Johnny Mnemonic

Here's the deal: You're Johnny, a mnemonic data courier with a silicon chip - capable of holding 180 gigabytes of data - wet-wired into your brain. Except that you've somehow crammed 320 gigs into it, and it's starting to seep.

It would be unfair to single out Johnny Mnemonic for occasionally lapsing into tedium. Almost all of the best CD-ROM movie games (including The 7th Guest, Hell, and Under a Killing Moon) share that flaw. Here, at least, the less-than-thrilling story is backed by a budget big enough to keep it from looking as if it were shot in my grandmother's basement. (In fact, if Mnemonic feels a little extra spooky, it may be because it was filmed at L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel, where Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.) While it's too early to tell whether Johnny Mnemonic the movie is a summer blockbuster, Johnny Mnemonic the game is a giant, albeit shaky, step forward for CD-ROM movie games — with or without a matinee idol on board for the ride.

Grafik und Steuerung werden mit einem High-End-System besser, das kümmerliche Spieldesign leider nicht.

Mnemotechnische Herausforderungen bietet dieser seichte Zeitgeist-Thriller nicht: ab und zu ein Knöpfchen drücken und dann schauen, welches Ergebnis die hakelige Steuerung liefert - das war's dann schon. Die aufgeblasene Technik kann dieses Gameplay - und Motivations-Fliegengewicht auch nicht mehr retten.