Harlequin Longplay (Amiga) [50 FPS]

Developed by The Warp Factory and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1992.

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Set in a fantastical world known as Chimerica, Harlequin has returned from his adventures in far off lands to discover that his homeland has fallen into disrepair during his absence. For so long has he been gone, that the land's very heart has broken and the fabric of unreality has begun to unwind. Determined to prevent Chimerica from becoming little more than a memory, Harlequin resolves to mend Chimerica's broken heart and restore equilibrium to his home.

As is common with platform games, the game world is broken up to into several themed worlds, several of which take inspiration from the works of Lewis Carroll.

However, part of what makes Harlequin unique is that, instead of playing through levels in linear fashion, each of the levels is interconnected and the player can travel back and forth between them. Each level contains a number of switches that open doors, activate platforms and can trigger events in other levels within the game, not just the one you happen to be in at the time; this means that there is a lot of exploration to be done since it's not immediately obvious what effect a switch has had. As you progress through the game, part of the challenge is remembering how the levels are connected and how best to get to the next location.

Each level contains all manner of strange creatures and enemies, which Harlequin must defeat. Pressing the fire button will fire a stream of hearts that can be used to destroy enemies, as well as the projectiles that they shoot.

As with any good platform game, the world is full of bonus items to find and collect. Collecting items will gradually fill the meter in the bottom right of the screen; once filled, you earn an additional life.

Strategically located around each level are gift boxes containing items. The most of of these is a burger, which restores lost health, whilst other items include an umbrella (parachute), space hopper (invulnerability) and a fish token (provides the ability to swim). These items can be used only for a short amount of time and are often required to progress through the levels and should be used sparingly.

Harlequin is one of the most challenging platform games I've played to date. The game world is huge and working out where to go is less than obvious, plus there is a fair amount of back-tracking to reach new levels. Factor in respawning enemies and limited health pick-ups and this quickly becomes a serious challenge.

Although the controls are generally excellent, one of my biggest annoyances with the game is the jumping mechanic. It's impossible to stop moving when jumping left or right, which makes makes precision jumping a real problem (and there's a lot of it). Landing on platforms often requires you to jump over them and to then change direction at the right time in order to land on them. You'll spend a lot of time falling from platforms because of this and being forced to retrace your steps; this is not a game for those short on patience...

In terms of presentation, the game features a more functional art style, with subtler colours than one would normally associate with a platform game, but is no less interesting because of it.

As for the audio, I think that Harlequin features one of the best soundtracks in an Amiga game. The music was written by Barry Leitch (of Lotus fame) and I personally think this is some of his best work, at least on the Amiga. The music is really in-keeping with the game's style and has some really high quality samples; the drums and marimba(?) effects sound amazing!

Considering that 1992 would see the launch of such platforming greats as Fire and Ice, Premier, Risky Woods and Wolfchild, Harlequin faced stiff competition to say the least. However, despite occasional frustration, the unique art style, fantastic music and non-linear game world allows Harlequin to stand alongside it's contemporaries as one of the best Amiga platform games available.
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