CarnEvil is a 1998 arcade light-gun shooter game developed and published by Midway Games. The premise follows a teenager who summons the titular haunted carnival, forcing him to fight through waves of gruesome creatures. The game is divided into four levels, and players use pump action shotguns to fight enemies, with temporary gun upgrades scattered throughout the levels.
CarnEvil was conceived by Jack Haeger, who was inspired by classic horror themes and films, and the concept was approved by Midway after recent successes in the light-gun shooter genre. Initially lighter in tone, the game was later revamped to accommodate darker humor and gore. Upon release, critics praised the game's visuals, gun design, and gory detail. The game was never ported to home consoles despite its commercial success and that of other light-gun shooters in the home market, though it served as inspiration for spiritual successors.
Gameplay and premise
thumb|right|In this example of gameplay in CarnEvil, the player is attacked by an elf in the Rickety Town level.
CarnEvil is a light-gun shooter game in which the player, as an unnamed teenage everyman, must clear four levels by eliminating waves of various gruesome creatures such as evil clowns, sideshow freaks and Krampus's elves. The game's premise involves a teenager in the town of Greely Valley, Iowa fulfilling a local legend and becoming trapped in a nightmarish carnival ruled by ringmaster Professor Ludwig von Tökkentäkker. with the fourth level being accessed upon their completion. The gun fires single shots much like a pistol, Haeger voiced the game's opening narration as well as the characters Umlaut, Tökkentäkker, Hambone, and Krampus. The enemy character Muertito the Bat Boy was created and voiced by artist Martin Martinez. It was released on Halloween 1998, and it was considered a competitor to Atari Games's Area 51: Site 4 and Namco's Time Crisis II.
Reception and legacy
Mark Hain of Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the game's visuals and comfortable pump action gun, but was disappointed by the lack of extra gameplay features and hidden background secrets compared to Atari Games' Area 51 and Maximum Force. Adam Bregman of LA Weekly proclaimed CarnEvil to be "undoubtedly the best of the genre" and "perhaps the most twisted video game ever created".
According to Haeger, the game's sales exceeded those of Mortal Kombat 4, which encouraged Midway's arcade team to conceptualize a 4D ride adaptation that ultimately never materialized. CarnEvil was never ported to home consoles despite the success of The House of the Dead, Time Crisis and Point Blank on those platforms. Pikulski claimed that a developer had intended to create an original home console game that bore the CarnEvil title.