Home Alone: A Family Game Without the Family

Home Alone: ​​A Family Game Without the Family - this is the gaming embodiment of the famous “family-Christmas” American film of 1990 “Home Alone” serves as a vivid proof that even with film licenses you can make great and original computer games.

But first, a few words about the plot - in case someone did not see this tape of the same name. Actually, this is stated in three pictures in the introduction to the game: the large and friendly McCalister family, having gone on vacation abroad, accidentally forgot the homes of their youngest child, eight-year-old Kevin. Unfortunately, about the departure of the family, it becomes known to two home-made bandits, Harry and Marv, who are planning on clearing a huge mansion on such an occasion, “unfortunately” for themselves, because young Kevin, having learned about their intentions, decides to act on the basis of from the principle "my house is my fortress." So for unfortunate crackers, the confrontation with one boy of primary school age turns into a whole series of serious bodily injuries and other industrial injuries ...

But where Harry and Marv will be able to fully take revenge on his juvenile tormentor - this is in a computer game created by Ivan Manley and his colleagues. At least in versions for IBM and Amiga, which were released in 1991 and are distinguished by a rare identity, combining arcade elements (you have to constantly run, jump and even shoot) and a logical puzzle. We play, of course, for Kevin, who appears on the screen with a side view and moves through the numerous rooms and corridors of his mansion (as a rule, which does not fit in one screen).

The gameplay is clearly divided into two parts. “Phase 1” is to prepare the house for the reception of uninvited guests - to collect all kinds of objects around the rooms that can serve as traps, and put them in the right places, there is an hour of playing time (from 8 to 9 in the morning) or about six and a half minutes of real time. There are 26 such items in total - for example, a bag of flour, which can be hung from the ceiling, or a hose, which leaves a large puddle on the floor when used. Special items from this number are the tarantula from the elder brother's collection (which, when it is caught and released, does not sit in one place, but moves around the rooms by itself) and an air rifle.

This last one will have to be activated in the next part of the game, in “Phase 2”, which comes, it’s worth the clock to reach nine (or, if you managed to prepare all the surprises ahead of schedule, you can scroll through the time using the N key). Now our task is to lure both bandits (penetrating the house in different ways and moving separately from each other) into the set traps (while not getting into their own hands). The trick is that the further Harry and Marv are from Kevin, the higher the chance that the trap will not work - if they find themselves in the next room and especially in the same room as our hero, they forget about everything in the world and serve as easy prey for the irons and fire extinguishers that await them. However, Kevin then had to be extremely careful to manage to escape, not letting the robber too close to him. And this is not to mention that there is a considerable risk of falling into our own trap ourselves - we will not get any harm, but here we will have less treats for guests. At the same time, Kevin has a couple of secret ways to move around the mansion that are inaccessible to Harry and Marv (for example, the path from the attic window to the tree house), which opens up strategic prospects for us.

Each of the two bandits initially has 50 points of “health”, which we must spoil in every way: getting into any of the traps costs them five points. In addition, it is extremely important to have a pneumatic gun - the only item that we keep in our inventory from the time of the first phase: first, from it you can shoot at each of the robbers once, causing them one-time damage the size of the same five points; secondly, although after the first use this weapon ceases to be so formidable and repeated volley does not cause any damage, it is still able to stop the enemy walking towards us for a few moments, which gives us precious seconds needed to escape. And thirdly, only with the help of a well-aimed shot it is possible to activate some traps, from among those suspended from the ceiling or on the doorframe of an open door.