Double Switch

Corey Haim is Eddie, a strange young lad who claims to run a large building (The Edward Arms). As the building is situated in a bad neighbourhood, he's fitted the whole building with a series of traps to keep the tennants safe, but somebody has locked him in the basement and cut him off from the main control computer. Because he can't control the traps, the hero (You) takes over via thephone lines and is told to protect the tennants while attempting to rescue Haim.

You'll tire of Eddie's repetitious "game over" clips when you blow it. Similarly, you'll overdose on the early sections, which you inevitably play over and over. However, Double Switch is good enough that it'll sit in your CD tray until you're done - and you'll be glad you stuck it through the end. Isn't that what it's all about?

If you don't have the patience to work through the same sequences a hundred times, it drives you crazy. On the other hand, it holds up pretty well as an interactive mystery.

More like Night Trap, only you get to work for Corey Haim (ugh, yuck!). Check a series of rooms and catch all the bad guys with the main objective being to free Eddie. This game is a little more involving than Night Trap.

Double Switch is a game that you are not going to beat in a night, nor is it a game that you'll likely beat within a week, and it will and probably take much longer than that. There is just far too much to do in terms of arming and disarming the traps that it really hampers the overall game; however, compared to other FMV games, it has a charmingly campy B-movie atmosphere, and there's a lot to laugh at, if you can find the time to listen to the characters. With the difficulty toned down, this could have been a potentially great FMV game, but as it stands, it's something that many gamers will just give up on in frustration. This is truly a concept that just wasn't switched on to its full potential.

On a positive note, the acting is a step up from Night Trap, featuring celebrities such as Debra Harry (Blonde), Corey Haim, and Irwin Keyes ("Jaws" from Moonraker). There are plenty of babes in distress, and there's even an upbeat music number. It's a shame that the difficulty is so excessive. And who's the marketing wizard who came up with the boring title and lame cover illustration?

The story is barely worth writing about, and while it does retain that campy tone they were going after, it also makes you question if THIS really is the future of gaming? This game has no play control, a complete absence of fairness, and is so poorly programmed its any wonder it was released. The whole genre is seriously flawed, but few are as bad as this. Night Trap did not sell based on it's own merit, but rather on controversy. Double Switch didn't have the controversy surrounding it, and alas didn't perform well while on the market. This is ONLY for gamers who view Full Motion Video as an art form, and not a burden.