Review: Home Alone (Amiga)
I remember seeing Home Alone at the cinema back in 1990. It was the film that propelled Macaulay Culkin to stardom. A year after the film’s release THQ released a game on the Amiga. I remember owning this when it first came out and playing through it many times. The premise is very simple. You start in the McAllister mansion playing the protagonist, Kevin. It’s 8.00 p.m. and you have until 9.00 p.m. to set numerous traps around the house. You’re not given exactly an hour but around five minutes or so instead! There are many traps that can be set and you will be familiar with a large amount from the film such as a blow torch, Christmas decorations and even Buzz’s tarantula that you can set loose to terrorise your uninvited guests. Whenever you pick up an item you will see yellow arrows signifying different points you can lay the trap. Some traps are to be placed above doors, others on door handles but most will be on the floor. You start downstairs in your home and can set traps throughout the place.
At 9.00 p.m. the fun begins. The Wet Bandits, Harry and Marv, arrive and you can sit back and hope your carefully laid traps pay dividends. Harry and Marv appear at the top of the screen in opposite corners and you watch as they trip and stumble through the gauntlet you have made them run. If Harry or Marv succumb to ten traps they are taken out of action and cannot continue. You must defeat both of them in this manner. If they come into contact with you the game is immediately over. You’re always informed whereabouts in the house they are and when they are in the next room their pace increases dramatically as you are hunted down. As well as the traps you have your trusted BB Gun to take one shot at them, in a rather delicate area given their reaction. Your gun can only be used once on each bandit. If you run out of traps in the house and the bandits are still standing you will be informed of a secret ammo stash for the gun and you can then shoot to your heart’s content. It shouldn’t come to this unless you accidentally destroy your own traps. Don’t worry they can’t hurt you but if you make contact with them they are removed from the game.
Home Alone is a very simple but still quite fun game when you reach the second half. Setting up the house with traps loses its appeal very quickly but watching the bandits struggle to catch you is good for a time. You’ll likely get a few play throughs out of this given its brevity but it’s not one that will ever last for months.
Verdict: 3/5
About the Author:
I was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and have always been a bookworm and enjoyed creative writing at school.
In 1999 I created the Elencheran Chronicles and have been writing ever since. My first novel, Fezariu’s Epiphany, was published in May 2011. When not writing I’m a lover of films, games, books and blogging.
I now live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with my wife, Donna, and our six cats – Kain, Razz, Buggles, Charlie, Bilbo and Frodo.
David M. Brown – who has written 866 posts on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave.
