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‘1930 – Prohibition has transformed Chicago into a City at War. Rival gangs compete for control of the city’s billion dollar empire of illegal alcohol, enforcing their will with the hand grenade and tommy gun. It is the time of the Ganglords. It is the time of Al Capone...’
In 1987 Brian De Palma’s ‘The Untouchables’ – starring Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro and Sean Connery – was one of the big blockbusters. The story of Eliot Ness’ (Costner) crusade against crime lord Al Capone (De Niro) definitely belongs to the best mafia epics of all times...
Because of this great success, Ocean – one of the biggest software companies at this time – had acquired the authorization to create a game based on this motion picture. Two years later it was released – at first on the C64...
‘The Untouchables’ is separated into six different stages. Most of the time you play the part of Eliot Ness, but sometimes you’re able to switch between the characters...
Scene 1 – The Warehouse:
Ness: ‘All right now... Let’s do some good!’
The following event takes place in a warehouse. Here Ness has to find evidence against Capone. This part is similar to the first level of ‘Batman – The Movie’ – also a motion picture conversion by Ocean...
All-around gangsters appear – when they have spotted the treasury agent, they immediately start firing at him. Of course you should do the same – also you can duck to evade the deadly bullets. To reach the upper sections of the warehouse, you’ve to jump on towers of stacked crates. Sometimes you can collect special items, which a killed enemy had left behind. There are several objects, like different coloured ‘violin cases’ – these will increase your shooting power for a short time. Furthermore there is a rose, which fills up your life energy completely. At last, there’s an hourglass, which increases the time counter...
When the player had lost all life energy or the time had run out, the game is over at once – you’ve just one life and there aren’t any extra lives in the whole game...
To find the evidence, you have to look at the top right hand corner of the screen - there an arrow guides you the way to a white dressed man. By shooting at him several times, he drops the evidence. Now you have to hurry – the next gangster who appears, picks it up and runs away with it. Then Ness has to chase him, again. Altogether you have to find ten evidence ‘items’ to complete the level...
Scene 2 – The Bridge:
Mountie Captain: ‘Mr. Ness! I do not approve of your methods!’
Ness: ‘Yeah? Well, you’re not from Chicago.’
At the U.S.-Canadian frontier, ‘The Untouchables’ try to stop a convoy, which transports moonshine booze to Chicago. This time the gameplay is similar to ‘Operation Wolf’: Ness lies on the ground with a gun in his hands. Now Capone’s myrmidons appear in front of the trucks and fire at him...
At the top right hand corner of the screen, there’s a sniper scope – through the scope, you can see the magnified image of the area. By moving the joystick to the left, to the right, upwards or downwards, you are able to change the field of vision. By moving the stick diagonally down, your character can roll to the left or to the right...
If your life energy is low, you should move (roll) to the left or right level boundary – now the portraits of Ness’ brothers in arms (Wallace, Stone and Malone) appear and you’ve the chance, to exchange the characters. After that, the game continues with a ‘fresh’ fighter, whereas Ness recovers energy...
When the setting is finally cleared of the bad guys, the next stage waits...
Scene 3 – The Alleys:
Malone: ‘If you have to fire, hold low and squeeze. And put your man down. Because he’d do the same to you. Shoot to kill. Did you hear what I said?’
Ness: ‘Yes, I did. Shoot to kill.’
Unlike to the other five stages, this event wasn’t contained in the movie. But never mind! Actually, this part is the best of the whole game...
It reminds me a little bit of ‘Metal Gear Solid’: Ness stands with his back on the wall. By moving the joystick to the left, he’ll leave his hideout and the player controls a crosshair. Now you’ve to move it towards the enemies and press the fire button to shoot them down. But be careful! After two shots, you have to take cover to reload the gun. By moving the stick to the right in that situation, you’re able to exchange wounded characters – just like in the second level...
When ‘The Untouchables’ have finally cleared an alley, the next follows – after several shoot-outs, the level is completed...
Scene 4 – Railway Station:
Ness: ‘The bookkeeper’s no good to us dead. Stone?’
Stone: ‘Yes, sir.’
After Wallace and Malone have been killed, the two remaining ‘Untouchables’ head off to arrest Capone’s bookkeeper. The following event takes place at the ‘Chicago Union Station’ and you play the part of Eliot Ness, again...
This time, the scenario is shown from above. Ness has to care about two things at once: to stop a baby carriage, which rolls down an endlessly seeming staircase and to shoot at Capone’s henchmen, which cross his way. Every now and then innocent civilians appear – if Ness shoots at them accidentally, he loses valuably life energy. If the baby carriage comes under fire, the life energy of the baby decreases...
In case the baby carriage rolls into an obstacle, the baby falls on the ground and the game is over. When you’ve finally reached the bottom of the staircase, the next stage follows...
Scene 5 – Rescuing the Accountant:
Thug: ‘I’m walkin’ out with the bookkeeper. The bookkeeper and me are drivin’ away. See? Or else he dies. He dies and you ain’t got nothin’. You got five seconds to make up your mind.’
Ness: ‘You got him?’
Stone: ‘Yeah, I got him.’
Thug: ‘One!’
Ness: ‘Take him.’
Now you play the part of George Stone (a professional sniper). You’ve got five seconds to save the bookkeeper, who is taken hostage...
Like in ‘It came from the Desert’, you just see Stone’s hand, which holds a gun. By moving the joystick, you’re able to aim the muzzle of the weapon at the enemy. The only way to solve that problem is to shoot the hostage-taker a bullet right in his head. If you hit the bookkeeper instead of the gangster, the game is over...
Scene 6 – Nitti gets his:
Ness: ‘They’re gonna burn you, buddy.’
Nitti: ‘Yeah?’
Ness: ‘Yeah. I’m gonna come see you burn, you son of a bitch! ‘Cause you killed my friend!’
Nitti: ‘He died like a pig.’
Ness: ‘What did you say?’
Nitti: ‘I said that your friend died screaming like a stuck Irish pig. Now, you think about that when I beat the rap.’
Ness: ‘Did he sound anything like that?’
The last stage is located on the rooftops of the courthouse. Here the final confrontation between Ness and Frank Nitti (Capone’s assassin and murderer of Wallace and Malone) takes place...
The gameplay is similar to the third level (‘The Alleys’). Ness stands with his back on the wall and waits for Nitti. When he appears, the player moves the stick to the left and to the right respectively to leave his hideout. Now he controls a crosshair – he moves it towards Nitti and fires at him. After six shots, the gun is empty and you’ve to reload it. Unlike to the third stage, you’re able to move sideward over the whole screen...
After several shoot-outs Nitti runs away and the next segment of this stage follows. Then the duel starts again. Finally Ness shoots him off the roof and the player catches sight of a very short, but also very cool 3D-outro: Nitti falls down the building and crashes straight into a parking car...
As you can see, this game is a very brutal one – just like the movie itself. But if you’ve accepted this fact, it’s real thrilling. Unfortunately, the first stage of the game (‘The Warehouse’) is far too difficult and too frustrating. Apart from that, the remaining levels are brilliant and reflect the flair of the motion picture very good...
In my opinion ‘The Untouchables’ is one of the best movie conversions. Perhaps another software company creates a new game based on this great motion picture with modern graphics and sounds – particularly with regard to ‘The Untouchables – Capone Rising’, the prequel to the first movie, coming to theatres in 2008...
That would be great...
Reporter: ‘They say they’re going to repeal prohibition. What will you do then?’
Ness: ‘I think I’ll have a drink.’
Downloads: Music, Advert
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| GRAPHICS - 9/10 |
The graphics of the game are incredible – the same regards to the sprites and their animations (walking, ducking, rolling, reloading a weapon). Especially in scene 3 and 6 they are very huge but nevertheless very detailed. The scrolling in scene 1, 2 and 4 is very smooth, too – great...
| | SOUND - 8/10 |
At the beginning of each scene, you’re able to choose between music (great) or sound-fx (poor). The background tunes of the different levels are classical compositions of the 1930s. But the remaining music in the game is great, too...
| | PLAYABILITY - 7/10 |
In each level, the control is very accurate and easy to handle. Okay, the degree of difficulty is pretty high – particularly in the first scene. But if you try hard enough, you’re able to make it. After completing the first level, the real fun begins...
| | OVERALL - 8/10 |
If you are a fan of ‘The Untouchables’ or other movies of this genre (like ‘Scarface’ or ‘The Godfather’-trilogy) this game is definitely the right game for you. Give it a try – you won’t be disappointed...
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| COVER |
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; "Click to zoom!")
; "Click to zoom!")
