To do this, she brainwashes Uncle Fester, who has just lost his memory, into being an ally, and is also aided by The Judge and the Addams' family attorney, Tully Alford, who takes control of the mansion.

[6][7] To save his family, Gomez runs, jumps, and squats his way throughout the large mansion invested with ghosts, mutants, monsters, bats and rabbits, as well as stage hazards like stars, swinging clock pendulums, and fire lakes.

[5] The Addams Family is similar to open-ended titles such as The Legend of Zelda and Metroid (both 1986), as the player has the freedom to maneuver both the indoor and outdoor areas of the mansion in any order.

[16][8][3] Power-ups include a sword, a golf club that can shoot balls in a similar fashion to fire flowers, the fezi-copter hat that makes Gomez fly, and shoes that increases his speed.

The Wolfman potion increases his speed, Frankie gives him invincibility that lasts for 10 hits with enemies, Sea Monster enables him to swim underwater, and Drac makes him fly.

[23][26] Thus, they made the computer ports identical to those of the console releases, "arcadey" platformers with pickup items, extra lives, level warps, secret areas, and bonuses.

[23] Two other console-type platform games would be released on computers around the same time as The Addams Family: Fire and Ice and James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod.

[16] The most common claim about The Addams Family was that it was good in terms of gameplay, graphics and sound, but offered nothing special or original to the platform genre.

[15] Michael Foster disagreed that The Addams Family was a clone of other platform games, feeling it had "a lot of variety, and it's complex without being impossible".

[20] Reviews also felt its level design had enough thrilling elements to keep the player's attention, such as funny enemy sprites, hidden areas, creative power-ups, and a constant barrage of foes.

[11] Other critics outside the lukewarm consensus included Amiga Action's Brian Sharp who called The Addams Family one of the top three video game adaptations of films,[16] Amiga Computing's Jonathan Maddock that called it one of the Amiga best platform games,[30] and a reviewer for Joystick that claimed it the best platformer on the Atari ST.[44] On the other end of the spectrum, Mega magazine's Andy Dyer dismissed The Addams Family as a "complete non-event" with uninspiring graphics, repetitive level design, and enemies that irritate rather than tests the player.

[17][11] Rod Lawton of Amstrad Action reported the CPC port being filled with brutal timing puzzles and constantly respawning enemies.

[8] Reviews noted the game's large amount of areas to traverse and master, praising how they contributed to the challenge level and lastability.

[30] Both Andy and Nintendo Life journalist Jamie O'Neill wrote that figuring out which actions to take, such as the right order of areas to traverse, was a major key to success.

[14] Opined Rob of Mean Machines wrote that "there are always new rooms, passages and puzzles to solve, and the password systems ensures that your efforts are pursued".

[16][14] Computer and Video Games writer Garth Sumpter highlighted the pictures of the Family in the hallway and the use of beer-rugs and armour suits as hazards.

[32][30] Reviews of the game on 8-bit consoles were less favorable, common complaints being the lack of gameplay depth, challenge, and average visuals and audio.

[10][54] GamePro journalist The Spam Weasal claimed the NES version had some of the worst music for the console, arguing it was just the theme playing over and over again.

He felt there was legitimate challenge in both 8-bit ports in that the player has to be cautious of where to go and what actions to take, especially the Game Boy version for its small amount of fuel for the power-ups and their requirement for defeating bosses.

[53][54] However, he thought the Game Boy port was "a little too empty" to engage gamers, describing it as wandering around a big location for a long time, and reported rescuing three Addams family members and collecting half of the required items in a single playthrough.

[53][54] He also disliked the Game Boy version's imprecise shooting and "fairly awful" music, and called the NES rendition of the theme "naff" and "warbly".