I would've forgotten the little bleeder on purpose...

Home Alone logo

ACCOLADE * £24.99 * 1 meg * Joystick * Out now

When the McCallisters decided to go on vacation, they forgot one important thing... Kevin!
Yes I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. Macalay Culkin, the million dollar star of Home Alone, has been shoved from large screen to computer screen and no doubt he'll be getting another huge juicy cheque through his letterbox for this little escapade.

For any of you out there who have been living in a timewarp or haven't even heard of Home Alone or Macaly Coalbin or whatever the little git is called, I'll give you a rough plot of the film.
By mistake, Kevin (Sir McCauly Cooking) has been left at home, while his parents and the rest of his family go on vacation to Paris. By strange coincidence, when the parents realise Kevin is at home, all the flights back to the good of U S of A are fully booked and all the telephone lines are down. What all this results in is Kevin running around the house stuffing his greedy little face with all sorts of food and doing several other things that his parents wouldn't normally allow.

Now amid all this malarkey (or should that be Macaley) there are two inept burglars, Harry and Marv, trying to rob Kevin's little home - sorry, mansion. Being like any other eight-year old with absolutely no brains whatsoever, Kevin sets traps around his home to prevent these naughty chappies coming in and stealing his micro machines, or something along those lines - you get the general idea.

The game is in two phases. The first starts at 8 o'clock and Kevin is Home Alone. He knows that Harry and Marv will be arriving at 9 o'clock. So using my wonderful Carol Vorderman mathematical skills, that leaves just one hour for Kevin to set his traps. There are 26 objects for him to find and by using these objects he can set his traps.

This phrase doesn't take a lot of brainpower - it's just a matter of picking up objects and putting them down again. In fact it's so easy, even Jeremy Beadle could do it. You can't just place the objects anywhere you want, but there is a whacking great big yellow cross telling you exactly where to put your devious traps. Somewhere in the house is Kevin's BB gun, which comes in very useful later on.

In phase two the burglars will enter the house and to try to catch Kevin. Kev must avoid Harry and Marv and at the same time lure them through the traps. You must be careful not to trip them yourself, though. The traps will inflict varying amounts of damage on the burglars, but Harry and Marv won't always spring them. The burglars are much more likely to trip traps if they are near Kevin and chasing him.

Kevin can also inflict damage upon the useless duo by firing his BB gun, but you can only damage them once - after that all the other shots simply stop the burglars in their tracks, giving Kevin a chance to run away.
Poor Kevin then just has to last out until his mom gets home.
Home Alone could have been a truly wonderful game, but, and this is a big but, it is too easy.

After playing just a few times the first phase becomes more of a chore than a fun-filled romp. The second is much more fun, but even this section gets boring after a while. Having said that, the graphics are very nice indeed, especially the digitised picture of Macawly Burnfluff.

There aren't too many sound effects, but what really puts the game down is the awful music which drones on and one and on and Arist... (yes, we get the idea - Ed). The music can be turned off which came as a great relief to everyone in the office. Home Alone can be summed up in one word - 'repetition'. Oh, and give it a capital 'R'.

It's good for one go, but it won't keep you at your computer for months and months and mon... (stop that right this minute - Ed). Plus the game is 1 meg only. Surely more money means better sound and graphics? I want the whole film for that sort of memory!

It could have been one of the best film licences, but Home Alone has walked into the graveyard of doom and jumped inside a coffin beside Darkman, Ghostbusters 2 and other such film licence flops. What a pity. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Bye bye Macalauy!

Home Alone logo

Im Kino war Kevins Gangsterjagd noch ein Reißer, die PC-Versoftung enttäuschte auf der ganzen Linie. Die Amiga-Umsetzung hält sich exakt ans Vorbild - leider ans falsche!

Genau wie auf der MS-Dose fängt alles vielversprechend mit digitalisierten Filmbildern an, die kurz in die Handlung einführen: Kevin sitzt alleine zuhause, weil ihn seine Eltern vergessen haben, als sie in den Urlaub geflogen sind.

Draußen schleichen zwei Einbrecher herum, die der clevere Knirps mit selbstgebastelten Fallen verjagen will: In der ersten Spielphase rennt er joystickgesteuert durch die diversen Räume (Küche, Bad, Eingangshalle), klaubt blinkende Gegenstände auf (Druck auf F1) und plaziert sie dann an ebenfalls blinkenden Stellen an Wand und Boden (Druck auf F3). Nach etwa fünf Minuten beginnt die zweite Phase, in der die Einbrecher den armen Jungen durchs Haus jagen. Weil jede Berührung mit ihnen tödlich ist, muß Kevin so geschickt flüchten, daß die Unholde in möglichst viele seiner Fallen tappen, was den verbrecherischen Energiehaushalt irgendwann zum Erliegen bringt. Freilich ohne in die eigenen Hinterhälte zu geraten.

Nicht nur, daß sich die schlichte Handlung beständig wiederholt, das Game wird auch noch ziemlich bescheiden präsentiert: Das horizontale Scrolling ruckelt kräftig, zwischen den einzelnen Räumen wird öfters nachgeladen, sämtliche Animationen sind von der kärglichen Sorte und die (gottlob abschaltbare) Begleitmusik geht bald auf den Keks. Last but not least ist die Steuerung mit ihrem andauernden Wechsel zwischen Stick und Keyboard auch nicht gerade das Gelbe - Home Alone würde jeder vernünftige Einbrecher liegen lassen... (C. Borgmeier)

Home Alone logo

Home Alone - the game - is naturally based scrupulously on the film of the same name which, for its non-viewers' benefit, was based on the pranks of an eight year-old left all alone at home as he attempts to foil the plans of two burglars. The programmers have bomed in on the simplicity of the plot, reproducing it faithfully, but moronically failing to realise that in the process they've created a game far too simple, too repetitive and too sub-level like for any sane Amiga owner to actually be interested in.

But anyway, anyway, anyway. Anyway. The game plays in two phases. Phase one involves you as Kevin (the kid) scrolling left and right around your house laying traps for Harry and Marv (the burglars) who are due to arrive in an hour (10 minutes in real time). This boils down to a case of pocketing each flashing object (potential trap) you come across, whilst repeatedly cycling through your inventory to discover locations to lay the trap.

The thing is, challengingly speaking, this just isn't. If you can cope with memorizing the layout o the house (easy), setting as many traps as possible (ludicrously easy) and locating the gun vital for the next part (it's in your bedroom) then you've got it made.

Ten minutes later it's onto phase two, which boils down to running around the house (again) jumping over your own traps whilst endeavouring to lure Harry and Marv through them - the higher traps requiring a shot from your gun.

For your benefit, the top of the screen informs you of what room each burglar is in. And here's where the two blatant flaws in the game come in. 1) One touch from either burglar (quite likely) and that's it. Game Over. Start Again on Phase One. 2) There is nothing beyond what I've just described to the game at all. Hit each burglar with a trap ten times and you've beaten the game. "That's it?", you can't help thinking. Yes, that most depressingly is it - point 1) is just a way of delaying you ever to point 2). And I haven't even mentioned the jerky graphics, awkward controls and rubbish sound yet. Possible not a wasted licence, but a film that was wasted being licenced in the first place.