Atari Brings Back "Haunted House" as a Free-to-Play Runner [VIDEO]

Haunted House, one of Atari’s first games, is coming back to iPhones and iPads as a running game–and best of all, it’s free.
Atari just announced the pending release of the newly re-imagined Atari 2600 game as a free-to-play runner on the iTunes app store. If you were hoping for a remake of the original game, you might be disappointed to learn that this is not that but they’ve already released such a game for the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PC. This is a running game in which players must clear a path for a scared little boy trying to run out of the haunted house. Players can help him by swiping away enemies like spiders, vampires and the undead who reach out of the ground to grab him as he dashes past them. They can also activate springs that will launch him to other levels or parts of the haunted house as he furiously searches for an exit from the spooky, ominous home.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9myyEkKMUU&w=600&h=338]
Of course, runners are all the rage these days thanks to games like Canabalt, Temple Run and Jetpack Joyride. At least this attempts to be somewhat different by putting the player in control of the surroundings rather than the character who’s doing all the running. It does, however, make us wish they kept at least some of the dark and ominous presence of the original game. This feels more kiddie and goofy than the game with the glowing set of eyes that had to stumble around in the dark in order to find a way out.