He’s heeeere.
Well, here we are once again friends; once again an asymmetrical horror game has launched and I have jumped on board. This time it’s John Carpenter’s Boogeyman who gets the spotlight as Illfonic presents Halloween: The Game. With a promised single-player mode, a fun looking killer in Michael and a new way to play; I wont lie I had high hopes going in for this one, but was all that hope misplaced? Well, kinda, but read on and I’ll explain.
Halloween, is I think Illfonic’s 5th asymmetrical game, and I say that as a fan of all of them. Friday the 13th was a lot of fun, and it was a shame that all the legal troubles ended up shutting it down. Predator, Ghostbusters and Killer Klowns from Outer Space I also enjoyed for different reasons. So, when they first announced Halloween, I was sold, I already enjoyed their games and The Boogeyman is made for this type of a game, not the watered-down version that Dead by Daylight gave fans. In Halloween 4 players must work together to save themselves and their town from Michael Meyers, while another player who plays as The Boogeyman; must take out each member of the town to secure his victory.
MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: XBOX (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
One of the things I love about this game is the way it changes the formula from the usual DbD game type. Players who play as Michael will get a list of targets that they will have to take out, 3 of them are special targets who are worth more while the others are random town members. The player characters are just obstacles and while Micheal can take the time to remove them from this mortal coil; it’s not necessary for him to win. When playing as Michael players can move around the map quickly by shifting into the shadows. This allows the killer to cover ground quickly but he is unable to reemerge when in light or when someone is looking directly at him. This makes him perfect for the attacks where someone locks themselves in a room, but you appear behind them, classic.
Michael isn’t supposed to just walk (he only has two speeds, walking and walking, slightly faster) around murdering at will. No, he’s a killer by trade and thus stalks his victims before striking. In the game players will have to stalk their victims which will, in turn make them more vulnerable to grab attacks, which always lead to a movie perfect murder. If a Michael player is able to eliminate all their targets and escape, they will secure the win.
The 4 player characters on the other hand, their whole job is to save as many people from Michael as they can. They won’t have a list but can see on the minimap where a target may be. Searching houses, storefronts and more can lead to locating people in danger. Using a minigame players can then explain to the NPC that a murder is on the loose and they need to run. At this point they can be instructed to hide, call the police or follow the player. Depending on the circumstances, all of these are viable; to start you want to get the police called. The more calls, the more police presence and the more pressure Micheal will be under. You see, he can’t be killed like Jason in Friday the 13th, no, instead he must be arrested so you need as many cops on scene in order to help with that.
Hiding can be important if you know Michael could be nearby, so when you tell the NPC to hide, they will run into a closet, car or whatever is closest to them, but the player will be able to see a marker to know here they are. And honestly, I usually use the follow me command, the NPC’s can pick up weapons and loot just like the human players and while I have never seen them take Michael down, they are at the very least a nice distraction so I can escape… what?
And then there is the aforementioned single player, so it’s really just a glorified tutorial on how to play as Michael. It takes place with his initial escape from the asylum, so it’s all things we never saw in the movie, which is neat, I won’t lie. For instance, players will get to play as Michael when he finds those overalls and when he dons his mask for the first time. It’s all very neat and very much fan service, this ‘mode’ is a handful of missions, each explaining a different ability of Michael’s. It can be completed in an hour or two at most. I won’t lie, I was pretty disappointed with this because I really was hoping for a true single-player experience for players, which would help to sell copies of this otherwise niche title. With all that in mind if I wasn’t a fan I would wait for a sale or at least a few patches to iron out the rough edges.
But listen, y’all know me; I am a fan of these games. I enjoy Halloween for what it is and am not mad at it for something it’s not but at the same time I can critique it fairly for all its issues. So as much as I enjoy this game, I would say that at the time of this review if I were just a curious person, I would advise me to wait for a sale. I have had desyncing issues, I have had lost experience, my character was stuck behind an opened fridge door, my wife’s character for stuck on the phone, NPC’s sometimes just don’t listen and will just stand there and patiently wait for Mike to murder them. It’s a struggle sometimes, but God help me I always come back for more.
But if you have played any of their past games or are even a fan of Dead by Daylight which is so janky I don’t understand how it maintains such a large player bas—sorry, but if you can deal with that stuff then Halloween is probably going to be for you, for everyone else just hold out for some patches.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.