j. jones @heiamll
Reviews
Majestic: Special Edition (Windows)
Only a madman could have produced this awesome experience.
The Good
When I first got the game I wasn't sure what to expect. The things I had heard about Majestic in various gaming magazines gave the game a certain mystique. People calling me at home to advance the plot? Faxes addressed to me dealing with the Illuminati? As far as I was aware, there had never been an adventure game quite like this.
After you load up the game you go to log onto Majestics server when, dun-dun-dun, the server is down. You go to EA's site and they say they are working on the problem. Emails are sent to you saying they will get Majestic up and running as soon as possible. Dig a little deeper and you find out why the Majestic server is down. Using the web you discover that the developers building has been burned to the ground! This is the start of the game.
I have to admit that I was suckered by Majestics opening. In a way it was reminiscent of getting tricked into your first kiss, I was annoyed by being played for a chump but I was thrilled by it all the same! The game was playing with your head before you even expected it which is actually rather astonishing. The only other game to come even near to a total "figure-it-out" opening was Hacker. Majestic is truly a game for those who love to explore.
You have to use the internet for most of the game to research different items from websites, some real and some fake. You also can use your instant messenger which you can converse with other Majestic players to assemble clues. The story of Majestic is also moved along via recorded video and audio files.
The much touted phone calls that you receive are pre-recorded and sound cheesy, but they bring an immersion to the game that I haven't experience to this day. Oh yeah, be careful to alert everyone else in the house about the game otherwise Grandma might answer a phone call where they are told that the murder was done by the Illuminati.
The Bad
I have to be honest. After the novelty began to wear off, I was answering phones saying "Hurry it, up" to the recorder. The game still had me just for the story, but I feel the game was never fully realized to its potential.
The Bottom Line
Majestic is a game which will probably never be duplicated. It was a one-time shot, a failed experiment in a vast ocean of sequals and rehashes and remakes. Regardless of my final opnion that it was just an above-average game with more novelties than the Tropicana Adult Superstore, I am personally proud to have been a part of a unique foray into online gaming.
By j. jones on September 11, 2005