Halloween

"Was it the boogeyman? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't..."

Vivox's Review of Halloween

Everyone has probably seen a Halloween film in their life time. The series made famous in 1978 by John Carpenter and Debra Hill is still going strong today, 27 years later. But I don't think a lot of people, myself included, knew there was game based upon the original Halloween for the Atari 2600!

Story: Let it be known, I am a big horror movie junkie, and I consider the best horror movie of all time to be the original Halloween. The story for the movie is that Michael Myers, a mental patient, escapes from the Smithsgrove asylum and makes his way back to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois. Once there, Michael stalks a group of babysitters, killing them off one by one. In the game, you control Laurie Strode and try to save a bunch of kids she's babysitting from Michael's murderous wrath by leading them to certain rooms within the house where they will be safe. But you can't kill the boogeyman... and with him after you, can you save the children? I love the movies story and think it fits well into the game, although Michael doesn't go after the kids in the movie. If the game had the exact story from the movie, it would get a 10 out of 10, but seeing as how the story is changed a little for the game, it will lose a point or two. The Story gets a 8 ot of 10.

Gameplay: You play Laurie Strode as she to leads the kids to safety and tries not to have her own head cut off (which happens if Michael gets to her). Along the way, you can find knifes laying around that you can use to "injure" Michael and make him leave you alone for a short time. The game is very simple to play (it's a Atari 2600 game, after all) You explore the Doyle house trying to avoid Michael, save the kids, and to find knifes to fend Michael off. Very simple, very easy. I thought the fact that it is so simple made it even funner to play. The game kind of reminds of a very, very, very early version of Clock Tower or some other kind of survival horror game. The game starts off very easy, but after rescuing a certain amount of kids, the difficulty pumps up, making it more challenging. The Gameplay gets a 7 out of 10.

Graphics: I can't be too harsh. I mean the game came out in 1983 or something, so for their time, they may have been pretty good (I wasn't born until 1987, so I never really got to play Atari until after I had a Nintendo, and by then I though the Atari 2600 graphics were horrible). I mean, you can tell what everything is, so I guess that's pretty good. I also thought that the rooms with the flickering lights were kinda cool looking for such a old game. In a act of "fairness", I'm going to go with a score of 5 out of 10 because the game is so old that I cannot accurately or fairly score them. The Graphics get a 5 out of 10.

Music\Sound: This is a part of the game I liked. Every time Michael shows up, the Halloween theme plays. I though this was kind of cool. And having to listen to the Halloween theme isn't all that bad. I was kind of surprised that the theme sounded pretty good, on such a old game. The Music\Sound get a 7 out of 10.

Replayability: None. I mean, there isn't even a ending. You just play, trying to rack up points and to not lose all your life's. I guess you could keep playing, trying to beat your highest score, but that can get pretty boring. The Replayability gets a 5 out of 10.

Buy, Download?: This game is worth it if you are like me (a huge fan of the Halloween films), but I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it. The best place to find it would probably be on eBay, as downloading it is illegal unless you own the actual game (and the game is extremely rare).

So a game based upon what is in my opinion the best horror movie ever. Although I wish I could give the game a better score, I can't. The movie is awesome, but this game is mediocre at best. But still, fans of the films should give it a look.

"Was it the boogeyman?"
"As a matter of fact, it was."

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/05