Lazy Jones (1984)

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Play/Watch the C64 version, not the Speccy version. The C64 version has the many different songs (some of which are melodies that later became more famous in pop songs.. absurd), at least as good visuals, and as good of gameplay. So, yeah, don't play the Speccy version. I didn't play the MSX version, but I assume it's quality: MSX games almost always are good.

Look: 8/10 I love love love how the UI of the basic concept looks: it's not that the individual minigames have amazing graphics (they all are quite functional and appropriate for the year), but this setup where you're a little guy looking at a big screen, and the little control unit, and all of it--just such a cool look.

I know 18 was the limit back in the day in WI, but always interesting to see "RU 18" (which I assume is meant to mean, "are you 18?") for the bar game

Sound: 8/10 Very interesting idea to have such a variety of music tracks, associated with each room (tho some had no music, and the sound effects overall were blah). The Star Dust jingle was sooooo catchy tho it probly helps that a) I liked that simple shoot em up minigame more than most the minigames, and b) it's familiar from a pop song I think. None of the tracks were particularly striking, but it was nice to have high-quality and catchy tunes throughout an early microcomputer game... and such variety! Made them get less old, even as the minigames themselves (and navigating between the minigames) got old quite quickly.

Play: 6/10 The platformer-ish gameplay in between the videogame rooms is surprisingly smooth and fun, heh, I liked the jump mechanic. None of the minigames are favorite genres of mine, and some are outright annoying to me that brought back memories of my least favorite early arcade and microcomputer games haha, but they are overall well-done and the overall game is such a cool concept that even if I don't love the gameplay, it's well-done for its goal. As y'all probly know, I don't like Frogger or Frogger-esque games; ironically, the Frogger clone Jay Walk minigame was better than Frogger imo lol. For a silly minigame collection game >.<

Feel: 7/10 What an amazing and surprisingly well-done concept: you don't wanna waste your time working, so you wander into these videogame rooms and have a huge array of games to choose from--plus, a different song for each part, all of which are surprisingly high-quality. The The Hills minigame was particularly striking, it reminded me of the arcade-style minigames Humongous Entertainment games would often include (like Putt Putt could play that balloon floating minigame in the moon restaurant, Pajama Sam could play that snake-esque minecart minigame on an arcade machine absurdly located deep in the mines, etc.). The Look of the spaceship/colors/big screen the guy is looking at, the Sound, and indeed like with Star Dust, the Play of the silly simple shoot em ups were my favorite of these mostly tacky minigames

Well, indeed the Feel Play and Sound of Laser Jones was also great, another basic shoot em up minigame so I guess those were my favorite heh.

Attachment: 7/10 In the end, the process of getting to the different minigames proved taxing. I found the platforming elements well-done, but the minigames themselves just weren't worth the hassle. The UI/look of the "playing a game" scenes was super cool, and the music is by far worth the trouble--but with the ability to just watch a playthrough, why go through the hassle of getting to the minigames let alone playing the tedious games (a couple were decent, of course, but overall--meh minigames). Maybe if they encouraged wandering/exploration of the minigame selection area. Like, instead of having the annoying monitors take your life (which overall was well-done, mind you), have an aesthetically pleasing vibe that makes you wanna wander and see the edges of the place and enter the minigames safely/easily. Well, I suppose I'm just thinking of, what was it called, Namco Museum or whatever that I had for Dreamcast. I spent more time wandering around the museum, looking at the game covers/posters, enjoying the vibe and getting to know the edges of the map than actually playing the arcade games ha. But those were an added bonus :-p That's what this game was missing, tho it is an undeniably/objectively well-made game for its purpose. And indeed, the fact I wound up going through the hassle to try out every minigame--even if I didn't try on some of the ones I disliked--says quite a lot. There's no end to this game and not a huge drive to replay, but it's one I probly wont forget and it has a Feel/Look/Sound that stands out as a unique, cute idea done well.

Completion: Playtested all minigames Playtime: ~1 hour