CarnEvil is a rail shooter arcade game using a light gun. Released by Midway Games on October 31 (Halloween), 1998.

Plot

The game is set in the fictional town of Greeley Valley, Iowa. The main character, Jacob, joins a tractor-drawn trailer called Spooky Sam's Ghost Tour on its path through a cemetery. According to an urban legend, if a golden token is inserted into the jester's mouth on top of the tombstone of Ludwig von Tökkentäkker, a haunted amusement park will rise from the earth.

The main character leaves the tour with his friend, Lisa, and approaches the tombstone to find a golden coin sitting in a small hole on the tombstone and, surprised, Jacob inserts the coin into the jester's mouth, resulting in the legendary undead carnival rising from the ground. Wielding a shotgun from the shooting gallery at the entrance, Jacob fights through hordes of monsters, zombies, and insects as he tries to escape.

First, Jacob goes to "Rickety Town". There, he rides the "Slay Ride" and battles demonic elves, a zombie bumper car mechanic with a permanent grin, dinosaur mascots of Rickety Town known as Carnie, zombified teenage food court employees, and flying bug-like creatures. Finally he battles "Krampus", a Santa Claus-like monster.

Jacob then goes to the Haunted House and battles through hordes of zombies, spiders, ghosts and bats. He notices that Lisa is being chased by zombies. He battles Hambone, a large Jason Voorhees-like creature with a gatling gun for a hand. After going through "the hall of hands", Jacob once again fights Hambone, who now has a skull launching weapon for a hand.He then goes into the kitchen where he finds zombie chefs who are coking and choping copses,he finds Lisa again who is being eaten alive by a hungrey zombie. He is then pushed off the roof into a grave, with a tombstone reading "Rest in Pieces". At last he fights a beautiful and wicked ghoul who lost her head named "Evil Marie" who, after being defeated, is impaled by a tombstone.

Jacob then visits the Freakshow, where he fights an aura of deformed "freaks", the undead attractions, tortured maniac zombies, Eyeclops,a 2-headed ogre with eyes everywhere, and Junior, a giant Frankenstein-like killer baby, (Due to censorship, instead of Junior, Jacob fights Deaddy, a giant zombie teddy bear.)

Jacob then goes through the Big Top, fights clowns, mimes, poodles, bat-people and evil psycho clown doctors and battles Tökkentäkker on top of his blimp.

After defeating Tökkentäkker and surviving the explosion of his airship, Jacob awakes the next morning in a pile of leaves in the cemetery, next to Lisa and in front of the Tökkentäkker tombstone. He then sees the token in its slot and, ignoring Lisa's protests, puts it into the jester's mouth for a repeat performance.

Gameplay

The game consists of four levels, each ending with a boss fight. The first three levels can be played in any order, but the fourth cannot be accessed unless the first three are cleared. The players shoot enemies on the screen while progressing through four amusement park-themed horror environments.

Occasionally, Lisa will appear amidst a group of monsters. Shooting Lisa when she appears earns a life penalty, but does not garner any long-term consequences or changes to the game. Power-ups, which include machine gun, shotgun, flame thrower, acid bath and "increase clip size", are rewards for shooting enemies. Grabbing these power-ups also provides bonus points.

Characters

• Jacob - A local teenager and the protagonist of the game. After hearing the legend of CarnEvil, he takes Spooky Sam's Ghost Tour through the local Greeley Valley Cemetery to see whether the stories are true. When he sees the professor's grave, he ditches the Ghost Tour and foolishly puts the token into the mouth of the Jester Skull. As Tökkentäkker and his minions emerge from the depths of Hell, the player learns that CarnEvil is beyond anything the legend described and grabs a pump-action shotgun from the shooting gallery, realizing that he must either fight his way out or die in the evil amusement park. He is Player 1.

• Lisa - A teenage resident of Greely Valley Iowa, Lisa reluctantly agreed to go along with her friends on the "Spooky Sam Ghost Tour" through Greely Valley Cemetery. Little did they know that this would be the night that CarnEvil would return. Lisa is now helplessly trapped within the twisted walls of CarnEvil. As she is the only other person with Jacob, it's implied that the second player takes control of her, however she occasionally pops up on screen, leaving it unknown.

• Ludwig von Tökkentäkker - The creator and owner of CarnEvil and the antagonist of the game, Ludwig takes on all challengers and won't back down. He's always seen in a ringmaster outfit and black hair, his weapon of choice being a musket. Although he is mentioned quite frequently, Ludwig only appears during the final level when you reach him and he becomes the final boss.

• Umlaut - The skull with the jester hat that taunts players throughout the game and loading screens, he only serves Ludwig von Tökkentäkker and will answer to no one else. He is known for sending taunting rhymes and poems during the loading screens and players can sometime hear him talking during the level. He becomes a sub-boss just before the final bout with Ludwig von Tökkentäkker, and then becomes a sort of mini-boss that attacks with Tökkentäkker. In one of the loading screens, players can attack Umlaut, and with enough hits, knock off the front of his face. From there they are to shoot other various places until he is defeated. This unlocks one of the secrets/alternates of the game.

Reception

It is said to be "the most twisted video game ever" by the LA Weekly.^[1]

CarnEvil original soundtrack

The original score was composed by Kevin Quinn.

1. CarnEvil Introduction- 1:38
2. CarnEvil Superbeast- 0:30
3. Select Your Doom- 1:03
4. Christmas Wonderland- 1:06
5. Big Bunyan Ride!- 1:22
6. The Garage (Bumper Cars) - 1:30
7. Krampus- 1:31
8. Haunted House- 1:07
9. Freak Show- 0:52
10. The Chamber of Horrors- 1:25
11. Junior- 1:24
12. Ludwig von Tökkentäkker's Big Top- 1:04
13. The Final Ring- 1:04
14. The Baron's Airship- 1:17
15. Credits- 2:35

See also

• Blood, known for its dark carnival themed level.

External links

• CarnEvil at the Killer List of Videogames
• Arcade History: CarnEvil

References