Bigfoot
System: NES
Release Date: August 1990
Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment
Genre: Racing
Take those giant tires for a spin and crush everything in your path in Bigfoot! Take it cross country, competing in races and challenges through eight cities to win the championship. Do you have what it takes to be the biggest, best monster truck there is?
There are two main modes of play. The first is the cross country race. This is in top down view scrolling up. You accelerate by pressing up and steer with left and right. You’re up against an opponent, who can attack and be attacked. Littered over the course are pickups. Money, nitros, and wrenches are important utilities to collect. Saws attack immediately in front of you. Barriers protect you from attack. Super jumps allow you to vault into the air. If you take too much damage, you explode and it costs $500 from your wallet to revive. This works against the opponent, as well. When he runs out of money, he’s out of the race until replaced in the next town.
Winning the race earns you points and money. Crushing cars and driving through checkpoints also add to those totals. After reaching the finish line, you move on to a challenge event. You need to have $1000 to buy in to each event, but that really shouldn’t be a problem. You’re sent to the upgrade screen where you can spend the money you have in the bank to get a better engine, gearbox, tires, and suspension.
These events will get your blood pumping. In each, you need to alternate between pressing left and right to accelerate. You also need to shift gears at the right time by pressing the A Button. If you need a boost, holding the B Button will give you the help you need. The parts you’ve purchased can degrade in these events if you run your truck too hard. These are best two of three heats, so if you do poorly on your first try, you can give it another go.
The different events are the car crush, which requires you to be fast through the course. The hill climb has you shifting gears frantically as you chug up the incline. The mud bog requires stamina and smart boost timing. The tractor pull is another stamina event that will have you out of breath by the time it’s done. Once you finish all of the events the race is over and hopefully you’ve earned enough points to be the winner.
Graphics: 3.0
Cross country race graphics aren’t anything we haven’t seen in a countless number of vertical scrolling shooters, but they are a bit better looking. The event graphics are big and interesting, but there’s a lot of brown and green.
Sound: 2.0
Music isn’t anything special, and you get a lot of engine noises. And some digitized voice, I guess.
Gameplay: 2.5
The cross country races are simple enough. The events are very difficult to get your timing right on, but once you understand how they work, should be winnable every time.
Difficulty: 2.5
There’s a lot of button mashing necessary to get through this one, which sometimes feels unfair.
Fun Factor: 3.0
It’s fun to try and win all of the events and races, but I think I liked killing my opponents into bankruptcy the most.
Overall Rating: 2.6
Bigfoot earns a B-. This is a surprisingly good game. It took me a few minutes to get into, but then I stuck around until I had it beat. Give it a shot.