Granny Vinnie Reviews
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audio, or gameplay enhancements. So it goes without saying that this is easily one of the ugliest “7800-only” games ever. While it would be easy to bash the game for its appearance compared to Basketbrawl, Tower Toppler, or Klax, I actually was fairly impressed at how the game came off graphically. Even though Mary sports a square hole in her head, this game would not be any better if it was revamped for the PS3. The only real issue here is that the power ups are impossible to figure out unless you have a manual or read about them online. Maybe with better graphics, it would be easier to detect what are point bonuses and that the red thing is supposed to be a stop sign.
Save Mary has a very distinct personality of its own, and I believe it is much more challenging than those titles even from get go. You see, silly Mary is stuck in a ravine AGAIN, and it is up to you to save her from her lack of good judgment. Though searching for archeological finds in the local reservoir gets her out of the house, Mary has an uncanny knack for locating ravines that are about to fill up with water. Fortunately for her, she does this underneath a large crane and dual conveyor belts delivering building materials to empty space. Much like the adage about the crow, the bottle of water, and the pebbles, you must fill the crevice by dropping down random building materials, allowing Mary to climb them, so she can avoid the billowing grave beneath her. Blocks do not disappear like in other games of this type; rather they stack on top of each other. Once you get past level 1, the shapes of the objects begin to differ, and you have to decide how to stack them so Mary can climb them, yet do it in such a fashion that you can create another stack high enough so Mary can reach “Higher Ground” (thanks, Mr. Wonder). Your enemies in this game are not only the clock and poorly designed structures; Mary herself becomes the most aggravating foe of all. As you can imagine, Mary is quite a bit frightened at this point, so she runs around in a panic. Sometimes its hard to determine where she will go next, so many levels end with a squished Mary and a swear word. It’s also possible to be doing great time-wise but clumsily build a structure preventing Mary from climbing any higher. Now, that’s a downer. On the flipside, power-ups seem to be very little help to the cause and typically are a waste of time. Including a power-up that temporarily stops the rising water seems like a no-brainer, but it is not included.
Managing falling bricks appeals to human beings for some reason, but to throw in a victim who is also the game’s main antagonist was quite a stroke of genius. You quickly develop a fatherly/ motherly relationship with Mary, because her helplessness and panic are making the situation much worse, but you really can’t blame her. Think about it… would you rather drown or get squished by 3 tons of steel? Yeah, I’d freak, too.
