Nintendo Wii Virtual Console Reviews: Elevator Action Review

Nintendo Wii Virtual Console Reviews: Elevator Action Review
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Back in 1983 Taito released Elevator Action, an arcade game that was later ported to many of the consoles at the time, the NES being one of them. Yeah, Elevator Action was popular at the time (and why not?), but was it good enough to warrant a Wii Virtual Console release?

Story (4 out of 5)

Mission Name: Elevator Action

Name: Agent 17

Code name: Otto

Affiliation: Unknown

Mission: Infiltrate the building from the top. Steal some documents (kept conveniently behind red doors) and shoot anyone who gets in your way. Oh, and take a lot of elevators.

Gameplay (4 out of 5)

You play as a spy (Agent 17 or Otto) who is infiltrating a very tall building filled with many elevators and escalators. Your mission is to make it to the bottom floor of the building while collecting secret documents along the way. As you travel to the bottom you have to shoot or kick the guys in who are protecting the building (all of whom are dressed in black suits with black hats, why to coordinate guys!) and solve the elevator based puzzles (which elevator to take and so on).

Like most Wii Virtual console NES releases, the directional pad controls movement while the 1 and 2 buttons control shooting and jumping (or kicking, I can’t really tell). The building you must get to the bottom of has 30 levels, but don’t get too excited, they go by very quickly (you are riding an elevator, after all).

The enemies do become more numerous the farther down you go, but the game isn’t really very challenging (compared to most NES games). You have unlimited ammo and just have to shoot before anyone can shoot you. You can also kick them in the face, make elevators land on their heads and squish them (not as cool as it sounds) and shoot out the lights above their heads to make it land on them (and briefly knock out the lights). Maybe fans of FPS would like Elevator Action.

Graphics and Sound (2 out of 5)

Yeah, Elevator Action does not look good. We are talking giant pixels for each character, and even the backgrounds are super simplistic. Sure, I can tell what everything is, but these are nothing to write home about. However, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. This game was made in the early 1980’s. While the graphics are hardly better than Pac-Man, Otto, the main character, has a certain amount of charm about his pixels.

Sound wise it is an early 1980’s game. The music is repetitive and very simple, but it is kind of cute. It is not annoying (to me, at least) and I find myself humming it at times. Weird, I know.

Elevator Action in Action!

Fun (4 out of 5)

Yeah, I think Elevator Action is a really fun game. The controls are simple and easy to learn and it isn’t so difficult that it will throw off modern gamers. However, the bad graphics and simple music might. But if you can look passed those things you will have an enjoyable time playing a classic arcade game on your Wii. Plus, who doesn’t want to be a spy?

Overall (3 out of 5)

I’m not sure if Elevator Action is worth the 500 Wii points. It’s simple enough that both kids and adults can enjoy playing it. While most of the game is rather straight forward, the puzzles in the lower levels will make you think (if just a little bit). However, it is so short that $5 seems like a lot to pay for it. I enjoy playing it, but the replay value is limited. Check it out if you have the money to do so. However, if you want a longer and more indepth game try Solomon’s Key.