Phantasmagoria

If you want to enjoy this game you have to consider the climate that it was originally released in. One of the lines used to promote the game was that it was "Written by a writer" and while you wont hear me say that there were not any well written games from this period, see Loom and The Secret of Monkey Island for instance, but there was a lack of it. Phantasmagoria was thrilling and "edgy" when it came out but does not hold up without the paintjob of nostalgia or a desire to study and understand the period that it came out in. Give it a miss if you want to play an actually good game but it is an interesting insight into the game industry of yore. Good for it's time but not much else.

I remember playing this game soon after it came out. Sierra and Roberta Williams had set out to create the first game (a) with a dramatic horror story for adults and (b) using actors and full motion video technology. Not a total success on either account. The "adult" story is the kind you might encounter in a B horror movie. You play the female half of a young heterosexual couple, a successful writer whose photographer husband pushes the idea that they should move into this big creepy mansion. One look at this place and you'd guess it was haunted, and the previous owner is like part-wicked magician/part-six wives of henry viii/part-serial murderer? What's more, the bad vibes are really affecting your husband (early on I remember joking that the game was really just about a couple with martial problems). Gameplay consists of exploring the mansion with lots of rooms that are inaccessible until later in the story, piecing together the place's history and what's going on. You also make some trips into town where you meet helpful locals. The game starts out slow (and feels like its full of potential), but as more gets revealed things get increasingly cheesy. An irritating feature of gameplay is that it makes liberal use of event flags where you need to do something in particular in order for time to pass and for the story to progress. Sometimes you have no idea what's holding you back, and it might be a matter of like checking the liquor cabinet to see that your husband's been hitting the sauce. As for the actors and the full motion video. Well... there's a reason they don't make games like that anymore. During normal gameplay characters look super-imposed on backdrops. And some of the acting is quite hammy. It's hard to take it too seriously. I'm ragging a lot on this game, but if you like the idea of playing an interactive B horror film (Roberta would hate me calling it an interactive movie) it's worth buying on sale and spending some time with.

This game really give me some creepy moments and have a good story. The bad side is the protagonist, who deserves to be called a dumb blonde. She seems clueless and oblivious to the ghostly manifestations. The only thing she makes for herself is looking into mirrors and adjust her makeup. Even after she observes some creepy scene, her reaction is bland most of the time. Maybe this is proposital, but in my opinion, is frustating. The interface is sometimes clumsy (hint: to use a matchstick, take it and click in her face). If you like horror stories, play this game in a dark room and you don't be disappointed! Only don't expect it to be a elaborated adventure.

As the title says, this game is fun and addicting and will have you wanting to keep playing right up until the very end. That said, however, the ending will not be easy for a lot of people to get as it plays out in real time giving you little more than a moment to make decisions. I've been playing this off and on since it's original release and I've still never managed to get the ending. However the visuals are beautiful and the acting is spot on, they really went out for this game. I kinda miss the days when games were like this, to be honest...

Just revised and re-posted my original review of Phantasmagoria, which was published in Computer Gaming World magazine in 1995. :) Link below, for those interested--too long to repost here. http://arinndembo.com/?p=449