Handsome Executive Harry FAQ ver 1.2 (Jan 23, 1998)
maintained by saintly@innocent.com
questions? comments? eMail me!
FAQ contents:
1. Who is Harry and how do I control him in the game?
2. What do all the bonuses do?
3. What are the various floor obstacles?
4. What are the various enemies?
5. What's on the various levels?
6. Rumors, Tidbits and Tips
7. Spoilers
Harry is available from http://www.HandsomeHarry.com/
or http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/Products/Harry.html
For a $20 registration fee. The maintainer of this FAQ is not
affiliated in any way with Ambrosia or any creator or beta-tester
of the game, but appreciates their sense of humor and the
hours that went into making this game. The game definitely
beats most other games in the price range, and whole lot of
expensive commercial games! Don't rip 'em off!
1. Who is Harry and how do I control him in the game?
Harry is a beleagured executive trying to get favor in the
corporation, somewhat like Dilbert. Harry is a master at using
his power Swivel Chair. By default, the left and right arrow keys
rotate Harry counter-clockwise and clockwise respectively, the
Down key makes Harry kick off the ground (sending him backwards),
the Up key makes him "scoot" forward a little bit. Used for making
precise alignments and navigating dangerous terrain.
Space makes a 'Power Kick' when Harry is close enough to a wall
or solid obstacle. It also opens doors and kicks vending machines
(without sending Harry flying backwards)
Control rotates through all the objects in Harry's Inventory,
Alt/Option uses the object Harry is looking at.
Various surfaces have different surface resistance (as shown in
the meter) The lower the resistance, the farther/faster a kick
will send you, and the longer you'll 'coast' afterwards. Generally
low surface resistance is annoying unless you're very good at
slowing yourself. One way to take a "short kick" is to kick backwards
then 'scoot' several times to slow your momentum.
Harry can push things by bumping into them. It takes a little
practice to do it well.
NOTE: Since you usually use the Down/Kick key, you are spending
most of the game traveling Backwards! This means that to deal
with anything, shoot an enemy, open a door, kick a vending machine
or whatever, you have to turn around.
2. What do all the bonuses do?
coffee mug - heals comfort
single donut - heals comfort (equal to coffee mug)
donut box - heals comfort (twice as much as coffee or single donut)
blue pill - makes you invincible for a short time
test tube - makes you invulnerable to ghosts for a short time
soda can - acts like a grenade.
silver stapler - fires shots in a straight line
*Special feature: fires shots continuously as long as you
hold the button down.
gold stapler (B.A.D.A.S.S) - fires shots at several angles
*Special feature: hold the use button down for several seconds,
then release for simultaneous 4-shot burst.
*Not always gauranteed to shoot the exact direction you're
pointing it! For accuracy, use the other staplers.
blue stapler - rapid fire stapler, fires shots in a straight line
*Special feature: fires shots as rapidly as you press the trigger.
Shots can go through some (thin) walls.
NOTE: All the staplers have a line under them in the inventory window
displaying how many shots are left.
light blue staple pack - ammo for silver stapler
red-and-yellow staple pack - ammo for gold stapler
blue-and-green staple pack - ammo for blue stapler
Force of the Swivel - use the power of the force to shoot enemies.
*Hold down the use button until Harry glows. Release to shoot
a special Force shot that goes through most walls.
*Using Force of the Swivel drains your comfort! Be careful!
3. What are the various floor obstacles?
Aside from the mobile enemies, there are a few annoying
floor obstacles.
Fans - blow you in the direction they point. They also blow your
shots and enemies' shots as well. For example, if a fan is
blowing down, and you stand to the left of it and shoot across
the area the fan is blowing, your shot will be 'bent' down. This
can be used to hit some enemies which don't take this effect
into their calculations. Fans never completely prevent you from
entering the area behind them, just make it difficult at times.
Ramps - Harry can make flying leaps by using ramps. To gain extra
speed, make a Power Kick against a nearby wall AND continue
making kicks in the direction you want to go. You can also use
ramps to launch objects. Push an object to the top of a ramp then
try to make a jump. Harry's momentum will propel the object off
the ramp, but Harry will be left on top of it. (Harry can still jump
as normal)
Office Plants - (almost) indestructible, office plants are heaven-sent!
You can push them in the way of the dart-throwing guys, toss them
in the path of the Mail Carts (blows up the plant and the cart) and
dodge behind them for cover. Bonuses are occasionally hidden under
them. Use them to hold down pressure plates too.
Office Chairs - a little less useful than the plants, but still great for
holding down pressure plates.
Soda Vending machines - Kick them several times to get soda cans.
The machine shakes right before it spits out a can... get out of
the way! Flying cans will hurt you. Push a plant near the machine
as cover if you can.
Toxic Barrels - In a class by themselves! They explode when they touch
metal. That includes staples, robots, other toxic barrels, mail carts
and a few other things. Hide (far) behind them and get robots to run
into them (force blows up robots). Push them near the silver gates
and detonate them (destroys silver gate).
Thumb Tacks and Oil slicks - Thumb tacks hurt you when you go over them,
Oil sticks to your shoes for a while and makes manoevering difficult.
Silver Gates - Takes something like 20 shots to bring down. The explosion
from the gate coming down can trigger other nearby gates or objects and
damage you or the enemy. Push a toxic barrel near it and detonate it to
take it down in one shot, or use a soda can.
Red Gates - Takes four shots (one 'burst' from the gold stapler) to bring it
down, but it reappears after a few seconds.
Pressure plates and silver doors with a line running down the middle -
Holding down the pressure plate opens the door. Push something on top
of the plate to hold it down if you want to keep the door open.
Water coolers - blow up when you shoot them. The explosion can damage
you or nearby things (including enemies and other water coolers)
Flame tubes - spout flame every few seconds. Wait for the flame to die
down, then go past them. Duh. Good timing is needed to get past several.
Use the 'short kick' trick to get past a row that have space enough to hide
between them.
Turrets - Rotating turrets shoot at you. It takes 5 shots to destroy a turret.
Turrets can't shoot directly next to themselves. Charge the turret and
blow it up from the side. Note that it explodes, so don't stand too close.
Other options include waiting for a pause in the firing, launching five
shots and getting out of the way (for turrets on the other side of doors,
for example)
Short tubes sticking out of walls - have a pressure plate. When the plate is
down, the tubes launch rolling balls. Can be used by Harry to squish
enemies or silver gates in their path. Takes a bunch of shots though...
The balls hurt Harry if they roll over him.
Dart throwing guys - throw darts. Wait until they shoot, then go past. Duh.
If you shoot them (with staples or soda) they'll pause firing for a while,
but you'll lose corporate favor.
Test-tube throwing guys - throw test tubes. They can throw at angles, but
aim at where you were like 1 second in the past. If you move perpendicular
to them (i.e., not directly towards or away from them) you can dodge their
shots. Shooting them back also loses corporate favor (but pauses them for
a while)
Mail Trucks - Zoom back and forth. Damage you significantly if they hit you.
You can wait for them to go past, then follow quickly and duck into a "safe"
space (note that they go back and forth, not only one direction). You can
push something (like a barrel or plant) in their way and destroy them.
If there's enough space, you can safely sit along side them in a corridor.
Rolling Boulders - Roll in only one direction. Indestructible as far as I know.
(I haven't tested pushing something in their way yet).
4. What are the various enemies?
Five types of robots, three types of mold and three types of military, and
two kinds of poltergeists.
Yellow Robot - stationary, shoots at you. Take four shots (1 burst from
the gold stapler) to destroy it. Explodes when it dies.
Silver Robot - basic mobile robot. Also takes four shots to kill it and
explodes.
Red Robot - Faster, meaner version of the silver robot. Takes about 10(?)
shots to kill it (or one toxic barrel!).
"Bouncer" robot - Reflects your shots. Can't be destroyed. This one moves
in a straight line, changing direction if it hits an angled surface or you
shoot it.
Red bouncer robot - faster version of the basic bouncer.
Comments: Bouncing robots can hurt you by touching you, but the other one's
only hurt you when they shoot. (but you'll still get hurt by an explosion if
you're too close). To kill the basic robots, charge up the gold stapler and
let 'em have it at fairly close range.
Green poltergeist - Floats toward you (through walls too). When you shoot
it, it re-appears in a random direction around you and comes after you
again. Four shots kills it. (fire one shot at a time)
Red poltergeist - Faster version of the green. Takes about 6 shots to kill it.
Comments: Poltergeists are nasty. They come after you when you move
within range. Be patient, move slowly, stop when you see one and just
spin around and shoot it until it dies, rather than taking on half the
poltergeist army. They're only really bad when there's lots of them,
or you're in a corridor or constricted space. (In a corridor, you can't see
them when they reappear until they move into the corridor with you. In
a constricted space, you can't shoot them until they're clear of the walls.
They go through walls, your shots don't)
Yellow mold - stupid life form, moves in random directions.
Green mold - smart enough to move toward you.
Red mold - smart enough to move toward you and FAST. Takes more
shots to kill than green or yellow.
Comments: Ignore yellow mold unless you have to move very close to them
for some reason. Back away from Green or Red mold while firing at them.
Green Military dude - shoots at you, can rotate, but not move.
Yellow Military dude - shoots at you rapid-fire, can't move either.
Red Military dude - shots from this guy really hurt!
Comments: Good luck! Try shoot-and-dodge (these dudes don't show up
till the 13th level (I think), so you should be good at kicking, turning and
shooting while the momentum carries you on.) They can't move, so just
be accurate and patient.
Dr. Uberman - Not going to say a word about this guy! Good Luck (on the
15th level). Hope you saved soda cans and blue pills!
5. What's on the various levels?
Level 1 - Beginner level. Play with the nice toys they gave you and get going!
You have an office to save!
Level 2 - Get acquainted with the dart-throwing guys. Learn timing and the
'short scoot'.
Level 3 - There's a hidden room with a stapler and mystery vial. There's also
a tricky jump (involving a power kick) to get past two fans blowing to
keep you out of one area. Your reward for that is the Green key and
access to the ancient Swivel Tournament arena with the Swivel Leap
of faith (and great reward!) You can scoot (slowly) in the 'margins'
Of walls (between the nearest object and the wall) without getting
Hurt by nearby objects.
Level 4 - Intro to Robots. Enjoy!
Level 5 - Pick up the Gold stapler here, destroy silver and yellow robots with
one burst!
Level 6 - Congrats for registering! Now face the poltergeists. Read the tips on
poltergeists, retreat back to open areas when you see one if necessary.
Level 7 - The Rolling Boulder level. In the beginning, rotate and kick QUICKLY
or get pounded by the boulder. It can be done! There are at least two
exits on this level. One is past a bunch of flame traps, and the other
requires good co-ordination to dodge the boulders. I think the flame
tube way is easier, but it's up to you. Also a hidden room (hmm...)
with another mystery vial in it.
Level 8 - ScumCo R&D. This level is really tricky! There's three main areas
to beat. One involves a LOT of poltergeists (look for a blue stapler
in this area too). Move SLOWLY and take care of them. It also helps
to move forward, then immediately retreat to a safe area and wait
for them to come to you. The other main area involves a LOT of
robots. Don't hesitate to run back to other areas to scarf some
donuts and grab more staples. The third area just has a bunch of
turrets and test-tube throwing guys. Three exits out of here, all
in one place. If you skip one of the main areas, you'll only have
two keys and have to take the middle way out. With the extra
key, you can go up (to recover fully on health and pick up some
blue pills) or down (to totally stock your staplers - HOWEVER
you can restock your staplers easily enough in the next level.)
Level 9 - Is a maze. What a shocker! In the very beginning you can go either
right or left. Left goes to a stocked supply room with like 6
pissed-off red poltergeists. I skipped it. Right goes to another
smaller room with a few mold in it and some donut boxes.
You have to go all the way to the right, grab a blue key, all the
way to the bottom, grab a blue key, and then go all the way to the
left to get out.
Level10 - You're underwater. This is hard! Go all the way up when you start,
grab the key, then go down and around to the door. Go Right to grab
the next key, then left and around to the door. Think concentric
circles. Unfortunately, water prevents you from seeing the shots fired
by the robots well, and makes the poltergeists hard to see too. The
reddish coral squares hurt you, the drainage pipes slow you down
(useful for stopping to fight a poltergeist) Ammo is VERY short here.
Choose your targets carefully- Don't waste shots on a mold if you can
lead it away and run past it. Not all turrets fire enough to be worth
it destroying them.
Level11 - The temple. Three ways around here. Go left at the start to go a LONG
way, relatively enemy-free and past a photocopier. Take the leftmost
of the two ways down. Go right at start for a quicker way, but with
more enemies (mold). Go up at start for the god's own hard way
through the area, dozens of red robots and nasty enemies. Get past
two boulder runs to make it to the temple.
I've gotten at least half-a-dozen questions already about this level.
I'm not going to spoil it! Here's a few hints- This level has three
tests of the Swivel Warrior. The first requires only agility. The
second requires purity, the willingness to do the right thing, even
though it's difficult. The last requires faith and trust. Didn't you
watch 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'?
Level 12 - Back in the offices. You know the drill by now. Just way more
thumbtacks, fans and all the things you've grown to love!
Level 13 - Military complex. Lots of the machine-gun guys. Go all the way to
the top, right, then all the way down to get the key you need. Sheesh!
Go all the way to the left for a measly soda can.
Level 14 - Compact level with lots of nasty machine-gun dudes, robots and
rolling-ball (not boulder) traps.
Level 15 - Dr. Uberman. The only thing on this level is the showdown and some
ammo. Watch your step. For hints, check the SPOILERs section.
6. Rumors, Tidbits and Tips
If you use ResEdit, you'll see a dialog box that says "Warp to which level".
Any ideas on how to bring it up in the game?
Since you fire staples from your side, NOT your center, you can shoot
robots when you're partially covered behind a wall. See this diagram:
YY - - - - - ->RR You're the YY character, the robot is RR, the Wall
YY WWWW <-RR is WW.. You can shoot, being mostly covered by
YY WWWW RR the wall, but the wall blocks the robot's shots.
WWWW
BE PATIENT. This isn't a race, and you get no extra points for finishing
quickly. This is more of a puzzle game than an action-game with gazillions
of enemies.
Setting up traps for enemies (like pushing toxic barrels in their way and
drawing them toward you, or manoevering a plant in the path of a mail
car is a lot easier (albiet slower) way to progress through the game
than charging enemies with staplers blazing...
Learn to kick, turn and shoot, and keep going in the direction you started.
Try to flush out the poltergeists in the levels that have them (6-10), then
retreat to an open area to blow them up.
Don't move directly toward or away from any enemy that can shoot at you.
You can make them miss by going past them.
Robots can get caught in 'crossfire' and destroy each other if you're
positioned right, unfortunately their shots don't seem to hurt the mold.
I only use the gold stapler for instant-destroying the basic robots since
the shots spread out at long distances and aren't as useful for targeting
stationary obstacles. Also good for opening red gates if you're in a hurry.
Do not underestimate the power of the Shrapnel stapler (blue stapler).
You can waste enemies through thin walls without stopping. All the
staplers seem to pack the same force per shot though.
7. Spoilers
How do I get past the three tests of the swivel warrior?
- Dodge the rolling boulders, wait for them to go by, then follow.
In the first run, there's space on the sides you can safely stay in. In
the second, you need to dodge back and forth and listen to the sound
cues carefully.
- A pure, honest individual takes the hard, straight-and-narrow way
to get to the temple. Bummer, huh?
- A man of faith scoots forward carefully to the exact middle of the
ravine (scoot around the big rock in the middle, to go up over it)
and then walks across. Take your time and be patient. You CAN'T
leap the ravine, despite the name "Leap of the Swivel Chair". You
will fall and land in a room with a bunch of donuts. Try again.
Is there an easy way to defeat Dr. Uberman?
- Definitely! Remember, you shoot off-center, from your right side.
Position yourself behind the rightmost of the two top pillars
surrounding Dr. Uberman. Wail away at him! His shots will get
blocked by the pillar and you can pound him into poltergeist mush.
He goes through three stages - First he just shoots in random
directions, then fires three-way blasts at you. (If you're positioned
right, the middle blast will be blocked by the pillar you're hiding
behind, and the other two will spread out harmlessly). After you've
pounded him several times he'll go to his second stage and get faster.
Keep at it and he'll go to his third stage and start shooting weakened
versions of Red Poltergeists (one shot kills them completely). Keep
at it and he'll explode in a satisfying burst. Congratulations! It
takes about two-and-a-half complete stapler clips to kill him and
the poltergeists if you keep shooting. Hope you're prepared. Don't
hesitate to go left or down for more ammo. I only had one soda
can left by the time I got here, but more would probably be better
