Games:
Halloween
- Platform: Atari Video Computer System
- Release Date: 1983
- Similar Games: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Atari Video Computer System)
Game Description
It's every babysitter's worst nightmare. On Halloween night, a homicidal maniac escapes from a mental institution and heads out on a killing spree. Somehow, the knife-wielding killer has gotten into your house and is directing his rage toward you and the children you must protect.Inspired by the 1979 film by John Carpenter, Halloween is played from a side-view perspective of the two-story house where you are babysitting. The goal is to move through the 16 rooms of the house, avoiding the killer and leading the five children to safety. Children are rescued by standing over the them and pressing the fire button. Once in your care, you can lead them to the far left or right rooms in the house, which are "safe" rooms. Once there, press the fire button and they will escape, earning you points.
To escape the killer, the you can use doorways located around the house. Doorways in middle rooms will skip the baby-sitter two rooms ahead, and the doors located at the ends of the house will take the baby-sitter to the other floor. The upper floor is prone to blackouts due to poor wiring.
You can also turn the tables on the killer by finding the knife somewhere in the house and stabbing him. He will run away when stabbed, and you will earn additional points. Once the knife is used, it will disappear and reappear somewhere else in the house. Stab the killer twice to advance to the next level. Children may not be led to safety while you are carrying the knife.
You start the game with three babysitters, represented by pumpkins located on the top of the screen. ~ Michael Schwartz/Joan Dykman, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
The atmosphere of the game is good, but the gameplay falls short. ~ All Game GuideReview: Overall
There were quite a few attempts in the early '80s to create "mature" games for the Atari 2600, but most were crude, in both in quality and subject matter. Halloween stands as the best of these attempts; despite its cartoonish stabs at violence and its repetitive gameplay, it is able to create a certain level of suspense.This suspense comes from the relentlessness of the killer, who often appears out of nowhere, as well as from the flickering lights in some rooms that give the game an air of mystery. These elements, plus an effective rendition of John Carpenter's score, which plays whenever the killer is on-screen, allow Halloween to deliver a properly spooky atmosphere.
The game's gratuitous and simplistic renditions of violence, however, are more distracting than anything else. It's commendable that the movie's dark themes weren't cleaned up to attract a more mainstream audience, but the seeing the babysitter run around without her head is sadly more disturbingly comical than it is horrifying. Some might enjoy this humorous aspect of the game, but it unquestionably detracts from the overall tone.
Despite the sophistication of its interconnected rooms and its effective use of lighting and music, Halloween fails generate much excitement beyond the initial thrill of narrowly escaping the killer a few times. The relatively slow pace of both the killer and babysitter does add some tension, but also ends up quickly inducing boredom. In the end, the game is an accomplishment only in the sense that it could've been much worse. ~ All Game Guide
