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Tuesday 4 October 2016

CARNEVIL


October is upon us so get ready for a hoard of frothing gaming goodness escaping from the darkest depths of the Chamber. The first to maul its way out is Midway's 1998 arcade gem, CarnEvil, a horror-themed light gun shooter that's sadly never had an official home conversion.

I don't know what's happened to light gun games. It's been some years since anything has been good enough to dust off that plastic facsimile of a firearm and let rip. Is it due to the ever-declining arcade culture, the over-saturated influx of first-person-shooters or simply because of the technical difficulties to get them working on modern flat-screen TVs? Who knows? All I know is that I recently came upon CarnEvil and became overwhelmed with a nostalgia I never thought I had.

If you haven't heard of this handsome looking game I don't blame you. Despite being Midway's most successful on-rails shooter at the time (as well as their most expensive), they never thought to bring it to the home market. This being 1998, it wouldn't have been too much of a financial risk either. The DreamCast had just been released and was considered the de-facto console for arcade conversions, but the original PlayStation was no slouch either. Both had more than competent peripherals to take advantage of too. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say SEGA's The House of the Dead scared them off, or they put it off for too long that the game began to look dated as a result.

Considering the horror theme, any comparisons to SEGA's classic zombie series are to be expected. When you compare them side-by-side, however, CarnEvil does come up a tad short. While House takes advantage of the fully rendered 3D world by including some branching paths, CarnEvil with its pre-rendered CGI, sticks you on a very linear route. The upside is that more polygons can be reserved for the enemies themselves, while still having a stylised and detailed environment. Whether it be demonic elves, giant murderous babies or harmless mimes, each of CarnEvil's enemies are striking and original, possessing far more personality and genuine humour than its competition.

The game itself is actually structured very well too, even if it is a little short. From the outset, you can choose between three different levels; Haunted House, Rickety Town and Freak Show. The first area, like House of the Dead, is filled with zombies groaning around a haunted mansion. There's even a girl that you can save at various points too. Named Betty, this hazard-prone blonde is the only civilian in the game, and saving her does nothing other than increase your score. At least the townsfolk in House give you extra lives or lead you to separate routes.

Rickety Town is a Christmas themed funfair, complete with rides and restaurants that break every health code possible. Demonic elves scatter the area leading to a showdown with Krampus himself. Occasionally there'll be power-ups floating around, often in very inconvenient places. They range from an increase in ammo to machine guns and flame throwers. Perhaps the most interesting is the acid bath gun which will melt your enemies in one satisfying and gory hit.

The Freak Show level contains perhaps the most disturbing and inventive enemies in the game. For starters all of the carnival's mimes congregate here. If that's not disturbing enough the final boss is a giant baby stomping around his field-sized playpen like Godzilla in Toys R Us. Named Junior, this monstrosity is unnaturally accurate with his vomit projectiles too. In some arcades, this boss was seen as too taboo for their audience (yet ripping spines out in Mortal Kombat was strangely okay). Midway got around this by including an option at startup to change the baby into a demonic teddy bear named Deaddy.

Once you've survived all three of these areas it's off to the final section which takes elements from all three and places them in a giant Big Top circus tent. It all culminates in an exciting final encounter with the carnival's curator. I won't go into details as playing it is a visceral joy that only these types of games can give. If The House of the Dead ran a little too far with its B-movie inspiration, CarnEvil has far more focus to its overall presentation. The Burtonesque visuals and black humour make the whole package one of the best of its kind. It may not have the same replay value that makes SEGA's franchise such a classic, but there's no doubt that it's an incredibly fun ride while it lasts.


To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses M.A.M.E. to emulate the games on modern PCs. Mouse and Xbox 360 controllers supported. Tested on Windows 10.
  09.10.2016 - Version 2 - Fixed installer

File Size: 1.43 Gb.  Install Size: 1.64 Gb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download


CarnEvil is © Midway Games Inc
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

Like this? Try These...

Silent Hill: The Arcade  The Residents: Bad Day on the Midway  Horror Zombies from the Crypt

22 comments:

  1. Thanks so much, Biffman 101, for giving Midway's truly unique definition of how a creepy carnival should look like the proper treatment! :-) I still remember the time - back then in 1998 - when I absorbed any information and screenshots I was able to get from various German video game magazines in regard to this great Arcade game with whose art style I fell in love at first sight.

    By the way, I'm still using the 32-Bit Version of MAME, but as soon as I change to 64-Bit, guess which thoughtful installer I'll give a go to have a blast with Midway's freaky legacy! :-)

    All the best,
    Thomas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheer Thomas. Not enough games use this setting to great effect.

      As for my installer, I'm pretty sure if you copy the 32bit version of MAME into the relevant folder where you installed it, my menus should work with it. I've not tested this though as I'm a 64bitter.

      Biff

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  2. Hi there, Biffman 101!

    Yes, the incredible CarnEvil definitely delivers a setting that should make all those horror fans out there - who are able to provide an ambitious gaming trigger finger as well - click their tongues with pleasure!

    In terms of your suggestion, indeed, your installation also works with a 32-Bit MAME by just copying over my whole 32-Bit MAME folder. Unfortunately, it runs as laggy (slow) as within my own setup from years ago. On the other hand, it's no wonder at all if you consider that I'm still running a rather old Dual Core PC with 2.1 GHz and 4GB RAM, in combination with a GeForce 240M (for Notebooks.) But apart from that, I still feel pretty okay with this machine because I'm not so much interested in present games anymore (however, the exception proves the rule.)

    By the way, I'm not sure if this has just something to do with my 32-Bit system, but when I'm running your CarnEvil Installer, I always get this message at the very end of the installation process:

    CarnEvil has not been totally installed because of the following reason:
    MAME\artwork\LICENSE: This file contains invalid data.
    You will have to run this utility again to completely install CarnEvil.

    Well, despite that error message the game runs on my 32-Bit System nonetheless (by copying over the 32-Bit version of MAME, as said above.)

    Cheers,
    Thomas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, that sounds like an issue with the installer. I was sure I didn't encounter it when I tested it. Luckily, all of the files in the 'artwork' folder don't have much to do with actually running the game.
      I'll update the download as soon as possible.

      Delete
  3. I'll be ready for your update then. Although a lot of water must still flow through the German Rhine until I will make use of your installer again, because a new PC purchase of mine isn't planned for the next 1-2 years. Anyway, this isn't such a hard fate to bear than it possibly looks like... ;-)

    Cheers,
    Thomas

    ReplyDelete
  4. Installer? is this thing clean? no virus and stuff like that? and will it work?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, it's clean. And it will work. I've compiled everything to run out of the box. I use the installers (created with Install Creator Pro or Inno Setup) because it makes things easier for the end user - kinda like what GOG do. That's my mantra for the site and what makes it different from other abandonware/ROM sites. Read the FAQ for more info if you're interested.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for reply!!! i'll give it a try!!!!

      Delete
  5. Game won't start. I installed the game successfully but when I try to launch it, it goes to the initialization screen and then something comes up that says "DIFF CHD ERROR: files not found". Is there something else I have to do? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just tested and it's working. Did it install correctly? It looks like the CHD files didn't install. Check the FAQ for more info.

      Delete
  6. Is this a virus?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nevermind it isn't a virus

    ReplyDelete
  8. Also worked perfectly and now I can play this awesome game! Thank you! Totally would recommend this site!

    ReplyDelete
  9. can't wait to try this... unfortunately getting a nice 100kb/s down thanks to megaupload :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hve you tried deleting your cookies/cache? Or trying another browser? Perhaps read their FAQ as Mega usually has decent speeds.

      Delete
  10. SO I INSTALLED THE GAME BUT WHEN I TRY TO PLAY IT I GET THE cmd WINDOW UP AND NOTHING HAPPENS caps for attention lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've just tested it and it should work. Have you tried eunnung 'Run-carnevil.bat' in the (install dir)/MAME directory? There may be a bit of a pause before MAME launches. If that still isn't working, have you checked to see if it installed correctly? Maybe change the folder to something other than Program Files (more info in the FAQ).

      Delete
  11. Hi!

    I have installed the game, as well as the MAME arcade emulator. As soon as I press play on the game, it crashes after it says "Initializing". Can someone help me (I'm new to MAME arcade).

    ReplyDelete
  12. The game doesn't run after the first time despite the fact it should be intact.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Runs perfect thanks so much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Is there a way to change keybindings?

    ReplyDelete
  15. is there a way to chage the controls and use a light gun

    ReplyDelete