predator’s cannon so, overall, the game was visually impressive considering how simple it can be.

The streets are littered with the scum of society; punks are everywhere and will attack you with their bare hands and baseball bats or shoot from a far. Enemies also ride around on motorcycles and in taxi cars or blockade your progress and the exit in large trucks. These latter often serve as mini bosses: three enemies will constantly pop out from the cab and trailer of the truck to blast at you and it can take quite a few shots to blow these trucks up, though you do get a hefty supply of drugs to add to your score as a reward. Enemy choppers also fly overhead and shoot at you and can be found on the ground to fulfil very much the same role, similar to the taxi cabs that you’ll have to destroy to reach power-ups, hostages, or exits, but the sheer number of enemies that swarm the screen can compound these encounters. You’ll also encounter the Predator as a boss on numerous occasions; the first time you battle it, its at the end of the subway and from a top-down perspective. The Predator crackles with electricity when hit, fires bolts from its shoulder cannon, and pins you against the far wall with its net but you’ll be rewarded with its smart disc upon defeating it. In level 5, the Predator appears multiple times to block your progress; this time, you fight from a side-on perspective and it also uses its smart disc, which rotates around almost as a damaging shield. In level 7, Predators act as the primary enemy aboard the alien ship; they’ll decloak, blast at you, toss out multiple nets, throw their spears, and have smart discs circling about the place but will run off or cloak after a few hits. You’ll also have to watch out for wall cannons and the ship’s labyrinthine layout, but if you’re able to rescue all twenty-five hostages and survive the gauntlet of enemies and projectiles, you’ll get into a final showdown with a bigger, unmasked Predator. This also takes place from a top-down perspective and isn’t really any different from previous battles except that the Predator ungainly plods about and managed to kill me even with the infinite health cheat activated! Once defeated, you’re told to escape the ship before it takes off but this simply plays out in a cutscene; you then enter your high score and that’s it, game over, move on.

The Summary:
If it wasn’t clear in my review, I played through Predator 2 with the infinite life cheat activated, which admittedly accounts for how quickly and easily I was able to beat it. However, even with this cheat enabled, you need to have some level of speed and skill to find all those hostages and you’re still capable of dying, but even with it on and a brief playthrough with it off I can see how unfairly difficult Predator 2 can be. The sheer influx of enemies and how quickly they can drain your life bar is astounding, quite frankly. This maybe wouldn’t be so bad if rescuing hostages restored some health or if you had infinite continues, but that’s not the case so you really need to be quick, have a firm understanding of each location, and conserve your more powerful ammunition just to power through the gaggle of baddies much less take on the super strong (and ridiculously cheap) Predator. However, I really enjoyed this game; it was short and simple and a bit mindless, but the environments are surprisingly detailed and fun to run around in and its enjoyable to blast druggies into bloody chunks and outrun the Predator’s reticule. I do think that the game needed a little bit more to it, though; perhaps some racing levels or some kind of bonus stage, maybe a two-player mode where a friend plays alongside you as Mike’s partner, Detective Danny Archuleta, or definitely including Special Agent Peter Keyes in an antagonistic role. Still, this was a harmless enough experience; it works as an action-orientated shoot-‘em-up and I enjoyed the tension of having to outrace the Predator to its targets. However, it gets very messy and cheap with enemies and health-draining hazards very quickly so I can understand why some would be put off by it, but take my advice and slap on the infinite health cheat and this is a decent way to spend about half an hour of your time.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Have you ever played the Mega Driver version of Predator 2? What did you think to the game’s perspective and action-oriented gameplay? Did you struggle with the game’s difficulty, or did you enjoy the challenge out avoiding the Predator and rescuing all the hostages? Which Predator game is your favourite? How are you celebrating the action/horror franchise this month? Whatever your thoughts on Predator 2, please feel free to leave a comment below or on my social media and go check out my other Predator content.