What’s this? another review from Spartan? That’s right folks, here’s part 2 of my Haunt the House series, this time we’re tackling Terror Town. This is a game that I’m not familiar with, as I wasn’t able to play it on Armor Games or any other free flash game website. But thankfully, the collection allows me to play it whenever I please. As always I’ll be going for the best possible rank with no deaths, but if you saw my previous review, you’ll know that it isn’t easy to do that.

The Story

In a rather unique spin, HTH Terror Town does things a bit different with its story, namely that it begins with the traditional tutorial but also adds in lore. Narrated by a man who could do audio books.

We take control of a ghost, who looks suspiciously like the same ghost from the first game, but this time around he’s moved his base of operations to an abandoned clocktower. This is the eponymous Terror Town, consisting of four locations: A hospital, a restaurant ship, a theater and museum. Since the town never sleeps, neither does the ghost who wants to just be left alone. So your mission is made very clear as evidenced by the photo below:

The last goal though isn’t made clear, but the room gives you some hints as to how to ascertain that. With that you’re given free reign to go as you please through the town, and you can tackle any building in any order so long as you scare everyone away of course. Time to vacate the town with all the spectral powers that this ghost can manifest, which leads to…

The Gameplay

SFB decided to keep things simple for the sequel and didn’t change the core gameplay, which is good because there’s so little to even change. Movement is the same as it was in the first game, arrow keys to move, spacebar to possess. The only difference besides the expanded map is the requirement for each area. The OG HTH had 30 guests that you had to scare away, which would be a lot to ask for four locations. Thankfully each building in the town has twenty people in them, which is much more manageable. One key difference though is that each location holds unique people that you can’t scare away, no matter how frightening you make the atmosphere. These are special characters that you can kill with a certain object you can possess, and doing so sends their spirit to the clock tower. Upon returning there, you can hover over their respective bell to change the skin of the ghost. And because there are multiple people, this endeavor can bring up a

Character Ranking

That’s right, even in a mini game review I can talk about characters. They have as much personality as a blank sheet of paper and are largely superfluous but the fact you can change your character’s appearance without microtransactions is honestly a pretty big deal in this day and age, so I’ll rank them based off of death and personal opinion, starting with the lowest and then working our way to the highest.

The Nurse

This lady spent 10 years of her life going through med school, only to work in a dinghy hospital with no tools save for a wrench, that she stupidly holds near an ELECTRIC generator. It’s of no surprise that her tool becomes her undoing, as a simple shock sends her to the bell where she belongs.

Jester

To flee, or not to be, that is the question. This masked man was bit by the acting bug and chose to recite his monologues to any who happen to be within earshot. And that’s all well and good as I assume Terror Town is a free country, except for the fact that he decides to practice directly beneath a sandbag. Raise the atmosphere and it’s curtains for the actor. Perhaps his death can give him a quieter place to practice.

The Phantom of the Opera

How apt that a game where you play as a ghost that you can encounter the Phantom of the Opera beneath the theater? This man stands aboard his eerie vessel with little more than a candelabra and a lantern dangling in front of the ship to illuminate the darkness. You’d think that’d give him enough light to be able to swim if he ends up in the murky depths, but ultimately one blast of the organ was enough to have him singing his swan song.

The Clown

The hospital is a very dreary place, where life begins and ends. Due to the bleak state of the place, the higher ups elected to hire the clown to entertain children, perpetually juggling his balls while wearing a comically oversized bowtie. Unfortunately though, nobody really seems to pay him any mind, I guess they just found his jokes very unappealing.

The Captain

The cruise ship is the best (and seemingly only) place to go near the water, and it is overseen by the illustrious Captain (name not provided). Unfortunately though, the vessel isn’t entirely ship shape, with rats in its hull and numerous leaks that can be caused by outside forces. Perhaps the Captain ought to find a way to port? but he definitely won’t find it at the bottom of his bottle. Perhaps someone ought to blast him out of his stupor, if only he would stop hanging out so close to the edge.

The Diver

Dressed in a classic diving helmet and armed with a pickaxe, this deep sea dolt is chipping away at the rocky bottom of the sea beneath the cruise ship. He’ll endlessly toil away as the ship remains stationary somehow, which is a wonder why it hasn’t floated away with the current. Maybe someone should let down the anchor?

The Chef

This shifty looking sous chef is constantly hacking away at… something. I can’t even tell what it’s supposed to be, a potato? a block of tofu? bread? Whatever it is it has a lot of give to it and is very squishy so perhaps using a knife isn’t the best utensil to cut it. It might be so soft due to the fact that there’s a lot of leaky pipes over the cutting board. That’s an OSHA violation if I ever saw one, guess the cabin will be shut down if someone leaks the info.

The Thief

The museum at the edge of town is a place of knowledge, featuring many different artifacts from all over the world. So it’s no wonder that a thief would be among the many patrons, looking to fleece some fossils in the dino wing. Of course, this thief is apparently an amateur, coming in to the museum while its still open and wearing his mask in plain sight, on top of one of the most notable displays in the room. Someone ought to just take a bite out of this guy, he’s an embarrassment to the profession. And that’s saying something.

The Pharaoh

Not everything in the museum is a replica apparently, as the spirit of an ancient king is not only very real, but also very frustrated. He’s trapped in his sarcophagi, and will continuously rattle it around in a vain attempt to escape. If only some divine intervention would free this entrapped Egyptian from his coffin shaped confinement.

Area Ranking

Of course, it wouldn’t be a true game review with multiple areas without an area ranking. This time around there are four areas (not counting the clock tower) that are all visually distinct from one another, with a myriad of items to possess to terrify the populace. None of these are inherently bad areas, but I do prefer some more than others.

#4: The Hospital

Hospitals can be creepy when you think about it, so many tools designed to cut and tear, mannequins and diagrams of internal organs, and if you’re a hemophobe like myself, lots of blood everywhere that will cause your toes to curl inwards. This place seems more modeled after an old fashioned insane asylum though, which have largely been phased out in the modern day due to our greater understanding of medicine. I tend to gravitate towards room clearing items like the wheelchair and the generator, which do seem to get quite the quick reaction from guests.

#3: The Theater

This is more of an opera house than a theater, but it definitely fits the bill with what one might expect. Seems like security’s a bit lax as average joes can just wander into behind the scenes areas and poke about in dressing rooms. The best way to get rid of people is getting them into the central area and then possessing the double bass, which you can smash on the ground repeatedly to freak everyone out. Clears 2-3 out of each group if you time it right.

#2 Cruise Ship

I’m not a fan of cruise ships themselves due to bad experiences, but as I have lived near the sea and went boating a lot as a kid, I can’t help but be drawn to them in video games. This one is definitely one that might be nice for a visit, provided you meet the legal age for gambling in the casino. Good haunt objects are the windows and ship’s wheel, as the guests will panic if they sense that they’re in danger. Special shoutout to the mermaid statue, as any ghost can possess it even if they were a man in their previous life. Guess anyone can be a mermaid if they’re a ghost?

#1: Museum

Possessing the largest amount of objects to possess to date, the museum has to be the highlight of the game. You’re not starved for choice when it comes to objects, as nearly everything can be possessed and used against the patrons. If you’re into stationary objects, there are quite a few options like the barometer in the attack or the polar bear on the second floor. Alternatively, there are quite a few movable objects like the mannequins, which can be moved around to scare anyone in the room rather quickly. But what sells it for me is the attention to detail that they get for some things and lack with others. The birds on the second floor can be possessed and they fly in sequence, like actual birds. But when it comes to the dinosaur hall, the mosasaur fossil will just be labeled as a dinosaur, which any dino nerd will tell you is not true (It’s a marine reptile, there’s a difference). Usually I’m very critical about that but given the stupidity of some of these people and the time period it is set in, I’ll let it slide.

Rodent Quota

Just as its predecessor had done, the rodent quota is met in every area of the game. Each location has at least three mice squeaking about and I’ve added them into screenshots that I’ve used in prior sections of this very blog post. See if you can find them all for each area.

Ending

Just like last time, I had to put up with one final guest, this time it was a little girl, who much like Krickeltip before her I’ll give her an equally dumb name, From this day forth she’ll be known as Buzztu, or buzzy for short.

Buzzy proved to be quite the brave young girl, exploring a creepy museum all by herself. But ultimately it was the bookshelf that sent her on her way. Guess she didn’t want to get a papercut, or she isn’t such a good reader. Illiteracy for young girls in video games is a serious issue apparently, to the point they’ll run in fear. With everyone gone in the town, the spirit can rest in peace, and if you manage to kill all the special guests, the portrait in the clocktower will be filled in

In a way, this is a heartwarming ending. Sure there were a few deaths along the path but ultimately we did win back which was lost, and that was the family and friends of the ghost, who is now confirmed to have been a young boy.

After all was said and done, I was given a score, where I was unable to scare a few people from their locations. Regardless, I was able to get an S rank, I favored the phantom and my object of choice was the double bass.

Conclusion

What makes a good sequel? One that should build upon its predecessor and not shake up the gameplay too much is the general standard that most would think about when posited the question. Terror Town does this by keeping everything the same but spacing things out. I can’t get mad at this game because it’s exactly what I would expect from such a simple concept and it succeeds. 10/10 would scare again.