Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion is the second game in the series and marks both the first & last time that the recently formed ID Software has a part in this franchise. The first title was created by John Romero, so while the developer technically changed, it still has the same talent behind it, alongside the rest of the now legendary ID team. It is a very interesting part of the game industries past and I’d highly recommend reading up on this article if you have any interest in the subject. Pedigree aside, let’s find out if this is still a title worth playing on its own right, shall we?
Starting off, we will notice quite a few differences from the first game. Primarily that Dave is no longer a child and now comes equipped with a gun by default. Not just any gun, but a shotgun which can now be aimed diagonally to nail enemies both above and below you. At the top left of the screen, you will see that you have eight bullets. These are the shots you have left in the chamber before you have to reload. Simply not moving will cause Dave to start automatically reloading his shotgun from an infinite pool of ammo. There is no need to preserve ammo, though you will definitely want to take the time to completely reload whenever possible.
Just from these observations alone, it is obvious that this is a much different approach to things from the mostly platforming focused first title. That gameplay balance has mostly been reversed with action now being heavily empathized and platforming kept to a minimum. This mansion as the title may reveal, is quite haunted indeed. Straight from the porch, before even entering the house you will have slain your first zombie as it satisfyingly gibs apart. The place is absolutely swarming with the undead and other monsters, with nearly every step taken being earned by blasting said ghoulie with your shotgun.
You do feel like a killing machine once you get into the flow of it and triumphantly reload while you steal some treasure from a closet, taking you that much closer to earning an extra life every couple thousand points. This is not an easy game however. It only takes a single hit for you to die and while zombies may not pose much of a threat unless you become careless with your ammo count, even the lowly knife throwing goblin introduced in the first stage will easily kill the overconfident player. Most of the monsters have a unique cutscene when they manage to kill you. These are a really nice touch and Dave being punched out by a zombie will never stop being funny.
There are eight levels overall with most of them being densely packed with enemies. The two that are not possess boss fights, that as you may imagine, are several steps above the ‘capable of murdering your face’ hierarchy than other regular foes. While difficult, these bosses don’t take many hits to go down, so once you know what you are doing it is a quick affair. The game does not feature any kind of save system, meaning you will have to beat the entire thing in one go. Thankfully, it is a lot more forgiving than the first title. Losing all your lives will not set you back to the start of the game, instead, it will merely set you back a level. You lose all lives on the seventh stage, you’ll have to redo the sixth again as an example.
Firing your shotgun carries a curious effect to it. You will slightly be pushed back from the recoil, so it may not be the best of ideas to fire it when on the edge of a ledge. Death pits are rare, making that feature pretty negligible, but its cool touch nonetheless. The only real hazards you typically have to worry about are the monsters themselves. More foes are constantly introduced throughout and it does up the tension as you inch forth on a new level as you wonder what may be up ahead. Each of the enemies have their own unique quirks to both moment and attacks. This makes learning about them quite vital to your survival as there are methods that function a lot better than simply staying still and aiming.
Werewolves have an arc as they lunge at you, so playing aggressively instead of trying to make space between the two of is a better option. Spiders are harmless until they are directly overhead and ghosts are untouchable until they manifest. It is a lot more tactical than simply shooting until everything stops moving and it is reminiscent to future design of later ID titles. A fun fact is that the Lost Soul enemy is featured here which would later go on to also be in Doom.
The graphics found here have been greatly improved from the original Dangerous Dave with the levels being both longer and more intricate. There is no music and all the sound effects are done via PC speaker. It is a nice touch that all the stages do feel connected thanks to the over-world map that shows the layout of the mansion alongside the nefarious catacombs below. Overall, it is just a really well-made game that is still very much worth playing for fans of old PC action platformers. This is one Haunted Mansion well worth the entry price.
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