Squish Em' Featuring Sam

Description

In this age where video game characters are expected to have complex back stories, it's sometimes refreshing to return to a simpler time. A time when heroes had concerns such as rescuing their girlfriends from devious apes or assembling burgers while being chased by angry ingredients. Thus, enter Sam, the titular character and his sole concern for one particular item. Bling, cash, moola, whatever you want to call it, Sam is only in it for the money.

Squish'em Sam was one of the last games released for the ColecoVision game system. That system built its reputation on solid arcade translations, but Squish'em Sam was only found on the Coleco. Around this time the famed video game market crash was about to happen and the Coleco company was already on its way out. Too bad, as it was a great system for its time and Squish'em Sam was a great game.

As Sam your goal is to make it to the top of each building and grab the bag of money awaiting you. Sam climbs upward on the girders and must avoid both the enemies that crawl each level and the various objects being thrown down at him. Sam can move left and right on each girder platform and can either jump over an enemy or squish them (hence the game title). However, there is a catch. If the player chooses to squish an enemy after a period of time the enemy will come back colored white and be INVINCIBLE. As the player progresses further this time period gets shorter and shorter until it is almost nil. Whether you squish the enemies or not, Sam will have to contend with falling objects that increase in both speed and number as you advance. As the level changes so do the objects, which range from tires and kitchen sinks to televisions and even dynamite. Also, prizes appear every level or so, which you can pick up for extra points. Considering the era this game was made in, it has immense playability.

As for the visuals, the ColecoVision had the best graphics of its day for any home console. It could simply out process the Atari and Intellivision consoles, respectively. Squish'em Sam's graphics are simple, but easy to make out. Each enemy is small, but distinguishable and the same goes for the falling objects. The scrolling is clear and crisp and never hampers the controls. As a nice change against repetition, the color of the girders changes as you advance levels. For its time, Squish'em Sam wouldn't have wowed anyone, but the graphics are certainly better than average.

With the sound comes a bit of a surprise. Unusual for its era, this game features synthesized voice. Yes, you read that right. The ColecoVision itself was incapable of this trick, but through the software it is made possible. Whenever Sam gets nailed with an object he lets out an "OWWW" and when he gets the bag of money he celebrates with "MONEY, MONEY, MONEY" to hilarious effect. There are also sound effects every time Sam moves laterally or climbs upward, but they never get too monotonous.

As with most games of its generation, Squish'em Sam is played purely for points and bragging rights. Once you get to a certain level number the levels will keep repeating so you can see how far you can get or play something else. In all, the game's mechanics are very similar to Frogger, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for with individual touches.

This is an era that saw the release of MANY mindless video games. Heck, even a dog food company released some simple minded games as advertising tools. The flooding of the market by such junk caused great games like this to sadly be overlooked. I think it is truly one of the best games of the early 1980s. It's full of action and strategy and I cannot recommend it highly enough.