Here we have the first of the Halloween 2007 Angry Video Game Nerd videos. This one focuses on the rather rare Atari 2600 game “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” which is based on the movie of the same name. At least, it’s supposed to be, but given this is Atari, things are, well, up for interpretation.
The game itself was an interesting one, produced somewhat on the cheap it would seem. You play as Leatherface, running around killing everyone around you with your chainsaw. Kill people, keep fuel in your chainsaw, otherwise it’s game over. Nothing too crazy, give or take, but this is pretty much the first horror video game, depending on how you look at it, and according to this Nerd episode it gathered quite a bit of negative attention in its day.
“Now are ya gunna’ buy the games or ain’t ya?”
It doesn’t help that the game itself is pretty bad, with poor collision detection, strange graphics, annoying sound, and all around just… yeah, it’s bad. That’s the best way to phrase it, much like every game in this series.
The review is really a secondary thing in this video, though – the primary is a little parody of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre film which James has written the episode around. In the video opening James haggles with an older, quite southern gentleman over the price of some games, eventually getting a deal on Texas Chainsaw Massacre and another game, which will become important in the next episode.
Atari violence, oh boy!
Towards the end of review segment, a hippie (played by Mike Matei) randomly storms into his room, acting like a fan who quickly seems a little too obsessed. This interaction leads Leatherface arriving, forcing the Nerd out of his own home, going back to a guy who originally sold him the game, only for this to backfire on him.
The Nerd wakes up in a situation from his own personal Hell – he’s being forced to play Texas Chainsaw Massacre (funny, being forced to play bad games seems to be a common theme in the Halloween AVGN episodes early on.) After a bit of taunting the Nerd manages to escape, but of course is chased by our old friend Leatherface. In classic AVGN style though, Leatherface is limited in the same way as his video game counterpart is, thus allowing the Nerd to escape and make it home safely.
By the end, things get very very strange.
Once he gets home, though, he realizes he has unfinished work to do; the other game he was given when he purchased Texas Chainsaw Massacre was another infamous Atari 2600 horror game – Halloween.
Final Rating: 4.0/5
I really enjoy this episode. It’s short, just shy of 13 minutes long, and there isn’t much of a game review, but the way the film is parodied alongside the review works really well in this one – the ending I recall loving the first time I saw it, and it still makes me smile to think of how absurd it is in reality. That of course is why it’s so pathetic in the game when you really think about it.
Of course this is another chance for James to make a mini horror film, and you can tell he put some love into this one, and the following episode. I’ve never seen the actual film Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but I still could enjoy this one quite well on its own merit.
Note: The title of the film is, officially “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” but James titles the Angry Video Game Nerd episode “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” so I chose here to use the film form when talking about the film, and the game form when talking about the game.