Game Review: Chiller (MSX, Mastertronic)

Following the Commodore 64 original version of Chiller, and with all the controversy around that release garnering attention, interest and indeed sales, it would be inevitable that Mastertronic would seek to have the game converted to other formats: after all, it is a tricky platform game with five levels (and an additional five in reverse order with two characters instead of one) which most of the home systems should be able to deal with. For both the Amstrad CPC and the MSX version here, Ed Hickman, who also did the excellent conversion of Finders Keepers for the MSX, was responsible for the conversion work.

The loading screen may appear similar to the ZX Spectrum version but instead has been nicely colour enhanced, with the definition really showing well. The instructions are at least correct in terms of not mentioning the jackal as in the original Commodore 64 inlay instructions, and using the ones from the separate attached sheet from that: with the night of dark foreboding, your car running out of gas, and then attempting to make it to the haunted house to rescue your girlfriend, all of which may sound vaguely familiar for some reason. The instructions do also note that you can use the cursor keys and space for controls as well as a joystick, which is at least a sensible option for the MSX and not just being a ZX Spectrum port with the Spectrum key controls either.

It’s Close to Midnight

Once the game loads, it shows you the title screen and the Chiller logo, and then proceeds into a demonstration mode, which does over time show all five levels of the game and what to expect. This can be quite useful to work out a potential route to success for each and also gives you the first airing of the in-game music, which is the same as the second Commodore 64 version. It is a pretty good rendition overall, although for some reason what is used as the game over tune on the Commodore 64 is the get ready for the level tune here. Once you are ready, in the rolling demonstration you can press space or fire accordingly and head to the title screen, then start the game.

Lost in a Forest, All Alone

The first section sees you in the forest. You will need to collect the five crosses to get to the next level, and avoid the likes of spiders, ghouls and other nasties that frequent the forest. It is here that you will note some of the small differences: so, to go up the ropes (or ladders in later levels) you need to keep up pressed, and your character shimmies up, rather than constantly having to jump up. The bridges with purple fences at the top of the screen also have platforms that collapse a little quicker, so you need to have your wits about you to jump along those and collect the cross.

The key here is that knowing that the mushrooms with the pointed cyan top are the that ones that reduce your energy, with the purple rounded top ones boosting your energy, you can find a suitable path not to lose too much energy along the way. Dropping down to the ground a long way can be a drain too, so something to bear in mind. The good thing here is that because of the sensible decision to use proper MSX hardware sprites, there is no colour clash and the game flows at a good pace, with accurate jumping to collect crosses being suitably rewarded. It certainly does enhance the feel that the version was made without being a lazy Spectrum port.

Darkness Falls Across the Land

Make it through the forest and it is on to the cinema. Here, the amount of popcorn falling from the ceiling to drain your energy really does come at you at pace. A sensible route to more avoid that rather than just sprint for the crosses will be needed. There are also, like the original version, no chances to top up your energy with the mushrooms, and as this does not top up between levels, you can often get to here with not that much energy left and then die trying. Your character can sometimes move very slow when your energy is really low too, making you more vulnerable to death. In fact, I only got past this screen a couple of times during long sessions of play which shows you how difficult the game can be.

The third level is the ghetto, with a brick-built set of apartments and some tricky platform placements to get past. You can at least climb the ladder on the left and get to the cross and platform top left, then time a jump over to the apartment windows to get across the tops. Getting past the birds in flight can be tricky, but once you work out a route to include getting the purple mushrooms, you can at least top up the energy a little. Ironically, this was easier than the cinema level once you had worked out a good route to go and was able to progress but do note that if you do miss the jump to the window ledges and fall down, it can be frustrating to retrace your steps.

Creatures Crawl in Search of Blood

The fourth level is the graveyard, and there are some minor differences here. There is no cross on top of the church in this version, and instead this has been moved to the top of a tree below the church. You can jump on the path to the church and also the gravestones in order to collect the crosses, and provided you time your jumps well, you can get the purple mushrooms nicely. The cross just below the church needs you to jump on to the tree trunk and then a final jump from there. Miss the cross though, and you can get stuck at the bottom right of the screen with no chance to move out, so you will need to be careful.

House of Bugs

At this point, the game goes to the fifth level, which is the haunted house. Unfortunately, this is where the game’s bugs (and similar to the Amstrad CPC version) are exposed somewhat. First of all, there is only one way to get to the tree on the far left and to climb it – you have to walk along the bottom of the screen from the start position under the wall next to the tree, then position yourself on the right-hand side of the trunk and keep up pressed to climb. This does at least work, and you can get the cross at the top, but an option to at least either jump on the wall in some way or to climb another way would have helped.  If you managed to get past that, the leap from the tree to the house will see you falling through the roof. Yes, there are no solid platforms on either the roof or the eaves so you cannot get the cross on the top of the roof and may also miss the cross in the left-hand window when you descend. So that means, under normal play, you cannot get all five crosses, but only four.

There is a bug fixed version available (text in Spanish, but the images are downloadable at the bottom of the page) which does fix those roof platforms and gives you more mushrooms on the second level. With that loaded, you can now collect all five crosses and start to make your way back with the boy and the girl characters. Again, and mirrored on the Amstrad CPC version, a number of bugs are present. In the Commodore 64 original, you can swap between the boy and girl by pressing fire, and in this version? No, you cannot. So, you can only collect the crosses as the boy. In addition to this, if you do collect all five of the blue crosses, the Chiller title logo shows, superimposed over the top of the level. This, effectively, is as far as you can get, and mirrors any bug fix attempts on the Amstrad CPC – where that version also crashes spectacularly.

It is a shame that the same bugs seem to exist. It very much seems like a last-minute design decision was put in so you could not collect all the crosses on the fifth level, as released, so that you would never get to the point where the game would be affected and crash out. You could argue that as most games players would not reach that far, due to level two being particularly difficult, they would not have experienced the bug until a cheat listing was made available later.  I do think however that this may have been that the full design of the game, especially the option to change characters and play as the boy and girl on the return journey, was not provided, which would explain why the option does not even exist.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Chiller are good, and replicate the original version well, with some subtle changes to suit the MSX. The hardware sprites being used means that the animation and the controls both feel smooth and responsive during play, and the backdrops are faithful too. The loading screen is also bright and colourful. The music during play is an excellent rendition of the Commodore 64’s second release, with the rise and fall of David Dunn’s second part being replicated very well here. The game over theme being used also for the level introduction may be strange at first, but it does at least work well enough in context. While some of the sound effects can grate a little, it does at least provide a response to the situation you are in within the game.

Final Thoughts

On the surface, Chiller appears to be a more than adequate conversion from the Commodore 64, with attention paid to the MSX system such as using the hardware sprites for the characters, resulting in smooth animation, and using the sound chip well for the tune. The game for the first four levels, although possibly frustrating, does mirror the original version well enough. It is on level five where the game stops abruptly, making it incompletable. Most games players may not have got that far and for those that didn’t, what is there is reasonably enjoyable. However, with you not being able get beyond that, it feels like the game was a wasted opportunity to fully showcase what the MSX could do, and as such, means that what is there is limited entertainment, even at a budget price. Now if someone wishes to rise to the challenge of fully fixing the game to be able to play all ten levels, that would be something.

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