K-Mart Haunted House is a short isometric flash adventure game just begging to be played around Halloween time. Trapped inside a haunted house you must hunt for keys to unlock doors that lead outside. Along the way you'll find several other items you can trade to monsters in exchange for passage through locked gates. The fun part is you get to choose from eighteen different playable characters, each with a unique Halloween costume. The corporate tie-ins are unobtrusive and simply give you the option of going to K-Mart's website to buy costumes featured in the game.
The game's music and visuals are actually quite nice, but the controls take some time getting used to. You use the arrow keys to move but your character only walks diagonally, forcing you to remember that pressing down moves you down-right, left moves you down-left, etc. You'll have to avoid a few enemies while you search for items, such as crazy black cats and the occasional hand popping out of the floor. But, after all, this is a haunted house.
K-Mart Haunted House is a surprisingly fun game that does a great job putting you in the Halloween mood.
Nice music. Character movement just a tad awkward, but a nice little game.
Makes me want to go play the NES Nightmare on Elmstreet game.
17 minutes at a slow pace, it was cute but not actually ever difficult and the product placement began to get tedious but hey thats what the game is for
Good job guys, on sticking with the Halloween theme. It goes very nicely with the skin.
I'm not so big on product placement games particularly ones that are directed at children.
Fun little distraction.
But the game mechanics have reminded me of a perfect little game which has just been remade and available free for PC - "Head over heels". Why didn't that one ever made it to Jay's picks?
Baba44713, you can allways suggest games ;)
Notice the 'Suggest a game' link on top menu. I tested 'Head over heels' game and I must say that it looks promising and they seem to have Mac and Linux versions as well.
Sorry, but I disagree.
This is the most blatant corporate tie-in I've seen on JIG. Many of the gameplay elments exist solely to try to sell you stuff, and the gameplay comes to a complete halt when it's time to make the pitch. Yuck.
Oops, sorry. Perhaps it wasn't the best pick. Holiday themed games are not always the best games, admittedly, but this one looked like fun and well within the spirit of Halloween.
Pass it by if not for you.
Baba44713 - received your game submission. I'll check it out and see about a review. =) Cheers!
complaining about "corprate" advertsing...gimme a break! it's made by K-Mart, to think you're not going to see a K-Mart plug is just silly...the game is cute and fun for kids ( or for twenty somethings like me that just want to procrastinate) so it advertises a costume here and there, does it take much effort to click the "back to game" button? its not like they are telling you you cannot continue with the game unless you purchase a costume, chill out!
nice n simple..
i like the clown costume the best!
it's nt a hard puzzle, to make it do so, pretend u'r just a kid..
I actually found this game really, really hard - trying to remember that north-west was actually the up arrow and so on really hurt my brain, and I could not to save myself work out how to stop between the bats and skeletons and so on. Nice music though.
BTW "Head over Heels" can be found at http://retrospec.sgn.net/games/hoh/ ... but DAMN! It's HARD!
Folks, more about Head over Heals dowloadable game...
Ms .45, thanks for mentioning the URL.
Jay, sorry for my double posting to game suggestions. I just had to make sure that HOH becomes noticed.
Baba44713, once again, thank you for mentioning Head over Heals :)
And yes, HOH is really damn hard, but so addictive :/
Notice also the manual page. That explains a lot. For example game saving is possible only if you have "a fresh fish".
I am but another poster whom this game reminded of Head over Heels - and I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend recommending it! ;-)
It may be hard, but it is one of the most imaginative games I ever played (I completed the remade version last year)! I adored it on my Schneider 6128 console and I love it every bit as much in the new-made million-colour-version.
It appears this review page has turned into a forum for Head Over Heels. =p
Recommendation received and I will look into it ASAP. =)
I geuss I will add to the forum I tried to download HoH after I finished the K-mart one(Which by the way was not bad for a store that closed down in my area because they went bankrupt.
Anyways back to HoH once it was downloaded it told me it could intialize the sound which is understandable because I have no speakers for my WORK computer. After the game starts the only way I can make the window active is by holding down the left mouse button on the top bar of the window. As soon as I let the button go the whole window just stops moving and I can't click or do anything. Also there is no close button at the top of the window so the only way I was able to shut the program down was to ctrl-alt-del and end task. Any help here or when you really post the game would be great Jay.
BY THE WAY I DO LOVE THIS SITE I CHECK IT OUT EVERYDAY. I ALSO HAVE TO CLOSE IT DOWN EVERY TIME A BOSS WALKS BY. I HAVE THREE SO THEY CAN COME BY ANYTIME BUT I TAKE THE CHANCE ANYWAYS.TAHNKS AGAIN JAY
Gwedo, there are some tips for graphics problems in HoH Manual. So this is just a wild guess but maybe the window refuses to work because graphic settings does not support the game. You can also try to contact the HoH team.
And if/when we get the HoH review here at JayIsGames, please report your progress with HoH in there. It is good to mention also the operating system where you tried to run HoH.
HoH is one of my favourite childhood games. I played it relentlessly on my Commodore 64, although then I never got very far.
This remake was like an old friend coming home. The game IS hard, and requires quite a lot of old-school lateral thinking, but it grows on you. I'm glad some of you like it also. If Jay chooses to review it, I promise I'll come back with some hints and spoilers if you decide to play it through entirely.
I agree with Darren and Darrell. This is nothing but a glorified K-Mart commercial.
That's what "advergame" means. =p
(and it's not a new concept. In fact, it's pretty common.)
I agree with Jay - it was a fun game and the advertisements weren't subliminal. I actually thought the placements were thoughtful and well done. The game play was simple but fun for my 5 year old.
UNfortunately, I could not play this game past a certain point.
When my first ad pops up (upon returning the green monster), I click "back to game" and it freezes not only the window, but the entire browser. Sitting for minutes produces no result, so I have to exit. I've restarted the game three times now and ended at the same point each time. I'm sure it'd be a joy to finish, but Firefox refuses to allow me to complete the game.
Also, I doubt I have the newest version, but when I choose "check for updates" in the browser's menu on my Mac, it comes back "no updates found". I've been trying for two weeks to update this, but this is the first time (tonight, playing this game) that it has inhibited me. Also, sound no longer plays in my internet browsers, but iTunes works just fine. D*mn computer.
I love this Game!
i love this game. i played it last year and i was so glad i found it again this halloween. go k-mart! so cute and fun. great halloween spirit!
i did this game in 0:18:52!
This is confusing and stupid and I hate the ads. Its dumb. Why was this game made? I don't like the costumes, and why was there a monster that sat on my shoulders. If theres a dead skeleton he shouldn't be able to eat hamburgers. All the doors should be unlocked. The cats run too fast and scare me. There are much better games other than this game. I am homeless yet have a computer, but this game makes me want to stay homeless. I HATE THIS GAME!!!!!
10 minutes and 40 seconds, no total life lost and no walkthrough either
Tried to register, but no-can-do. So, here I am under cloaking. BUT! I love the Halloween Game and it took several days and tries to figure it out. It's also updated to remove the uneccessary Baby Ghost and secret room, so it's quicker now. It sure took awhile for me to figure it out!! Now, to try Head Over Heels. 1,000 people can't be wrong...Bye! Barb
Hi, anybody knows about walkthrough for haunted house? I don't know where to go with the sword so I can't finish the game. Thanks and sorry about my english (I'm spanish...)
haunted house is awsome.
im 10 and i completed it in 9 minutes 7 seconds
this is a fun game ! who cares about the adds if you dont like it move on
I like isometric games. Very glad they become more popular again.
And , actually, very nice advertising idea too
Update