We are mid-run through Addams Family Values, and I have to start with a small development-era aside. Ocean Software handled publishing on this one. The British house built its reputation on quick, notch-for-notch licensed converts throughout the 80s and early 90s. They were the go-to for movie tie-ins before the industry tightened up. The company would soon be absorbed into Infogrames, which feels oddly appropriate. The game sometimes looks like it was assembled in a hurry, but still with affection.
I am right there with you on that. The box promises an action-adventure with light RPG touches. Playing it now feels like wandering through a familiar Zelda-like overhead corridor. Only here you’re wearing a black suit and a perpetually bewildered expression. Fester moves with noticeable weight. Weapons and special attacks are satisfying to find and upgrade. There are also clever moments where the game rewards exploration and conversation with the Addams clan.
Gameplay Highlights
Combat is straightforward and honest. The Zelda-style top-down encounters are the backbone. You bash enemies, learn patterns, and save space for a charged special attack. The RPG elements are modest but meaningful. You earn extra hit points, better gear, and new special moves as you progress. That steady sense of improvement keeps the trudging through repetitive rooms from feeling entirely pointless.
Level design is a mixed bag. Some areas—particularly the mansion interiors—are atmospheric and sprinkled with puzzles that suit the top-down view. Other zones recycle enemy placements and sprite sets so often you start to memorize where foes will respawn. Bosses, however, tend to break the monotony. They introduce multi-stage fights that require using new equipment in unorthodox ways. They feel like the rewards for paying attention.
Hot Tips
- Talk to everyone in the Addams household — the dialogue can hint where to find upgrades and hidden items.
- Conserve your special attack for rooms with clustered enemies or boss patterns; it’s much more efficient than spamming the standard blow.
- Explore off the main path. The designers tuck health upgrades and equipment in side areas that are easy to miss if you rush.
- If you find a new weapon or gadget, experiment with it immediately. Some puzzles are designed specifically around a newly acquired tool.
Also, save whenever the game allows. Lives are generous early, but later sections punish a single mistake and the checkpointing is less forgiving than it should be.
Memorable Moments & Anecdotes
There are a few delightful touches that genuinely feel like Addams-family flavor rather than a generic license. I will never forget the sequence where Fester squeaks through a nursery full of over-sized toys and the music turns playfully sinister—sheer 16-bit charm. The sprite animation on Fester’s light-bulb trick is a small flourish that sells the character more than a page of text could.
I had a moment right before the penultimate boss where I thought I had exhausted the map. A late door revealed an upgrade that increased my maximum hit points enough to survive the next arena. I laughed out loud—which is rare for me while holding a controller—and then I smacked the controller in celebration, which is practically an era-appropriate ritual.
The final boss against Debbie Jelinsky is long and occasionally thrilling. It plays out in phases: a minion-heavy opening that requires crowd-control, a middle section that forces you to use environment-based hazards to damage her, and a final exchange that becomes a timing puzzle. It is satisfying on principle; the mechanics do not reinvent the wheel, but they combine enough of the game’s systems that it feels like a proper culmination.
That said, the finale is also emblematic of the game’s contradictions. The boss is cleverly staged and fun to crack, but the path leading to it is padded with too many similar rooms and respawns. When the game hits its stride it is genuinely good—when it pads to hit cartridge minutes it falters.
Audio and visuals sit in that same middle ground. The soundtrack has catchy, era-appropriate themes and some passages where the composer really leaned into the macabre. Sprites are expressive for the hardware, but palette limitations and frequent reuse of enemy art draw attention to the assembly-line production. It is competent and occasionally charming, but not consistently polished.
Final Thoughts
If I had to summarize in one sentence: Addams Family Values is a competent action-adventure with meaningful progression and a few inspired set pieces, but it is held back by repetition and uneven pacing. It is the kind of licensed title from the mid-90s that will please genre fans who enjoy methodical top-down combat and collecting upgrades, yet frustrate players who expect constant variety or modern pacing.
We are being fair, and with that frame of mind I will add the grade: this one earns a C+. It is not a disaster by any stretch; it has heart, a few memorable zones, and a final boss that is worth the effort. It simply could have used another round of polishing to make the climb to greatness feel less like a slog.
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