Review of the Adventures of Lolo (NES)

Adventures of Lolo is a puzzle video game released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989 by HAL labs, the same developers famous for the Kirby franchise. Many people haven't heard about this series of games and that's a shame, as other than Tetris this is probably the best puzzle game around.

Story : This game has a generic ''rescue your girlfriend'' storyline, but that's not important as this is at it's heart a puzzle game. You guide a little blue puff ball named Lolo through various levels of puzzles until you can be Lala's, your girlfriend's, knight in shining armor.

Graphics : For 1989, the graphics are quite good. Everybody, including the enemies, are drawn and animated quite well and look very fun. The backgrounds, likewise, have a vibrant and colorful look to them. Lolo himself is animated extremely well which is good since you have to look at him the entire game. Overall, great graphics for it's time.

Sound : The music in this game is very good. It loops almost the entire game but that's not necessarily bad because it's a great song. It's very unobtrusive and stands in to just lighten the mood of the game while you solve puzzles. The sound effects are fitting and appropriate as well. A great game, musically.

Game play : This is one addicting puzzle game. On every level, there's hearts on the floor, a treasure chest, and the exit which is sealed. Collect the hearts, open the treasure chest, exit to the next level. Sounds simple but some levels require precise planning otherwise you'll end up losing. There's many monsters blocking your progress, but the variety of them keeps the game very interesting.

The difficulty in this game is quite good, not too easy but nothing here that will make you throw the controller at your television. Like I mentioned before though, some stages require extreme precision in regards to planning out how you will beat the level. If you're not specifically in the mood to have your brain challenged, you should stay away from this game. If you want a game like Contra, this isn't for you.

Re playability : An insanely re playable game, to say the least. I find myself coming back to it at least once a year. Either this or it's sequels.

Overall: 9/10. A larger variety of music would have been better, and it serves as the only negative this game has.