The Adventures of Bayou Billy
Reviewed by Dan M.
A classic on its own, Adventures of Bayou Billy can be chalked up
as a must have for anyone's classic NES collection. It has a feature
few games had: target shooting segments of the game that you could
use the game pad or the light gun to shoot. Bayou Billy also has
different modes of play as you go through the game: side scroll (ala
Double Dragon fare), the "skeet shoot" sequence, and a driving
sequence. All of which can be practiced on.
Graphics 7 out of 10
Decently detailed graphics. Character animation is pretty smooth
for when the game was made. However, the use of somewhat bland
colors and some lines that would break up game characters when
more than three characters were on the screen at a time.
Music and Sound 6 out of 10
Has the usual smacking sounds heard in many shoot/punch/kick games
of this genre. Nothing spectacular, but nothing bad either. Was impressed
by the opening voice announcement: "The adventures of Bayou Billy!"
Game Challenge 8 out of 10
This game is TOUGH! Be prepared to die, many times. Helpful tip: use
JUMP KICKS! This will help defeat the normal enemies along your way.
This game will not get finished in a night, I can say that much. The
different sequences are equally challenging (especially if you can't
aim worth a bean in the gun mode).
Game Play-Fun 6 out of 10
This game is fun, with all of its sequences. But after dieing a few times
because the computer enemies can suck enough life off of you with one
or two hits, it gets rather frustrating. If the NORMAL bad guys were not
so hard to beat, this game would have gotten higher marks. If you can
improve on your combat skills, the game gets better and better, though.
Frustration
The normal bad guys are so hard to beat! The characters take several hits
to take out. Luckily they do fall to the ground to give you enough time to
stave off attacks from other directions. Luckily, you are given weapons
to help you out.
Replayability 4 out of 10
Like many games of this type, once you beat it, that's it. You can go back
and try to get better at the game, but nothing new pops up.
Game Value
This really depends. Since you really can't get new NES games now, you
usually have to buy used. I wouldn't spend $20 on it, but if you can get it
for $10 or less, its worth checking out.
Plot 5 out of 10
"Boyfriend must save girlfriend from bad guys" type story. No twists or
anything. Its not a bad thing, but this type of story has been beaten to
death with a bowl of gumbo.
Overall 7 out of 10
If you can breeze through the Castlevania games, the Double Dragon
games and you haven't played this one, give it a shot. It will body
slam your gaming ego. It will take you a while to beat it and will have
you gloriously cursing at it the whole time (which always fuels your
revenge in order to beat it).