Windows 3.x

The Residents' Bad Day on the Midway

If there's a star here, it's the graphic design: a rich swamp-rot mindscape overseen by Freak Show's Jim Ludtke with contributions (in the tales within Bad Day) from such underground-comix stalwarts as Richard Sala, Paul Mavrides, and Peter Kuper. Kuper's take on Otto the rat keeper's grim backstory is particularly breathtaking: As the funky, stencilled images unfurl across your monitor to the unsettling strains of the Residents' music, it's clear that a whole new way of telling stories is being born.

There is no doubt that The Residents' Bad Day on the Midway is a one of a kind experience. It may not be a title with a "mass market appeal", but that in no way diminishes its value. It is a very well made game, especially considering its age. The variety of graphical and musical styles make Bad Day on the Midway even more interesting. On the downside, the game is rather short. Bad Day on the Midway is such an oddball title that I'm not even sure it makes sense to grade it. After lengthy consideration, I decided to give it an A- but please keep in mind that this is by no means a typical adventure game. Have a nice day on the Midway!

Bad Day is a product of the fertile imaginations of The Residents, the anonymous performance artists whose first twisted CD-ROM offering, Freak Show, demonstrated an enticing potential for the medium. With Bad Day, they've come even closer to what may be the next genre of entertainment: interactive graphic novels. With graphics that perfectly match the story's mood, hauntingly upbeat music, and superbly crafted characters, the twisted design team has forged a story that is engrossing and entertaining throughout.

Bad Day received several awards when it was released and was followed by a soundtrack album. A graphic novel was mooted, and David Lynch (appropriately) was even supposed to be developing a television series. Assuming you don't die, it won't take much more than 40 minutes to get to the end, in the sense that you will leave the park. You won't however have "learnt" all there is to learn, or heard the tales of all the inhabitants (or died, which can be revealing in itself). To do so you will have to visit The Midway again (although you can hear the character's life stories through the credit screen). Whether you will want to is another matter. If the descriptions above are suggestive of something darkly, perhaps morbidly, interesting, then you will probably re-visit a few times. If they are not, then you probably won't visit at all