Zovni
Reviews
Bad Mojo (Windows 3.x)
The search is more important than the find. (or something like that...;)
The Good
Bad Mojo is one of those "odd" games that came with the cd/fmv revolution. While some stuck to the tried and true when it came to game design, some others used this medium to try and make the weirdest things imaginable (no doubt to cater for those that wanted something different).
Bad mojo, has a great concept. You are transformed into a roach and you get to explore the most disgusting (or beautiful, depending on your taste) scenery ever to be placed in a hotel. There's a weird plot putting everything together, but that's not why you play this game, the main point of Bad Mojo is to get yourself lost in one of the most hellish gameworlds ever made, and in that aspect it succedes.
The video usage in the game is actually great, since it doesn't take over the game as in other multimedia products of the time, and instead does what it does right. The video moves the story along, and creates a great atmosphere also. Not to be missed are the excellent graphics, which are truly remarkable. Every place you explore as a roach is rendered with gruesome detail, using radical lighting and very gothic and dark imagery, the guys at pulse have come with some of the most striking background art ever to be found in a game which are, in turn, backed by a great (and weird too) musical score.
The Bad
Well first of all, there are only three major characters in the game, and the one that plays you is the only one that can't act! He is the absolute pits, and it makes you wish you would remain a roach forever, plus the picture you paint yourself of Roger as you explore his domains and find out his story differs a lot from the way he portrays his character (not sure if this is his fault or someone else's).
Then we have the plot, which promises yes, but in the end becomes somewhat corny and stupid, dissociating itself from the entire insanity premise that seems to be so abundant in the game.
Regardless neither of these elements are enough to detract a lot from the game, the only aspect which I have a major gripe with is the lack of interaction and exploration. It's a shame that all you get to do is walk around and push stuff, would it have killed them to put a "look" option, or some other interaction options?? Yes, you have pseudo "conversations" with other insects, but that's all.
The Bottom Line
In the end Bad Mojo is not a great game, and it certainly doesn't have a great story. What Bad Mojo really is though, is a descent into hell which you'll never forget. Bad Mojo is like this beautiful lens through which every mundane and uninteresting thing in a house is rendered into a hellish, putrefact, and dark place. In that sense it's truly a sight to behold, and it encourages you to look and explore everything the game has to offer (which in the end, isn't that much). Unless you are turned off by anything that is remotely out of the ordinary, you should check Bad Mojo out, but not in the "wanting to get a reward out of it" way, this game will leave you dry if you try that aproach. If you play it to get entertained, or to attain a specific goal, you are missing out. You should play Bad Mojo merely to experience it, because that's were it really shines, not as a game, not as a story, but as an experience. It's a game were truly the search you make, the journey, is more important that what you find at the end.
By Zovni on February 4, 2023
Half-Life (Windows)
Pleased to make your acquaintance Mr. Half-Life, but haven't we met before?
The Good
Interesting weapons with good variety, great sound and graphics, some impressive stages and good ballistics for an arcade game. Also there's great interaction in the game and there are some truly excellent action sequences, like a whole episode where you are on a little train and one where you have to sneak past a giant tentacle. The game also can create one hell of an atmosphere.
The Bad
Well, the npcs look like the same two guys all through the game, and the AI in the game looks amazing, but that's because it merely follows some clever pre-programmed steps, you'll quickly learn it's "holes" and how to take advantage of them. Also the final boss sucks, it is merely a puzzle-like exercise with zero challenge to it.
But the real bad thing in Half-Life is that it is completely over-rated. Half-life is a great game, but let's not confuse the issues, that doesn't mean it does anything new or innovative, it merely does everything we have seen before better. For instance, the storyline is a piece of crap, it's the usual "bad aliens come to kick ass" thing but updated to our current times (cue in the government cover-ups and X-files references). Why does it seem better then? Because it is made a part of the game. In previous games you played through a level/mission and then you sat back to watch the story unfold in cutscenes, on Half-Life the story unveils before your eyes in the game!! Revolutionary you say? I say System Shock, just because it's the first one that comes to mind. The gameplay itself is also unninspired, and shows the true nature of the game, for instance: take the giant tentacle sequence: what's it really about? flipping switches, and shooting anything in the way... However by lots of inventive designs and atmosphere tricks, we get duped into thinking it's actually a deep non-linear affair, millions of times I was fooled into thinking "wow, there must be hundreds of possible ways to finish this game" Wrong, Half-Life is a shooter pure and simple, and though it may seem deep it is actually Doom Redux: kill everything in the room, flip the switch, move on... ad infinitum.
As such, it is very easy to understand the reason Half-Life is so successful. Half-Life is nothing but a sophisticated Doom, yet everyone hails it as the next coming in terms of level design, storyline, etc... Don't get me wrong, like Doom, I love Half-Life! But I know what the game is REALLY about.
In the end it is all about illusions really, you may say that I'm being overly cynical, and that illusions is what gaming is all about anyway.... but still, I can't help but think that the gaming industry can provide something different that just newer, better versions of Doom. I'd like to think that they can provide original storylines and true depth of gameplay instead of pulling quarters out of our ears, showing us a series of nifty tricks and making us believe we have had the time of our lives
The Bottom Line
To be fair let me state that Half-Life really IS an atmospheric rollercoaster ride to remember. It is one helluva game and I loved playing it. But does it deserve it's success? I can't help but feel outraged when people that have been in the business for years get the shaft because they refuse to do the same stupid things over and over and try to be innovative, while along comes Valve, rehashes Doom, and suddenly they get considered the next design gods of the century...
No, something must be wrong...
By Zovni on May 12, 2011