Hook

Released for the Super Nintendo in 1992 by Sony Imagesoft, and developed by Ukiyotei, Hook is a side-scrolling, action-platforming adaptation of the 1991 Spielberg film of the same name.

Love it or hate it, Steven Spielberg's 1991 Peter Pan as an adult children's film, Hook, sure produced a lot of video game adaptations. Most SNES and Sega Genesis movie adaptations followed the same basic formula: Movie protagonist + 2D stages based on whatever was in the movie + jumping and hitting things = profit.
This formula resulted in a large number of sub-par action-platformers, with just a few diamonds in the rough. Does the SNES 1992 action-platformer, Hook, featuring a flying, knife-wielding Peter Pan shine, or is it as dull as the titular Captain's black heart?

 

The graphics department at Tri-Star didn't go through all the trouble of designing this logo for it to NOT be on 10,000 different things, including a SNES game

One thing stands out immediately once you boot this buccaneer up: the production values are through the roof. You're immediately greeted by long, animated cutscenes, detailing the plot of the movie, and high-quality 16-bit recreations of John Williams' film score. This game is no cheap, throwaway adaptation. Once you jump into the gameplay, the production values feel even higher. The graphics, featuring highly detailed, beautifully drawn, sometimes animated backgrounds, and highly detailed, well-animated character models, are excellent. I may look more like Robin Williams than the Peter Pan in this game, but he and his wind-billowing cloak look great, as do all of Pan's varied, but mostly pirate enemies, as they strut around in a charmingly realistic, great for SNES manner.

 

Wait...are you Spiderman?

As stated, the music here is another high point, with the legendary John Williams done justice by the SNES' nearly just as legendary sound chip. The same pieces aren't just repeated ad nauseum, either. There are a lot of different songs featured here. The sound effects aren't the best, but they get the job done. Overall, the music and aesthetics of this game create a pretty stunning package--which makes the sluggish gameplay all the more disappointing.

 

Nothing like stabbing some children to get the blood flowing

When I think Peter Pan, I usually think of a fast, agile, and highly maneuverable character. However, I guess the developers here were thinking more the peanut butter brand, because Pan moves around in this game like he's wading through a jar of the stuff. Peter walks SLOWLY and you can't make him run. It feels like it takes forever to get Pan from one side of the screen to the next. Get under some fairy dust at select moments of the game, and you can fill up a meter that lets you fly for a limited amount of time--SLOWLY. Fall in some water. No problem. You can swim--SLOWLY.

 

The good thing is, most of your enemies, including the bosses, also move pretty slowly. Maybe I should have put "good thing" in quotes.

The controls here are pretty responsive (you're just moving/jumping around and swinging your dagger at stuff, and sometimes swimming/flying), but the slowness takes a lot out fund out of the game, and makes certain sections of Hook needlessly difficult. Add in what seems to be a hitbox that stretches a foot or so past Pan's body, and you've got a recipe for frustration. There are some cool ideas here, like hidden leaves that add to your limited life meter, a power-up that lets your dagger shoot beams of light, and a handful of level-ending boss fights (there's a boss at the end of just about every other level), but the slow movement speed just crushes everything. Maybe, with all of the graphical excellence onscreen, the developers couldn't get Pan moving any faster. Movement isn't the only frustrating element here, either.

Little shop...little shop of horrors...

Hook features 12 moderately long levels that become marathons because of Pan's slow movement speed. That would be mitigated if there was some type of saving or password system, or even a level select cheat, but there's nothing of the sort here. While you do get unlimited continues, dying always starts you back at the beginning of a level, unless you've reached the boss (and continuing means you've got to start at the beginning, regardless). This means, especially considering the game's difficulty, that you're going to have to spend hours upon hours getting to the end of this thing. And considering the slow movement saps a lot of the fun away anyway, those aren't hours you're likely going to want to waste here.

Graphics: 9.0/10.0

Sound: 8.0/10.0

Gameplay: 5.0/10.0

Lasting Value: 5.0/10.0


Overall: 5.8/10.0