Phantasmagoria

Do you want review? Master storyteller Roberta Williams challenges you to experience the ultimate interactive nightmare. Roberta Williams had long planned to design a horror game, but she waited eight years for software technology to improve before doing so. More than 200 people were involved in making Phantasmagoria, which was based on Williams' 550-page script, about four times the length of an average Hollywood screenplay. It took more than two years to develop and four months to film. The game was originally budgeted for $800,000, but it ultimately cost $4.5 million to develop and was filmed in a $1.5 million studio that Sierra built specifically for the game. The game was directed by Peter Maris and features a cast of twenty-five actors, all performing in front of a blue screen. Most games at the time featured 80 to 100 backgrounds, while Phantasmagoria includes more than 1,000. A professional Hollywood special effects house worked on the game, and the musical score includes a neo-Gregorian chant performed by a 135-voice choir. Those with the bad reviews write about their issues, not about the game's issues. Superb game!

I still play this game - probably once a year. I absolutely love this game! It's a fun, haunting (not really scary - well except when the baby cried unexpectedly - that got me the first time!) - but things begin to get weird as the husband becomes stranger and stranger... The characters all feel very alive in this game, for being one of the first early FMV games.

This is FMV Sierra at its most innovative. The game defines 1990's FMV. Those who had physical copies can recall the elegant packaging and pile of CD's. The game features some pretty great acting from the lead couple, and a substantially spooky house to go with a quickly unfolding story. Its not a terribly long play, which I like. Immersive, creative. Sierra.

I loved this game. I was totally into it. Loved the music, setting, everything about it. Couldn't stop playing. I think I will pick this up and try to relive it. I know it won't be the same since I am used to today's visuals, but I would love to see it redone with HD video and graphics. Would be great to see it again.

This game was certainly one with controversy, as was noted earlier in a review. It has its moments of brilliant terror and some gore. But by today's standards, it is nothing you will not find on regular TV. The story is what sells adventure game and this one is no exception. Roberta Williams became known to me just as well as Jane Jensen. Sierra dominated the adventure market in the day because of the talent they managed to pull in. This game is not overly hard and there are not too many "pixel hunt" clues to find, but if you ever get stuck there is a hint feature built in to the game. If you use it, though it will dock you points. I recommend this to anyone that enjoys a great adventure game. Maybe not my favorite, but it was one of the first games that both me and my wife actually played through together. For that to happen says a lot to the appeal of the game.