Dr. Chaos

Developer: Marionette    Publisher: FCI    Release: 11/88    Genre: Action

There are not many games I have hated within a few minutes of picking up the controller. Dr. Chaos is one of them. I will give it credit for being ambitious. For a game released in 1987 its attempt at a sprawling adventure along the lines of Metroid are largely successful. But whether or not you will want to go on this journey is another question. The answer is no. Dr. Chaos is a confusing mess along the lines of Simon’s Quest but unlike that game it has few redeeming qualities. It might be even more obtuse if you can believe it. There are far too many better games in the genre to put up with this game’s faults.

You explore the mansion in two parts. Structurally this is nearly identical to the Goonies II although both games were released fairly closely in Japan. Walking around the outside of the mansion and when entering a Warp Zone is done in the side scrolling view. Michael is armed with a puny knife by default but can pick up grenades, handgun bullets, and machine gun ammo along the way. You can re-enter rooms to stock up on supplies although this is incredibly tedious.

As a platformer Dr. Chaos is adequate. The Warp Zones are where the action occurs. Each has a small assortment of enemies you can mostly avoid on the way to each boss. Although the enemies are repetitive they are annoying since they respawn immediately with the stronger types following you ceaselessly. You need to conserve your supplies since there are no item drops in these segments. I’ll warn you right now that you cannot beat any of the bosses (except the first!) with the knife. The game takes a few cues from Metroid as there are secondary item upgrades that are mandatory for progress such as the jump boots, air helmet, and ultra space sensor. Hell there are even energy tanks.

The comparisons end there and any faint praise I might have had disappears the minute you enter one of the numerous doors in the mansion. Here the game switches to first person adventure mode. Navigating these rooms is an exercise in frustration not unlike the Goonies II. These segments are near identical, down to the same UI and commands. Each door is composed of four rooms of North, South, East and West. The confusion sets in when the windows and doors teleport you to a completely different part of the mansion. Since there is no map you must figure out where each door leads on your own. It is beyond frustrating.

Many parts of the mansion are inaccessible unless you find their hidden entrance. That means you must hit every open spot in each room to find the hidden doors necessary for progression. If it sounds stupid that’s because it is. And you would never know these exist unless you look at a guide. Now imagine doing this in 1987 when there were no guides.

But it gets even worse! You must complete the game’s eleven warp zones in a specific order. However you would never know it as there are no hints or direction given. As much as I rag on Castlevania II (and rightfully so) it at least gave you some clues as to how to progress. Granted those clues read like they were written by someone in an ESL class but they were at least something.  The Ultraspace sensor blinks whenever the entrance to a Warp Zone is present but that is the only guidance you receive. How you get to each warp zone, where they are, even the order, you get nothing.

As you can imagine Dr. Chaos is difficult because it is obtuse. Death places you back at the front of the mansion with no supplies except your special items. That means you’ll have to do some RPG style grinding for health and ammo just to continue where you left off. The side scrolling levels are tedious and full of annoyances such as enemies juggling you for massive damage due to the stupid jumping physics. Each boss has a specific pattern you’ll need to follow to beat them and some of them are a god damn nightmare. Just thinking about it makes me wonder how the hell I tolerated this game all the way to the end.

In Closing

I did not like Dr. Chaos back in the day and I don’t like it now. I approached this play through with fresh eyes and to get some closure. Although I actually completed the game this time I felt no sense of accomplishment. Instead I had the overwhelming feeling that I had just wasted my time. Avoid this one.