Retro Video Game Reviews: Caveman Games (NES)

With the runaway (no pun intended) success of Track & Field, a perfectly engineered game of Olympic-level competition across multiple events, many companies would try to release their own versions and capitalize on the apparent success of the genre. World Games was one notable entry, and Track & Field even spawned its own sequel, which looked fancier but was noticeably worse than the first.

Then came Caveman Games, a title that never took itself too seriously and aimed not to dethrone Track & Field, but offer its own quirky, unique brand of anachronistic medal-earning sports. With such events as Fire Starting, Mate Toss, Clubbing, Dino Race, Dino Vault, and Saber Race, each one was a prehistoric version of a track classic. Besides the obvious humor of the time period, it was also notable that losing events often meant death for the caveman athlete; such as in Dino Vault, when failing to vault over the T. Rez means that it eats you; or Saber Race, where failing to outrace the feline foe may result in being mauled.

Was it a worthy gladiator in the multi-sport gaming arena?

Graphics

The player is able to choose from six different characters, each with their respective two favorite events they are strongest at, or to differ the difficulty they can choose Gronk who is the super-athlete caveman who is great at everything; or Vincent, who is the skinny, dorky, nonathletic caveman. A couple cave women also make appearances, and all are stylishly rendered in funny fashion differently for each event.

Although the effects can be cheesy (the blinking creature eyes in the cave behind Fire Starting, the ocean splash in Dino Vault, etc.), overall the game actually looks pretty good and evokes a few laughs for visual humor: Check out the Mate Toss victory toss for a throw over 70 feet, or the confused look of the dinosaur steed in Dino Race when the jockey clubs it over the head too many times.

Sound

Many of the events are punctuated by crude-though-effective effects. The dull thud of Clubbing and the cartoony effects of character injuries are all done well, but where this game lacks is in the background music department, with a startlingly noticeable lack of it. A few key screens have a little ditty going on, but otherwise, Caveman Games could have truly benefitted from an appropriate mix of heavy synth beats and colloquial wet-humor rhythms.

Innovation

The format (multiple sports competing for athletic medals and records) was an almost-blatant rip-off, but the execution was whimsical and hilarious. In fact, the whole environment of being in prehistoric cave-time is often distracting from just how good the game truly is. This title is also notable for the feature of being able to select different characters, who actually performed in differing ways depending on the event.

Replay Value

The one severe flaw to Caveman Games is its lack of depth. A few of the games are done really well, and the overall presentation is above-par enough to make a player want more, but there is little more to be had. One danger of matching up against Track & Field is letting Track & Field become a mirror by which its strengths highlight Caveman Games' weakness: T&F had eight events, whereas CG has six. T&F had a lengthier play experience where continued winning was awarded with continued play and more challenging difficulty, whereas CG ended after one circuit. Also, Caveman failed to address two of the universal faults inherent to any T&F-style game: The lack of a save feature for high scores and records, and an over-reliance on button-mashing tactics.

Had Caveman Games worked a little harder to overcome the inevitable weakness of the genre, it could have been a true classic and worthy of a richer gaming experience. But after all components are considered, it is still a refreshingly fun title, and good for some rounds with a friend after trying it on your own. It gets a respectfully solid three and three-quarters stars out of five.