My review of Man Overboard! for the Sega Game Gear

Score: 7/10

I wanted to review a random game I've never played before, and ended up with "Man Overboard!" for Sega Game Gear. I've been playing it for some hours now, so needless to say, my choice was a good one. Actually, it wasn't totally at random I picked this game - Codemasters usually make brilliant games (although the original DOS-version was by Zeppelin), and I had a good feeling about this one. It turned out I was right.

I guess if you like it as well depends on if you like puzzle games - you know the type of games where you have to do everything in the right order to solve the puzzle. Man Overboard! (the title screen calls it "S.S. Lucifer - Man Overboard!") is a puzzle game, but in a totally different style than games like Soukoban. It's a puzzle game, alright, but in a side-view platformer world with action elements. Your character can move around, jump, climb up and down ladders, turn switches, and even climb upside-down pipes in order to stop water leaks. The goal is to save passengers of a sinking ship (S.S. Lucifer), who for some reason act like zombies or robots, and walk in the same direction until something stops them, much like Lemmings. That something that stops them can be a wall, a box in their way, or you, changing the direction of a conveyor belt or blowing up something, using explosives. That something that stops them can also be a fire or something else that will kill them. Needless to say, these passengers are not very smart... In addition to all this, water may start to fill the room, and although you are able to swim for a while and the passengers can survive for some time, you have to hurry in order to guide them through to the exit door.

Like I said, I've been playing this game for some hours now, and am currently at level 17. Sometimes you see a map of the ship you're in with all the rooms you have to work your way through, and although I haven't counted all the rooms, there seems to be a lot! Maybe 100 ... So it's a long game, too long to finish in one sitting. Luckily, the game has a password system. In the beginning you get a password after every level you've finished, but after a while you only get a new password every third or fourth level. Maybe as I progress it will be even more seldom? You only have three lives, so unless you're on an emulator using savestates, you'll be playing through the same levels many times in order to get to the level you died in. To complete a level on your first try can be almost impossible sometimes as you don't know what to do, and when you figure it out it's already too late as the passengers are dead by then.

This game reminds me of "Krusty's Fun House" which I like, and I like this game as well. The only thing I don't like is that you use button 1 to jump, which feels weird (of course with emulators like RetroCopy it's easy to switch it around, though). The game also has no level music for some reason. Other than that, I would say this is a fun, entertaining puzzle game with good level design, and with some action elements to spice things up. It's an interesting combination (puzzle and platformer), and I think this game succeeds in combining the two genres.

You can create your own review of Man Overboard!