Daze Before Christmas

Description

At Christmas, friends and family get together to celebrate the holiday by exchanging gifts and feasting for the better part of the day. However, there is just one issue to worry about this year. You see, while Santa was resting in his bed, the icy and nefarious snowman scared away all of the elves, and the Timekeeper took Santa's plans from his home. All of this happened while Santa was sleeping. In the event that Santa does not intervene, there will be no Christmas.

You play the role of Santa Claus in Daze Before Christmas. The advent calendar for the game tells you that there are 24 different locations, including caves, workshops, factories, and more, for you to investigate. Each region is teeming with dangerous foes, such as penguins, jack-in-the-boxes, helicopters, snowmen, and a great deal of other types of enemies. In addition, after every five areas, Santa has to face off against not only The Evil Snowman, The Timekeeper, and Louse the Mouse, but also Mr. Weather. This is a requirement in order to progress through the game.

The number of Santa hats that are worn is a representation of Santa's health. One of Santa's hats falls off whenever he is injured by any of his adversaries. If Santa Claus misplaces all of his hats, he will be forced to give up one of his lives. The only way for him to avoid having to start over at the beginning of the area is for him to ring a golden bell before leaving it somewhere in the area. When you explore a new location, Santa may find presents that contain a mini-Santa (also known as an Extra Life), a red hat, or he may even let out an elf. When Santa opens these presents, he needs to be very careful because some of them might contain bombs or other dangerous objects. If Santa can locate a spinning star, he absolutely needs to pick it up because doing so will allow him to move on to the next zone.

Magic is the weapon of choice for Santa when it comes to dispatching his foes. Santa Claus is able to get a cup of hot chocolate in almost every location. If you do this, he will be able to transform into Anti-Santa, a type of Santa that wears nothing but white, grows the horns of Satan on top of his head, is unbeatable, and is armed with a hammer that he can use to bash his foes with. The business with Anti-Santa only lasts for twenty seconds, but this time limit can be altered through the Options menu.

The gameplay of Daze is very similar to that of a typical platform game, in which the player must navigate the level while dodging and shooting at various foes. However, there are some areas of the game in which the gameplay is altered, and these areas involve Santa flying through the sky in England, Russia, Japan, and the United States of America and dropping presents in chimneys in order to score points. In the event that a player loses all of their lives while playing the game, they will have the option to restart at the beginning of a particular area if they enter a password that has been provided to them before the game begins.