Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye (132Mb)
Calling all Castlevania fans, to this (lucky find!) parody tribute game! Ok, so this isn’t Komani, but it’s sure worth a laugh a minute, and offers thoroughly excellent platform gameplay. It features a custom platform engine, and totally original graphics and MIDI music, and the game’s content is entirely original too. It’s a homage/spoof of course to games like Castlevania, Castlequest, and Wizards and Warriors, and suchlike.
You play as Rovert Bellhump, a new homeowner who's bought a new house on the cheap and just found out why - he can't sleep because his new neighbors are causing a rumpus! You see, all our hero really wants is peace and quiet. Unfortunately, tonight is the 100th year a certain you-know-who wakes up and starts making big plans for world domination - and attempting world domination is always very loud and irritating! You embark on a quest to find Count Dracula and tell him to turn it down a bit, volume-wise! Oh well! Such are life’s risks! Ok, so chasing the Count isn’t all fun, and there might be one or two risks involved! In fact Rovert sets out for Castle Hasslevania, not realizing the terrible risks he is going to have to face, nor the chain of almost insurmountable dangers he will encounter; not the least of which is being eaten alive, or at the very least having his neck seriously punctured!
One very particular feature is that there are often multiple paths to reach and collect items, giving exploration a high precedence while playing the game. It’s very much non-linear and there are 6 big boss fights and a final confrontation against the Count himself, as you try to find your way to tackle the noisy Count Dracula and his ‘soul mates’. You go about the castle finding weapons and other items to help you progress, on your quest for a silent and undisturbed night’s sleep! Can you do this before the quiet of dawn - or is that, . . . at the dead of night?
There’s a pyro mace that will burn through thorny passages, the mighty sword of Del Duio (the author’s nickname) that will double your run speed but lower your defences, the ‘Belmont’ whip that will kill the undead in a single hit, iron armor to protect you from spikes and a shield to deflect arrows, nails, and other projectiles, to name but a few! Some gameplay (and comedy!) centers around a little devil, Chris Subdevil, who follows you around; but uses up your skill hearts very quickly when you choose to use the little devil chappie to enhance your powers and/or destroy anything in your path!
There are 5 challenge difficulty levels to choose between (plus an extra hidden difficulty challenge level when you have completed the game), and two optional mini-games ‘Bat Blasters’ and ‘High Rollers’. The game has 19 areas to explore, some of which are hidden. Some are also secret and you have to find ways to access them as well as finding your way to them in the first place. It’s obvious from playing the game (and finding much to enjoy yourself!) that the game’s creator had a lot of fun making this game, and this comes through with some of the little sparkles and nice little touches that beam through and brighten up gameplay from time to time! It may be a 'rough gem' in places with just a few of the voice-overs, but the author’s dedication and brilliance shine through, making playing the game all very thoroughly worthwhile!
You can find out more about the game via the game's home page, including the areas, characters, baddies, weapons, etc.
There’s also a goodly array of enemies and baddies, traps to avoid and treasures to find and collect. The game has delightfully colorful and partly retro graphics and animations, and a great variety of level designs, including underwater levels, mazes and hidden chambers/tunnels. Rule 1, survive to fight another day/night; Rule 2, defeat all Count Dracula’s minions and lieutenants; and last and certainly not least, Rule 3, defeat the dreaded and dreadful Count Dracula! Or somehow get him to up and move shop, if it turns out you can't actually defeat him!
There’s enough here for very many hours of satisfying enjoyment, as you find your way around the castle and its environs, and knock off as many vampires as you can! Who knows, you might get a quiet (but not too quiet!) snooze at the end of it all! Can you hassle Count Dracula and avoid all of the resulting hassles back on you?
120Mb of the download size is voice-overs, and some of the humor is great and very funny, for instance questioning Count Dracula’s lawyer at the castle entrance. There are difficult (and possibly frustrating) locations partway through the game, but nothing that can’t be over-come by wise use of save points and exploring all the locale and all of your options. Besides, defeating Count Dracula was never going to be easy! In fact you’ll deserve more than a good few medals if you do manage to get to defeat this wretched (and noisy!) ‘nuisance’! You may be the first and only chance of defeating the evil Count!
‘Hasslevania 2: This Space for Rent’ (Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIR8WQEWmsA) is due out as a demo sometime very soon, and will be a cheap purchase for the full Hasslevania 2 game. It is muted that the scenario will be Outer Space, after the destruction of Castle Hasslevania and the escape of Count Dracula, Rovert and Chris Subdevil. There will also be RPG elements alongside the platform structure, more in the way of puzzles, and a much larger game size.
Hasslevania TQFS is staying as freeware, very fortunately. You can also get a screenshots map emailed to you, of Hasslevania TQFS, for as little as a $1 donation.
Hasslevania TQFS is a Macromedia Fusion standalone application, and there's a ReadMe text in the extracted folder with game controls details. The game runs full-screen, or will adjust itself for some monitors. It runs natively in XP. For Vista and Win 7 you might need to use XP SP3 compatibility mode; and select 'run as administrator' for Vista. Some versions of Win 7 might need using XP Virtual Mode. If the game won't run at all, try updating or re-installing your graphics card drivers.
I’m sure we don’t know half of what’s out there - with some real gems and jewels of freeware games, if we’re sometimes just lucky enough to look in the right places!
Have a ‘vine ol’ time! The time of your life; or is that watching - 'the time' - of your life? Look out, Count Dracula!
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIidllZ23pA and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwElzeAK4KA
Home Page HERE
Download HERE - - - - - - (Only the version 3 first download mirror (Kevinski) is available) - - - - - -
