Halloween Harry

Halloween Harry is an action platformer about a mercenary called into an underground complex after aliens start turning people into zombies. His main tool is a flamethrower, later joined by other weapons, and above all a jetpack that lets the hero fly for short bursts. It's exactly this flying that changes the whole rhythm of the game: instead of precisely judging jumps, the player hovers above enemies, hunts for a good position, and strafes hordes of zombies from above. The main objective of each level is to find and free captured scientists and lead them to the exit, so besides combat there's also plenty of thorough exploring of sprawling bases full of elevators, pipes, and hidden nooks.

Technically the game ranks among the best of DOS platformers. It runs in a VGA palette, the screen scrolls smoothly, the sprites are large and well animated, and the game uses digitized voice lines and sound effects that give it a peculiar cinematic flair. The environments mix sterile laboratories, frozen storage areas, and organically infested sections, and the flames and explosions rank among the most impressive things the genre had to show on PC. The soundtrack goes for fast, slightly horror-flavored themes that complement the game's crazy tone well, where a serious sci-fi premise meets total over-the-top absurdity.

The game was released under the Apogee label and later also sold under the title Alien Carnage, the name by which many players know it. Reception was very positive, praising in particular the technical execution and the idea of the jetpack, which set it apart from an otherwise similar crowd of platformers. The authors later released it for free, which helped it keep a steady circle of fans. Today it's one of the most enjoyable old DOS action games around, one that requires no compromises: the pace is brisk, the controls are comfortable, and the pleasure of torching zombies with a flamethrower hasn't aged a bit. At the same time it's a good example of where DOS platformers were heading just before the shift to a three-dimensional viewpoint pushed them aside.