Phantasmagoria

Once you play (and finish) Phantasmagoria, it's very unlikely you'll forget it. The game is populated with memorable characters and the story is very engaging. Best of all, it's incredibly easy to pick up and play and therefore can be recommended even to beginners. The game's "hint" system is even accessed via a large, round button on the interface so that if you're stuck you can quickly receive advice. In Phantasmagoria, you play as the wife of a husband who becomes possessed by a demon you accidentally free shortly after moving into a huge mansion formerly owned by a renowned magician. As you progress, it's fascinating seeing your husband's downward spiral and how you must deal with it and eventually overcome it. As fun as the game is to play and explore, however, it also falls just short of excellence thanks to a few nagging issues. The one that hit me hardest was the length of the game. Even if you decline to use a walkthrough or receive hints, you'll probably be able to breeze through the entire story in a matter of a few hours. The game consists of seven "chapters," none of which are very long at all. Another issue I had with the game is the way in which the final segments are handled. Obviously, I won't ruin the surprise with this review, but the last parts of the game are played in a manner that knocks you over the head with repeated trial-and-error mechanics until you're frustrated to the point of calling it quits all together or seeking a walkthrough. The way in which the story wraps up isn't entirely satisfactory, either, but it could be worse. Overall, despite its flaws, Phantasmagoria is a tremendous FMV adventure game that nobody should miss. Although it ends rather quickly and doesn't necessarily answer every question you might have about its characters and story, you'll be sucked into its world and captivated to the point of not wanting to leave your computer.

A really fun time if you have a guide and want to experience the zaniness of the game, but without a guide you may be left asking yourself, "What could I possibly do next?" and when you eventually find it, you'll just get more annoyed. There's a particularly difficult scene that depicts abuse, and some of the interactions between the protagonist and her husband are really uncomfortable. Regardless, I do think the main plot is fun to reveal, though the game lulls for the bulk (it is a shorter game at least).

I bought this game before going home for the holidays when I was in college (sometime in the 90's). I got home that evening, settled in ordered pizza and started playing...12 hours later I finished the game...I have not had such a great time since. Try this game, it is simply awesome!

I saved up and bought this game for myself when it was brand new, and my appetite was at its peak for scary games. I'd been up to my eyes in DOOM, but the concept of a Sierra adventure game featuring both full-motion video AND R-rated scares appealed to me. I loved it and loathed it and played it three times. Here's my take, fifteen years later, and hopefully without too much rose-tint in my lenses: Pros: + The mansion and its grounds are a fantastic setting, and the nearby town is too, but to a lesser extent. It's all quite unbelievable, but the whole place just oozes atmosphere, and I can remember spending lots of time enjoying just wandering around the slightly creepy grounds, or through the rooms still with their original lunatic-stage-magician decor. + The music. Not exactly Academy Award material, but it's sufficiently eerie, scary, and at times, sweet. It does everything it needs to, and rarely if ever got on my nerves. + The back story. Granted, Pink-Shirt-Girl wandering around discovering clues isn't so interesting, but just the concept of Zoltan, this Bluebeard of stage magicians, was fantastic. + The ghoulish hint system. There's a talking skull in the interface, who in a devilish baritone will give hints or identify items. I used to laugh at the way he tried to make everything sound ominous. "A... FIREPLACE POKER!" + Nasty, brutal, gory death scenes. It's a Sierra-game staple that your character can often die in horrible ways for accidentally straying into the wrong pixel. That doesn't happen so much in Phantasmagoria, but when you do stray far enough from the path, the main character does not go out tidily. "Whoops, you didn't see the cliff?" is not a fun way to die. "Whoops, your body was horribly mutilated in homage to the writings of Edgar Allen Poe!" is a fun way to die. Cons (among many): - This game came on CD-ROM because people had tiny, inefficient hard drives. Each disc contains tons of redundant content, and there were constant seek-times as the optical drive sped up and stopped. There was a lot of disc-swapping, although thankfully only in a linear progression as each disc spanned a day in the week-long story. This flaw might be eliminated in the GOG version, we'll have to see. - The acting. It's terrible. Sometimes in a funny way, sometimes not. - The puzzles. They are Sierra material. Basically, enjoy making healthy use of the hint system and walkthroughs. - The graphics. A lot of them still hold up, but the presence of FMV characters against CGI backgrounds has always stood out as a low-water mark in gaming. I give the game 3 stars, and recommend it with the caveat that you have to be able to enjoy a) Sierra adventure games, b) Bad horror movies, and c) a certain nostalgia for the turning point when gaming could have gone horribly wrong (aka, FMV chapter-books).

i always wanted to play this game in my youth but i was scared because i read this game has gore scenes ;). playing it about 15-20 years later for the first time i have to say that i was sucked into it asap! it is sadly a bit short but EVERY minute was so awesome that i delayed the final chapter some days to be still in the atmosphere of PHANTASMAGORIA! i can only recommend this game to any adventure fan who is not against FMV adventures and open for something new. i cannot understand the bad reviews and as i played it the first time and was sucked into it. a unique technique and adventure with very likeable characters, also the soundtrack is fantastic!