Frankenstein's Monster

Name:	Frankenstein's Monster
Company:	Data Age
Model #:	112-008
Programmer:	Unknown
Year:	1983
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Data Age's last release

When you mention the name Data Age the first thing most people think of is "Sssnake" which has been universally voted the worst 2600 game ever made.  While it's true that most of Data Age's first efforts were horrid at best, they almost redeemed themselves with their last few games.  Frankenstein's Monster was the last game to be released by Data Age, and it shows that they were finally getting their act together.

Frankenstein's Monster plays similar to Activision's Pitfall.  You control the player (who's named "The Player" BTW), who must create a barrier around Frankenstein's Monster to keep him from escaping from the castle and killing the villagers.  In order to construct this barrier you must journey to the basement of the castle to collect a barrier piece (block) and return to the top of the castle.  As you journey down through the levels of the castle you must jump pits in the floor, avoid tarantulas, spiders, and ghosts, and try not to fall in the moat as you jump from platform to platform.

Each time you successfully get a block to the top of the castle you are taken to another screen where you must battle your way through walls of bats in order to get to the monster and construct a piece of the barrier.  Each time you hit a bat it will force you back a bit, but thankfully you never get forced off the screen.  Each time you successfully construct a piece of the barrier the castle levels get harder with faster creatures and different pit configurations.  As time progresses you can see the energy level of the monster increase, and if you take too long the monster will escape and laugh at you (this seems kind of dorky for a horror game, but then again this was the 80's).

Most people will agree that Frankenstein's Monster is the only Data Age game worth playing, and the only thing preventing Data Age from joining the ranks of companies like Mythicon and Froggo.  It's a shame that the crash happened just as Data Age was beginning to put out games that were actually worth playing.

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