Does that image scare you? Does it fill you with horror? Of course it does. The second game I am going to discuss is without a doubt the most terrifying game I have ever had the misfortune of playing. Far more chilling than any Resident Evil or Silent Hill this game caused me sleepless nights and filled my waking hours with dread. Conjuring more gruesome images, more eerie sounds and more shocking scares than any horror game before or since this game is not one for the light-hearted. Gentle reader, if you are easily upset I’d urge caution before continuing. The game I am referring to is of course, Rugrats: Search for Reptar.
Released in 1998, Rugrats: Search for Reptar is a platforming game based on the wildly successful cartoon series. Using the show as a framework levels are based around episodes roughly following the plot of each. Searching the Pickle’s house for pieces of a Reptar puzzle (hence the title) the player takes control of Tommy and the gang avoiding enemies and collecting collectables in much the same fashion as any other platformer. Gameplay wise the game is solid but with nothing spectacularly standout to recommend it. The control scheme is fairly tight but the camera suffers from the same problems that most early 3D platform games faced.
What raises this game above the generic child-centric TV platforming tie-in is the quality of its source material. Cleverly the writers created a plot that allowed the developers to utilise pre-existing stories meaning the quality of the level settings shine through. The show works as a fantastic parody of the stranger aspects of adult life through the eyes of toddler and the game continues this tradition. Using the warped perspective of a child the show always managed to inject terror and humour into seemingly ordinary situations. The side effect of this was to create a terrifying scenario combining eerie music, odd mid-90s graphics and a deliberately warped presentation. The result was chilling. I was determined to progress but some of the levels were pure terror.
The header image is taken from the level ‘Let There Be Light’ which is the perfect introduction for a child to the survival horror genre. I didn’t realise it until I was older but the limited ‘ammo’ for your torch and the focus on traversing a dark maze serve as a fantastic parody of the gameplay mechanics used to raise tension. With the power off you had to travel through the house to put the lights back on by freeing it from the refrigerator. (A superb take on childhood reasoning and understanding.) For children (and some adults) the dark holds terrors, manifesting them in this level as ghostly shapes. Coupled with the slightly shoddy camera controls I highlighted above this level became a frantic nightmare. Once again resource management proved to be one of my downfalls and a lack of confidence that I would successfully maintain torch power paralysed me with fear. No other game has achieved such complete control over my emotions. The first time I attempted the level I turned the Playstation off. Going through the menus to quit just took too long. The ghosts would surely get me. I panicked and didn’t want to go back. However, drawn by my love of the TV show and a determination to see it through to the end I persevered. After all as Tommy says “A babies gotta do what a babies gotta do” and I was 10 so I should be able to manage it. Sure I needed assistance when it became too terrifying but I learned to realise that as part of the fun. Of course there were other terrors buried in this game. The music is still one of the most unsettling sounds to have ever graced planet Earth and the game had visuals well outside the uncanny valley in some low-res horror summer camp. (Seriously where is Tommy’s nose?)
Still I ploughed on through the game ensuring that I never turned the lights off and only ever played with someone else in the room to protect me from the horror. My perseverance was rewarded. The game was and is fun, has all the original voice actors and actually seems like a product related to the Rugrats universe. The cutscenes were brilliant for this era and as I mentioned above the levels and overarching story were actually engaging. It is slightly simplistic for an older player but hit the perfect difficulty level for a child. In hindsight I enjoyed it (at the time it was debateable) and were it not for the goose in ‘Grandpa’s Teeth’ I definitely would have finished it.
What goose I hear you ask?
This goose.
The horror….
Rory's Retrospectives 