ColecoVision Carnival: A Review
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 8
Arcade Acuracy: 9+
Overall: Recommended.
First of all, this isn't just any Carnival, this is the OFFICIAL Carnival by Sega. Why Sega games for the CV are "official" I don't know, but...
Carnival was one of numerous Space Invaders-style games from the late 1970s and early 1980s, in this case 1980. It was also one of those games from a time when multi-colored graphics games and single-colored graphics games could be found together in arcades; it was a transitional era in arcade history.
The game follows the usual game mechanics: you control a horizontally-moving gun at the bottom of the screen while shooting at targets above you.
In this case, however, you literally ARE a gun- a rifle, to be exact. That's because Carnival simulates a carnival's shooting gallery. You have a limited supply of bullets, and the game ends when you run out.
You control the rifle and shoot at owls, rabbits, ducks, the letters B-O-N-U-S, and "ammunition boxes" moving in three rows above you. Targets in the top row move left to right; once they reach the end they move from right to left in the middle row, and then finally left to right in the bottom row. If any "normal" targets or letters manage to reach the end there, they start over in the top row. Point value is based on which row they are in, these points being shown to the right of each row.
This may also have been one of the first games with a playable intermission. Each time you complete a screen you get to shoot at a bear with a target sign for bonus points. He starts out walking to the right; hitting him makes him turn to the left, while another hit makes him turn around again; each time he gets faster until he reaches full speed. After the first screen there is one bear; finish the second and you get two bears; then from the third screen on three bears, all one above the other. You have unlimited ammunition here, and it is possible to keep it up for quite a while before you slip up. Each hit is worth 50 points, so you can pick up quite a few points here.
Of course, it's not that simple (is it ever?). For one thing, above these rows is a spinning wheel with eight pipes. You must shoot them all, because as long as so much as one pipe remains, more ducks will be released in the top row.
These ducks are unlike the owls and rabbits in that they usually vanish if they reach the end of the bottom row...I say "if" because once in the bottom row up to three of them at any one time can "come to life" and fly down to each eat ten of your bullets (a-la Pac Man) if you don't shoot them quickly enough. They even quack the whole time they are doing this!
Another way things are made difficult is that after a time targets move more quickly. What's more, soon more ducks are released, more and more, until it becomes impossible to finish the screen before running out of bullets.
Luckily the ammunition boxes- actually, squares with the numbers "5" or "10" in them- are also released. Shooting them increases your bullet supply by the number shown, up to the maximum you can have. Don't wait too long, though: they vanish upon reaching the end of the middle row.
The letters are an interesting addition: each time you hit a rabbit or owl you build up a special bonus, and if you can shoot the letters in the order B-O-N-U-S the game pauses and you earn those points. As soon as you shoot any letter no more points are added, and shooting the wrong letter means you lose the bonus, although all five letters must still be shot in order to finish the round.
In the upper left of the playfield a large rectangle can appear. This can have bonus points and ammunition which is added if you shoot it, but it can also have negative points and ammunition which will cause you to lose the amount shown. Of course, the good things are rapidly subtracted in the box so you must shoot quickly, while the bad stuff remains constant until the box vanishes. Whether it is good or bad is purely random.
Carnival had some subtle and nifty touches even back then. Aside from the BONUS, shooting two pipes of the same color one right after the other gives you four times the value of the second pipe. Pipe value goes down each time you shoot without hitting a pipe.
So on the one hand you want to shoot carefully to get those bonuses and not to lose pipe value, while on the other you want to shoot quickly before things get too difficult. Before long the game would become difficult enough that almost every shot had to count.
Until Opcode's remarkable Space Invaders Collection two decades later, Carnival was the best "arcade-to-home" translation for the ColecoVision. This game actually does look, sound, and play almost exactly like the arcade version. It even has the little music note box you can shoot to turn the music on and off!
In fact, with the four difficulty levels it may even be slightly better! Skill level one is much easier than the arcade version, since things do not speed up, while skill level three is as challenging as the arcade version and four is even tougher.
Everything is here. The graphics are very close to the arcade version, and the sound is also very good, especially the "clang" when you hit something. Only the bear is noticeably different. Even so, this version has the very feel and essence of the arcade game from so long ago.
If you liked the arcade machine or just enjoy such games, then this one is a winner. Just keep in mind that it is a shooter from 1980, so don't expect anything too complex.
Overall, highly recommended.
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