Game Review: Chiller (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

At the time of release of this game, Chiller had already courted some controversy.  Not because of the horror theme and the very red Chiller logo which seemed spooky, or indeed for that matter the way that the graphics and the game’s front cover certainly resembled that theme.  It was down to the music by David Dunn which featured.  For some, the music seemed to resemble too much the title track of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, released before the game and at the time still selling very well.

There were some legal wranglings that went on, primarily via a company called Rocksoft (as these press cuttings from Home Computer Weekly and Popular Computing Weekly show.)  Rocksoft was formed primarily to ensure that musical publishers and respective copyrights were protected, and the press reports indicate that it was easier for Mastertronic to effectively pay a royalty on all copies sold at that time, and then amend the music for future releases so that this did not infringe in any way.   Of course, there were enough copies of the original release to have sold, and finding one should not be too difficult.  Games That Weren’t has an excellent article detailing, provided the inlay and cassettes have not been swapped over time, what to look for if you are seeking the original release.

The other small mystery which the article mentions is a screen shot from Your Commodore, which seems to indicate that the game looked different even before its original release.  Was this in fact an attempt to create the game on The Games Creator before it was decided to program it from scratch, bearing in mind the poor reputation that some of the other games had at the time?  That would be worth finding out, which would add another dimension to an already interesting history.  It is worth noting that the gameplay elements themselves are the same in both versions, so unlike BMX Racers and Space Walk, no separate reviews are necessary.

Thriller Chiller

The premise of Chiller is detailed more in the separate instructions sheet that came with some copies of the game and markedly different from the inlay.  The inlay states that you are the jackel (note the spelling error) metamorphosising into a werewolf, being loyal to the ghouls of Death Valley and you need to rescue your girlfriend from the House of the Undead.  The plot on the sheet says you and loved one are frightened, and she is imprisoned in a haunted house some distance away.  As your car approaches the forest, it coughs to halt, and the engine dies.  Now, why does this sound all too familiar, I wonder?

It then explains the tasks to hand across the five screens, in that you need to first go through the perilous forest, followed by the cinema, the ghetto, a graveyard and then the haunted house.  In each of these screens, you need to collect the magic crosses whilst avoiding the enemies, including ghouls, bats, ghosts, and zombies.  There are also mushrooms which allow you to top up your energy, and some of those turn out to be poisonous toadstools.  There are also other spikes and crosses which when touching those also drain your energy.  Lose all your energy – and it is game over.  And on top of that, your energy does not reset at the start of each new screen, it carries on where you have left off.

Lost in a Forest, All Alone

The first level sets you up in the forest, with five crosses to collect.  Naturally they are in the trees and there inevitably are all sorts of spooky enemies in your way.  You can use left and right to move, and up to jump.  The key here is to plot out a route where you can avoid the spikes, and grab the crosses as quickly as you can, as each step and jump will also use some of your precious energy.  Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish which part of the scenery is a platform and which is not, and some of the upper platforms, such as the rope bridge across the trees, is a collapsing platform which needs careful getting across.

Cinema Conundrums

The second level is then in the cinema, with the seats in the rows of the cinema effectively acting as platforms for you to move around and collect the cross.  You inevitably will fall down the central aisle to the bottom whilst attempting to make your way across to collect the five crosses needed, and on top of that the added popcorn (yes, really!) that falls in which will also drain your energy, so the key here is to avoid that, and that is easier said than done.

In The Ghetto

The third level, the ghetto, resembles a brick-built set of apartments with window ledges that you can jump on or across, although avoiding the birds here that fly across can be more difficult, especially if you just miss the landing and descend to the bottom, where inevitably a ghoul of some description will lie in wait and drain energy.  The ladder on the left climbing up is also one of those collapsible types, so you do need to have your wits about you.  Getting the last cross to the top left is perhaps the best move to make so that you can head across the rooftops to get there once you have made your way across the lower window ledges.  Difficult, but doable, just.

It Was a Graveyard Smash

The fourth graveyard level does not only seem cluttered in parts, but it can be unclear as to which are actual platforms and which are just features of the graveyard, meaning that you will need to practice a lot to get that little bit further.  The path up to the small church also allows you to jump up and on to the church to collect the cross, which does seem a little unrealistic.  The platform elements maybe should have been clearer here as often it is too much trial and error working out which is safe to jump on, meaning of course that you lose energy whilst in contact with one of the many enemies.

Our House, In the Middle of Our Street

The fifth level then sees you in front of what is the House of the Undead, with five crosses to collect, some in the trees next to the house, and some on the roof, with one also to the far right close to a smaller tree.  It is perhaps a little less difficult than other levels, although you will need to get off the ground section straight away unless you want to have a ghost or ghoul to run into and drain your energy very quickly.  Collect the five crosses here, and you think that you have completed the game.  But no, there is another mission to undertake, and that is to get you and your girlfriend back home.

Hey Girl, Hey Boy

You now need to do the first five levels in reverse, starting with the house and eventually getting back to the forest.  This time there is a twist though – both the boy and the girl must collect their five crosses each, which is coloured blue for the boy, red for the girl.  The screen border will also show the colour of the character you are controlling, and pressing the fire button switches characters.  This in addition adds some more jeopardy, in that wherever you leave the boy or girl when you swap over needs to be a safe place so that the energy is not drained from the other stationary character whilst you are on a mission to collect the characters.

Mission Impossible?

In fact, when you get back to the cinema, there is a problem which makes the game sadly incompletable in its original state, and needed a crack of the game to fix the issue later.  At the very top of the cinema, the screen is showing a mock-up of the forest level, complete with a red cross at the top.  Unfortunately, although you can jump to the top of the screen, the small platform left of the cross does not stretch far enough, so you will either fall and miss the cross, or from the left side, jump right and miss the cross.  In one cracked copy I tried to see what the difference was, the cross has been moved just to the right of the small platform so it is gettable, and allows you to move on to the final section and finish the game.  And what happens then?   Nothing.  It just loops.  No game complete sequence or even another tune to recognise your achievement, which does feel like a bit of a letdown.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Chiller are reasonable for the time, with a good use of colour in all the sections, and having the logo in interlude screens before each level, with the latter having rhymes to help you get back home and tell the tale.  The sprites are reasonably well drawn and you can tell what each of the characters are, even if the backdrops do feel somewhat cluttered at time and can be confusing as to what part of the screen is a platform and what is not, certainly attempting a sort of 3D effect just does not work somehow.  The in-game music is the one that varies by version, and the original theme that is supposed to sound more like Thriller, by David Dunn, sets the scene well and is suitably spooky, even if it is not that long.  The second tune, and one which would be later used on the likes of the MSX and Amstrad versions, appears to be much letdown more upbeat and jolly, and perhaps less fitting for its spooky feel, although it is quite melodic and does go at a reasonable pace, which may heighten the sense of panic as you play.

Final Thoughts

Chiller certainly is a case of style and substance, despite the controversy surrounding the game.  The five levels to complete originally make a sizeable enough challenge, but then the second part, to come back as both the boy and the girl character, is a nice touch in that you can switch between them and collect the respective crosses to complete each level.  If the bug on the cinema screen had been fixed when the game was released, and at least was completable, that would have been helpful, but as it stands, it is a case of so near and yet so far.  The game does get easier with each play and is a real memory test of knowing where to jump and what can kill you, but at the same time the attempt at a sort of 3D effect for the likes of the cinema and graveyard screens sort of falls flat and does not work either.  Certainly, this being the original version, and having played the remaining versions which have their own problems, this is still the definitive version of Chiller, despite its flaws.  If you are fortunate enough to own the version with the original music, it is an interesting curio and certainly is an example of how the games and music industry was changing during the 1980s.

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