NightHunter

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Alexander Yarmitsky
GAME DEVELOPER:UBI Soft
GAME PUBLISHER:UBI Soft
Copyright 1988, UBI Soft

One of the best-loved underrated games on the C64, NightHunter is a neat vampire action-adventure featuring a vampire’s daily business like blood-sucking and smooth transformations into a bat or werewolf. In contrast to most games based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, NightHunter lets you play the Count himself in a quest to steal enough holy medallions to create chaos on Earth. Of course, Professor Van Helsing knows about your quest, and has recruited an army of vampire-hunters to hunt you down.

The game features 30 different levels of 20 screens each, played from a standard side-scrolling platform perspective. To pass from one level to the next, you must pick up eight objects – three parchments and five keys – and find a magical door (blue and red). Every fifth level the magical door is replaced by a medallion. Each key allows you to open a door which gives way to other screens on the same level. The fun is in the many neat elements that are true to the vampire mythos. For instance, you can transform into a bat or werewolf, and must enter a crypt at daybreak to avoid sunlight. Overall, a great game that is unfortunately not as well known on PC as on the original C64 release. For what it’s worth, the C64 version had a very cool intro-tune by Jeroen Tel, which is unfortunately missing in this PC conversion. Two thumbs up!