Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Dos) / होम अलोन 2: न्यूयॉर्क में खोया (डॉस)

Alas, like many sequels of the famous films, the game incarnation of Home Alone 2 fell victim to the sequel curse. If in the first game from Manley & Associates, “Home Alone”, Ivan Manley himself and at least a dozen of his colleagues came up with original and fascinating gameplay, then in the credits of her heir does not appear either a scriptwriter or a designer - only a couple of producers. Accordingly, instead of, like its predecessor, to please us with a gameplay that does not lend itself to any strict genre definition, this game turns out to be a regular arcade - and at the same time extremely short. Though not without curious features and not without some fascination.

As the name implies (and from the plot of the movie of the same name), the action "Home Alone 2" takes place in New York - well, it boils down entirely to running away from Harry and Marve wherever they look. There are now as many as fourteen levels, but all of them are rather monotonous. Only the direction of movement changes - from left to right or from right to left - and the scene: city street, hotel corridor, again a street, a toy store, the interior of a renovated apartment building - and, finally, the street again. Kevin is not given any time for preparation or respite: both the robbers who escaped from prison appear on the screen almost simultaneously with our hero, and they run much faster than the boy. But at our disposal are traps and other objects that can be used to stop their pursuers for at least a few seconds.

Such items are of three types. Firstly, these are elements of the environment that can be used to your advantage and to the detriment of opponents - for example, tacking arrows on the sidewalk, substituting the next Harry and Marv following us on the heels of an angry dog, hit a teenager on roller skates or kick a girl models in a fashionable red dress. Secondly, these are traps familiar to us from Home Alone: ​​when you run past, you can activate them by pressing the space bar - and then a couple of criminals running after them run the risk of running into another trouble, like overturned scaffolding or a blowtorch turned on at full power. Finally, many of the items we encounter can be taken by pressing the same space in your inventory - this has been thoroughly expanded and now has 11 seats instead of the previous three (well, or so - depending on the size of the one you select). You can use a taken item - without a choice, in a simple queue from right to left - using the Enter key: Kevin will throw it at his closest pursuer, and in case of a hit this last one will be confused for several seconds and safely lag behind.

The interface of “Home Alone 2” was somewhat simplified: in addition to the main window, we now see only the inventory on the screen, and below it are three counters: points scored, level and number of lives (yes, we now have three of them - you need to allow robbers exactly as many times catch yourself to end the game in the wrong way). The graphics improved slightly compared to the first series and added in the number of frames from the corresponding film, and Sound Blaster and Sound Blaster Pro were added to the supported sound devices. But the control keys cannot be reconfigured now: in addition to the arrows (of which all four are involved, since maneuvering between obstacles also has to be moving across the road), the “space” is responsible for activating the trap or taking an item into inventory, “input” allows you to use the taken item in as a projectile, and pressing Ins helps Kevin jump.

At the beginning of a new game, you can choose one of three difficulty levels, but this does not give it any particular duration: all fourteen levels, with due dexterity, can be completely completed in 15 minutes - despite the fact that at the time of the release of “Home Alone 2” it cost as much as 45 dollars! There is a clear desire to exploit the popular name ... Nevertheless, even if it is not as fascinating as "Home Alone", the second game in the series may well please a lover of more or less familiar arcades.