DARKMAN - MOVIE and 8-BIT GAME LOOK BACK

Unable to secure the rights to either movies - The Shadow or Batman, director and writer Sam Raimi created his own superhero and called it Darkman. Basically the movie pays homage to Universal Studio's horror films of the 1930's and stars Liam Neeson in the lead role as Peyton Westlake, a scientist who is attacked and left for dead by a ruthless mobster, known as Robert Durant (Larry Drake), after his girlfriend (Frances McDormand), is involved in a conflict with a corrupt developer (Colin Friels). It was released at the box office in 1990 and generally well received by critics, grossing almost $49 million worldwide, well above its $16 million budget. This financial success spawned two direct-to-video sequels, Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996). Darkman has become regarded as a cult film since. The 8-Bit video games of the movie were released around September of 1991, with mixed reviews. The spectrum version receiving the highest ratings with Crash, issue 92, September 1991, scoring it overall 84%. The C64 version fared a little worse with ZZAP!64 issue 78, October 1991, giving it an overall of 67% and the Amstrad version fared worst with AA, issue 74, Nov 1991 scoring it an overall of 54%. In the ZZAP!64 review it stated "The gameplay really lets Darkman down though, being so repetitive and boring on the first level". "Later levels are more imaginative and entertaining, but Darkman is still a very average game".

Overall 5 out of 10