NightHunter Review

Sick and tired? Fed up with always having to play Van Helsing or some vampire hunter when going up against Count Dracula? Anemia and lack of nourishment may be cause of the former, and for the latter – There is an alternative.

STORY

The story… Yes, it is old. Like everybody else, Dracula wants to ensure that his not so bright future at least is as comfortable as possible. Now, that future happens to be a far longer period than it is for us more ordinary people and night stalkers. But that’s not a guarantee either – It can only be realized as long as the Count gets his regular drinks of fresh blood. And as long as stuff like garlic, silver bullets, and crucifixes can be avoided.

So it’s obviously just another day in Transylvania.

THE GAME

But here is the fun part if you’re through hunting vampires: You play as Dracula himself. And in a video game, this playing part is more focused on the nocturnal hunting, the blood drinking, and all the involuntary excitement that this brings – Rather than endless, narcissistic brooding and… Whatever the hell Dracula does when he can’t sleep during the night either. In NightHunter however, Dracula walks around and conducts this “preparing for a comfortable future”-business. And who could have thought that that would be so troublesome? Because his plan also includes getting his hands on a couple of medallions that would grant him the powers to dominate the world. Some people, huh? Never satisfied with anything…

(Note that NightHunter is for 128K Spectrums only.)

CONTENT

It’s that Van Helsing son of a bitch who is after you again as usual. He obviously started this time as you have done nothing wrong when the game starts. NightHunter is a flip-screen arcade adventure that reminds of Castlevania for at least a couple of seconds. Because as soon as you start playing, one of the first things you’ll notice is that you can’t jump one inch of a pixel. And that’s a major problem in a castle with pitfalls in nearly every room and… Yeah, it does look creepy and atmospheric, but something should be done about those holes in the floors.

Instead, you have to rely on your shape-shifting skills. As long as you have energy, you can transform into a wolfman or a bat. As a bat, you can fly over holes and watery graves, and as a wolfman, you can punch motherfuckers in the throat when they start hassling you in your own home. But what ticked everybody off in the first place is your habit of grabbing people and sinking your teeth into their necks. This is done to survive and to keep the constitution up, but that’s also why even witches on brooms try to give you a bad time and not just the people wandering around the castle and its surroundings.

NightHunter has around ten levels with just over 100 screen in total. (This is a bit unclear – Some reviewers claimed that there were 30 levels with 20 screens in each… But that’s probably the 16-bit versions. 600 screens sounds a bit too amazing. Or tedious. Pick one.) The objective is to find keys, scrolls, and various other items needed to get the hell out of the invaded castle. And unless you collect everything important, you won’t have a chance to beat Van Helsing in one final showdown. As a vampire, you’re quite allergic to crosses, and a wolfman’s Achilles heel (And the rest of the body, come to think of it.) are those silver bullets.

The keys and items appear randomly around the levels, providing a bit of welcome variation to the quest. You have two energy bars – One for your life force and one for your shape-shifting powers. When you are flying around as a bat or stomping around like the wolfman, you logically use up the latter, and when that energy is depleted, you turn back into old Drac. Both types of energies get restored when you suck people’s blood. When you get shot, punched, or stabbed with a stake, you lose both energies. The same happens if you’re just hanging around. That life force just leaves you one fragment at a time.

When you get the five keys on every level, you can move freely through the doors that are strategically placed here and there. The idea is of course to find the exit. The doors with crucifixes on them can’t be used for obvious Dracula-related reasons. What other troubles stand in the old Count’s way? The lack of checkpoints. You start on the first screen every time you die. And shape-shifting back to Dracula from the bat makes you fall to the bottom floor even if you’re flying at the top of the solid stone stairs of a godforsaken castle. But that’s life as a bloodsucker in this case. Clearly, Dracula has to figure out a good strategy to get all those keys and how to avoid all those traps.

But what about Dracula’s enemies? There are several, as expected – “Everything” from chicks with crucifixes to those armed and trigger-happy cops with silver bullets in their guns. If some tough guy doesn’t want to provide blood, you can always let your alter ego, the Wolfman, kick his ass. (The people turn into lovely heaps of skeletal bones after being drained.) The last enemy is time itself. (There aren’t any clocks ticking time away, but another on-screen bar.)

CONTROLS

Ordinary arcade adventure controls apply. NightHunter plays fine with the keyboard, but the game can also be played using the Interface II.

There is no way to re-define keys, but you use the usual “Q” (up), “A” (down), “O” (left), “P” (right), and the Space-key as Fire.

Dracula walks left and right. And he can duck. To climb up stairs to the second floor on screen, you have to walk towards the first step while pressing “Q” at the same time. (And likewise “A” to descend.) The Fire-button is used to punch (as the wolfman) and for grabbing people by the throat. (As Dracula.) Holding Fire after grabbing makes Dracula suck blood. Likewise, the Fire-button is used to pick up items.

To turn and exit through doors, press Fire and hold “Q”. Holding Fire and pressing “O” transforms Dracula into the wolfman. Holding Fire and pressing “P” is for turning into the bat. Fire and “A” turns either the wolfie or the bat back to Dracula.

GRAPHICS

The entire game appears to be in black and yellow, and the detail on both characters and backgrounds is lovely. The backgrounds mostly consist of exquisite castle- and crypt interiors (Plus some exteriors later on.) with all the proper details – Rats, spider webs, stone walls, iron rings, perpetually lit torches, heavy wooden doors, decorative armors, shields, swords, etc. In other words: NightHunter looks like a part of a good Hammer Horror-movie in glorious 8-bits.

The characters are well animated with plenty of charming details. Even the loading screen is memorable and neatly illustrated. With that cool logo, it could just as well be a black and gray rendition of a classic movie poster… (Or the cover for a Norwegian Black Metal album…!)

The on-screen panel on the lower fourth of the screen displays the score, the Hi-score, the three bars (Time, life force, and shape-shifting energy.), a life counter, current level, and a black rectangle that functions as Dracula’s eight-object inventory. (It obviously fills up with keys, scrolls, etc.)

SOUND

There’s a charming, but (too) short intro tune. And there’s a pleasant title-screen tune with a nice melody and some sudden Rockabilly-vibes thrown in for good measure. (Maybe that’s a tribute to “Rocky Horror Picture Show”.) There is no in-game music though – Merely a handful of more or less forgettable sound effects. (And charming slurping noises.)

SUMMARY

As far as I know, this is Ali Ibrahim Rachid’s only game… But on the other hand – It’s a very good and playable one. And it has got nearly everything that you could wish for in this genre: The atmosphere is excellent, the gameplay is solid, the visuals are gorgeous, and it should take quite a while to get through the levels. Also, when you have graphics this charming, you know it ain’t a crime to take a closer look at the game itself. (Plus when was the last time you could play as Count Dracula…?)

However, the need to constantly play through the same dozen or so screens, on each level, every time you lose a life, may turn into a major annoyance sooner or later, but… Dracula doesn’t give up…!

Note: There was an unfinished version “released” on the Commodore 64. (Which is a damn shame that it only serves as a “preview” as it has excellent graphics, music by Jeroen Tel, and everything.) More info can be found at the “Games That Weren’t” website.

Developed by: Ali Ibrahim Rachid
Published by: UBI Soft
Version Reviewed: ZX Spectrum 128K
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1
Alternate Title: Night Hunter
Also Available On: Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga
Released: 1990