Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first thing Hell Raiser gets right is momentum. You begin with a mercenary on foot, walking and jumping through side-scrolling stages while firing at anything in your path. Teleporters and holes turn the route forward into more than a straight march, so you need to pay attention to where the level is trying to send you rather than simply holding right and shooting.

Then the game changes the angle. Its second, fourth, and sixth levels move you into a spaceship viewed from above, with horizontal scrolling and the same aggressive instruction: shoot everything that moves. The alternation is a smart way to stop six short stages from blurring together. The ship levels trade jumping and route-finding for immediate movement and firing, giving the campaign a welcome reset every time the perspective changes.

Enemies can leave behind symbols in the space stages, and grabbing them gives you an advantage. That small reward adds a useful reason to stay active amid the shooting rather than merely surviving the trip across the level. Hell Raiser is built around uncomplicated arcade pressure, though, and its action is more satisfying when you enjoy repetition, quick reactions, and the simple pleasure of clearing hostile screens than when you want a deep combat system.

Graphics

Hell Raiser switches cleanly between two classic 2D views: side-scrolling stages for the mercenary and top-down screens for the spaceship. The change of camera is also the clearest visual hook, making the on-foot runs and space-shooting missions feel like distinct parts of the same alien campaign.

Story

The setup is plain and functional: the Hellraisers have taken Hazbal, a planet positioned at an important space-trade junction, and you have been sent to force them out of the system. It gives every stage a clear purpose without slowing the action down.

You are not negotiating, investigating, or choosing a side here. You are a mercenary pushing through an occupied system with a weapon on foot and a ship in the air. That directness suits the game’s arcade structure, where forward motion matters more than reflection.

The six-level campaign gains a little shape from its alternating missions. Running through the occupation on the ground, then taking the fight into a top-down spacecraft stage, makes the effort to reclaim Hazbal feel broader than a single corridor of enemies. It is a straightforward sci-fi excuse to keep firing, and it does that job well enough.

Overall Experience

Hell Raiser is easiest to enjoy as a compact two-flavor shooter. The side-scrolling sections give you jumps, hazards, and alternate routes through teleporters and holes; the spacecraft stages answer with a faster, cleaner shoot-’em-up rhythm. Neither mode lingers long enough to exhaust the other, which is the game’s biggest strength.

Frustration can set in if you want the six stages to develop into something more elaborate. The core instruction stays the same across both styles: advance and destroy the opposition. But if that is exactly the kind of late-’80s action you want, the bluntness can be refreshing. You always know what you are doing and why.

Give Hell Raiser a chance if switching between platform shooting and top-down spaceship combat sounds more fun than committing to either one alone. It is not a grand space epic; it is a lean alien-cleanup job with a decent change of pace built into its structure. At its best, it delivers the immediate satisfaction of seeing a crowded route ahead and deciding to blast a way through it.

Retro Replay Score

6.1/10