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"It's
his basement, his rules, and a shitty rip-off of his game show!"
Remote Control
was MTV's first attempt at a game show, making its first run in 1987.
Like a wild and hip teenage Jeopardy, it played out more like a party
and was very successful for its time. Ken Ober was an excellent host,
but actually played the straight-man to the insane and entertaining
supporting cast of announcer Colin Quinn, fun and peppy Kari Wuhrer,
and random appearances by semi-regular cast member Adam Sandler as
well as a number of famous "special guests." Even the lesser-known
cast were funny, and the inventive challenges such as "Beat The
Bishop" (where contestants have to solve a math problem before
a guy dressed as the pope can run a full lap around the set) made
the show.
NONE of that is in this game.
To be fair, the
developers probably carried this game close to as far as they could.
Technical limitations would have prevented accurately portraying the
cast from the show, as well as the fact that their likenesses
would also have to be licensed. They still could have put SOME supporting
cast in though, as well as the crazy side challenges and quirky bits
that made the show so much fun. Instead they chose to go the direct
route and follow a standard quiz game formula - pick a question, answer
it, person with the most points at the end wins. You get the bare
bones of Remote Control, but none of what made the show great.
If
you're unfamiliar with the show, it's supposedly set in
Ken Ober's basement where three contestants sit in recliners and
answer questions about TV trivia. Most of these were
questions about episodes of 1960's shows, the kind that the MTV
generation would have grown up with on reruns, or about "current"
pop culture. If you wanted to play the game, then it obviously would
help if you were familiar with a potpourri of trivia ranging from
knowledge of "Leave it to Beaver" and the living or dead status of
classic TV icons, to the "latest" MTV video and an obscessive amount
of knowledge about the lifesyle of Bon Jovi. If you do not so qualify,
you're not totally out of luck. Occasionally there
would be channels (categories) such as "Brady Physics"
where a real physics question was asked, using the Brady kids
in the examples. The game board was a TV mock-up with 9
channels/categories,
each category having three questions each. Players didn't know
what the category would be when they first selected it, allowing
for random bogus channels like "Home Shopping Network"
that deducted points from their score. Thankfully, all of this
is in the video game, and rather unmolested. |
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As demonstrated
by our animated friends here, something stinks - this game.
And the ugly girl.
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At
the end of round one, contestants were dumped with food in a Snack
Break. That's in the game, except as an extremely lame earthquake
with popcorn kernels bouncing around on the screen. At the end
of round two, the lowest scoring player was taken Off The Air
in a clever way. Their recliners, with them still strapped in,
were literally yanked through the wall and off the stage, or tilted
backward while the audience sang. It was the highlight of the
show, and the video game has ruined this. Instead of pulling contestants
off the stage, they are smote by an errant lighting bolt from
an angry God - I'm totally serious. I can only hope that bolt
was actually meant for this game. The two remaining players then
face off in a speed round, which actually did get translated pretty
well. However, the show's final bonus round for the winning player,
played from the Posturepedic Adjustable Bed, didn't make it to
the home console. But the bonus round was identifying the artists
of nine music videos, and no one can expect the NES to pull that
one off. |
The graphics here...
suck. The television game board and the background for the contestants
are the only decent pieces here. The artists appear to have gone to
such great lengths to keep the unnamed host from resembling Ken Ober
that he now barely resembles a human. He has one expression through
the entire game, and his mouth and arm move robotically the entire
time he's on the screen. The background behind him is not the same
basement, but a psychedelic flashing wall of MTV icons (subliminal
messaging perhaps?). The contestant characters look a little better,
and have about four different expressions they alternate through.
Some of them look a little rough, but overall they're drawn okay.
The snack break animation, as I've already said, is mind-numbingly
stupid. Yeah, it's the NES, but surely someone could have done a better
a job.
The controls,
amazingly, are the best part of the game. The only reason for this
is that you're given separate buttons; one to ring in and another
to select your answer.
This allows you to hammer the buzzer without accidentally selecting
the wrong answer in your frantic tapping, and is a feature I wish
other game show games had used. The sounds... suck. One theme plays
through the whole game without much variation. It's loud, and NES
"bleep-bloop"-tastic. The few sound effects are unimpressive; basically
just noises confirming a right or wrong answer and a few other environment
effects like the snack break/lightning rumble.
Will
you find it enjoyable? Well... maybe. The questions are properly
in keeping with Remote Control, although much easier since they're
all multiple choice. If you have at least a bit of TV knowledge,
or just some common sense, you should wax the floor with your
computer foes. Unfortunately, without the exclusive bits from the
show, the game comes off too stiff. Though the developers tried
to inject some of the show's wit into the host character, they
failed, and failed miserably. He makes attempts to both insult
and commend you, but they're all not funny or just odd, and the
game just flops without its supporting cast. It's a decent trivia
game, but it's nowhere near as fun as the show. If you're a fan
of the show, then it's worth checking out - though you'll be
disappointed.
If you're wondering what the show was all about, then the game
is horrible, horrible spokesman. If you just want a mildly
amusing TV-Trivia quiz game, then this might be worth a shot. |
Sooo...
is this some kind of a gay thing?
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-reviewed 5/27/02 - game copyright 1990 Hi-Tech Expressions
It... is... kinda Remote Control. I guess.
Everything that made the show great has been left at the TV studio.
Remote Control on MobyGames
Gameplay video at NESGuide
Brief intro clip to the show on YouTube
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