Monster Bash HD

Honored to say I was a tester for this! Also made a review video on YouTube under my name here. This is basically the original game with the same assets and audio redone in Unity. You'd be forgiven for thinking it's a remaster over a remake. Everything the original had, this one has as well as some great QOL enhancements. The color palette is greatly expanded upon, the layers are now more visible than before where you could barely tell what is in front of what (something that was a limitation of EGA graphics at the time, not a choice), there is now a compass to show you where the nearest pet is, notification to let you know when all the pets are saved, slightly smoother feeling controls, achievements, leaderboards, a new level editor with the ability to download others' levels, and much more. One of the biggest changes is the lives system being removed. The game is still pretty damn hard, but this helps make it a bit more forgiving. Instead, now you get a survival bonus score at the end of the level depending on how little you died, with 0 deaths giving you a higher bonus and 5 deaths giving you the least, and anything lower not giving you any survival bonus at all. Each level is now selectable from a book thingy. In each page you'll open up to the level you're on. You can flip back to see your stats on previous levels, with your highest achieved score and now objectives. For those that've never played it; Monster Bash is an awesome 2D platformer with a spooky/Halloween theme. You play as Johnny Dash, a kid that leaves his house to find his missing doggo, only to find it was taken by the vampire Count Chuck. Chuck has stolen all the pets in the neighborhood and wants to turn them all into the undead. So as Johnny, your goal through each level is to kill monsters with your slingshot, platform, collect candy, free all the pets in the level (required), and find the exit. It's pretty simple like most 90s platformers, but this one is a ton of fun. Go check it out!

"Monster Bash HD" is a classic game with decently refreshed graphics and sound, which is powered by Unity engine providing really good support for current HW. It looks good even with a 4k 31.5" screen and plays with Logitech F310 like a charm - no game breaking bugs - and a Dev who really cares. Even though I am waiting for "Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure" being the best of the Apogee platformers in my opinion (funny and at ease), "Monster Bash HD" deserves 5 stars. I can fully recommend it! But while you can get through to it - it is not easy and you have to figure out a lot - which feels rewarding. While playing this game I found that it contains more secrets and puzzles than I remembered from playing it way back under DOS. If you enjoy looking for secret passages and figuring out how to defeat certain opponents that's fine ... but if you are looking for a 100% action game you may not like these aspects of the game. But even with this in mind - it is easily worth the full price. It is the best of the currently available Apogee HD titles - but the other two - "Secret Agent HD" and "Crystal Caves HD" - are well worth trying! Just play it!

Like most I played this (and probably most other Apogee games) as a shareware version in the 90s, so I only knew the first few levels. Getting the to play the full version was great and the HD facelift makes the game highly playable in modern systems, while still preserving the charming, old school aesthetics we all know and love. Up to halfway through the second episode the game is fun, creative and exciting. However towards the end of the second episode and for most of the third, it's like they ran out of steam and just started throwing stuff together to have a full game. The backdrops get repetitive and uninspired but most importantly, level design suffers greatly leading to some annoying and frustrating situations, including some minor bugs. The controls are also slow and a bit stiff compared to a modern action-platformer. Overall, and despite these shortcomings, Monster Bash is still fun and absolutely worth playing. A true remake would be amazing though. Until then, I'm happy to purchase "HD" versions of all these Apogee games from my childhood.

I hope Apogee/Emberhart keeps making these - Cosmo would be great! The style and nostalgia is all there but modernized and better looking. Can't ask for much more with a remake.