''Nitemare 3D'' is a horror-themed

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

released by Gray Design Associates in 1994 for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

and

Windows 3.x Windows 3.x means either of, or all of the following versions of Microsoft Windows: * Windows 3.0 * Windows 3.1x Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windo ...

. There are three episodes with the first episode released as

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

and ten levels in each. The full release came on two 3½" floppy disks with a guide to the game's thirty levels. According to author David P. Gray, the game is the first pixelated Windows game to use the

WinG A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

interface. The visuals are similar to those used in ''

Wolfenstein 3D ''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game ''Castle Wolfenstei ...

'' with

perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

walls and no textures on the floors and ceilings. The music in was composed by David B. Schultz who also composed for ''

Quiver A quiver is a container for holding arrows, bolts, ammo, projectiles, darts, or javelins. It can be carried on an archer's body, the bow, or the ground, depending on the type of shooting and the archer's personal preference. Quivers were trad ...

''.

Plot

''Nitemare 3D'' follows the story of Hugo, from the ''Hugo'' trilogy, a series of graphic adventure PC games consisting of ''

Hugo's House of Horrors Hugo's Family Marketplace is a family-owned chain of supermarket grocery stores located in the U.S. states of North Dakota and Minnesota. It was founded by Hugo and Dorothy Magnuson in 1939. Hugo's is headquartered in the city of Grand Forks, Nort ...

'', '' Hugo II, Whodunit?'', and '' Hugo III, Jungle of Doom!''. Penelope, Hugo's girlfriend, has been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Hammerstein for use in heinous experiments. Hugo must battle through Hammerstein's bizarre mansion, caverns complete with prisons and laboratories, and finally through a twisted alternate dimension of demons and aliens in an attempt to save her.

Gameplay

Rather than the fast-paced action of ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Nitemare 3D'' has a slightly slower, more puzzle-oriented style of gameplay. The four weapons (plasma gun, magic wand, pistol, and auto-repeat plasma gun) have different usages—for example, magic blasts are especially useful against magical creatures such as witches, whereas robots are practically immune to them. Meanwhile,

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

s take heavy damage from silver bullets, while shrugging off the effects of the plasma gun. Each level in the game has numerous secret panels, some of which were purely for bonuses, but others are essential to completing the level. To make this task easier, the player can collect magic eyes, which enable the player to activate a mini-map in the game's

HUD Hud or HUD may refer to: Entertainment * ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman * ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film * ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadian e-sports television program Places * Hud, Far ...

and give hints as to the locations of panels, and crystal balls for displaying the location of enemies. In a similar vein to id Software's ''Wolfenstein 3D'' and ''

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * L ...

'', the player character's face is shown on the status bar and acts as a visual reflection of the player's health, although instead of becoming bloodier, the skin wears away, leaving a skull when near death, and a darkened skull when dead, perhaps intentionally similar to the children's game show,

Knightmare ''Knightmare'' is a British children's adventure game show, created by Tim Child, and broadcast over eight series on CITV from 7 September 1987 to 11 November 1994. The general format of the show is of a team of four children – one who take ...

; It is also similar to the early ''

Catacomb 3-D ''Catacomb 3-D'' (also known as ''Catacomb 3-D: A New Dimension'', ''Catacomb 3-D: The Descent'', and ''Catacombs 3'') is a first-person shooter video game, the third in the '' Catacomb'' series, the first of which to feature 3D computer graphics ...

'' games.

Reception

References

External links

Official page
of ''Nightmare-3D'', playable online * {{Hugo 1994 video games DOS games First-person shooters 1990s horror video games Video games with 2.5D graphics Windows games Video games developed in the United States Sprite-based first-person shooters