Hogan's Alley (NES) review " I only own two Zapper games, Hogan's Alley and Duck Hunt. Hogan's Alley is easily the better of the two, and it is probably the best Zapper game period. I mean, how can you not like a game with Mafia characters, and the ability to shoot cans. It is rediculous and entertaining at the same time, plus you don't have to worry about the mafia getting you back when you shoot one of them like in real life. "

I only own two Zapper games, Hogan's Alley and Duck Hunt. Hogan's Alley is easily the better of the two, and it is probably the best Zapper game period. I mean, how can you not like a game with Mafia characters, and the ability to shoot cans. It is rediculous and entertaining at the same time, plus you don't have to worry about the mafia getting you back when you shoot one of them like in real life.


GRAPHICS (9/20): Once again there is little in the graphics department. You have these still pictures of Mafia Men movie on polls, along with pictures of an old man, a cop, and a girl. The town scenary for town (Game B) is really bland, and cardboardy. The only plus in the graphic game are the cans. They have a nice rotation to them while they spin through the air.

SOUND (4/10): Really the only sounds you hear are the buzzing of the mafia signs opening and movie by, and the shot of your gun. There is no music period. The only other noises exist in the can game, with the resounding ting as the bullet strike a can, and the can landing in the point marks. There is no music, but sound effects are ok.

GAMEPLAY (49/55): Great Gameplay to begin with. There are three modes and I will evaluate all three.
Mode 1A: This mode brings up three pictures of either the good guys or the bad guys. You must quickly shoot the mafia men, while avoiding the pictures of innocents. This is the most boring mode, and you will find yourself not spending too much time on it.
Mode 1B: This mode has a slide picture of a town. You go from screen to screen, with the little pictures of mafia men, and the innocents popping up in various places. You have to quickly go from spot to spot quickly trying to take away the Mafia men as you go along. You have 10 lives before you die. This game is extremely entertaining.
Mode 2: And last but definitely not least, the can game. The point of this game is to keep shooting the cans, so that they remain in the air and land into the point slots. This is harder then it sounds (unless you have the gun right on the TV), and it is tough to keep yourself from the multiple clans falling into the ground. In my mind this is the most entertaining of the modes of play.
The one problem with the gameplay is that there is not a multiplayer mode, which make many games better. The controls are very good with the gun, just make sure you have the gun in the controller 2 slot. All in all, this game has several modes of great gameplay.

REPLAYABILITY (8/10): This game is fun to play for hundreds of times. Each mode (besides maybe the first) is entertaining no matter how many times you play it, and you will find yourself desiring to play this game more than any other Zapper game. The only problem is that the game does get kind of repetitive, and that you will probably not be able to play more than an hour a sitting.

DIFFICULTY (5/5): The difficulty depends on how far you are in each game, and more importantly how far your zapper is away from the television. Some people believe they are masters when they have the zapper on the TV, while people with much more skill will die on the fifth level because they are 5 ft away. It all depends on where you want to be.

OVERALL (75/100): I have this bright orange Zapper, which I love to take out and use, but not many games were made worth taking out this zapper. This is the one game worth throwing out the spice orange zapper and start shooting away at the infamous Hogan and his mafia clan. This is an original game, based on the wonderful popularity of the mafia. What could have gone wrong??? Nothing did. This is a definite buy for someone who wants to use his Zapper.

Community review by ratking (Date unavailable) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.