Mirage Review

|Tap-Repeatedly|FFC Archives

           

Mirage

Review by Orb

I love bad movies. Sometimes, films in this genre are made badly on purpose (Russ Meyer’s Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!), but sometimes the creators are really, really sincere, and the resultant effort, considered serious art by its maker, is the stuff by which bad-art legends are made (Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda?).

I’ve been discovering some old adventure games that seem to qualify as a new subgenre of their own, all along this line of thinking.  I think these came about around the time a few technical advancements were being made, CD-ROMs were first on the horizon. You know what I’m talking about. The odious, bargain-bin-anointed “Multimedia” titles. And like bad films, some of these are so busy reveling in their own clever and artistic achievements, they can’t see the forest for the trees.

The game Mirage handily fits into this newly coined genre, which for the sake of clarity I’ll call Trash Adventure. Ephemeral blips on the adventure gamer radar.

Mirage is actually a western that takes place in the town of BrotHell. Here’s a sampling of explanation from the game docs: “The doors and windows of your imagination will open or close if you find the key to survival. Awaiting you is your just reward as you uncover the dead and bury the living in the hallucinogenic terrains of the ‘Mirage’ desert. … Lost in the hallucinogenic terrains of the Mirage desert. Your thirst and your hunger for pleasure could lead you to a phantasmagoric land trapped forever inside your own imagination. In limbo with the ultimate deadly psychosis called ‘Mirage’.”

Well. Thanks for clearing that up.

Throughout the game you are given pieces of video that spell out the real story: your job is to rescue a girl named Jenny from a group of desperate, ugly thespian wannabes.

The graphics are that flimsy multimedia-type. You know the kind, a static screen that’s an altered photographic image, and there are maybe two, or even three, areas that pulse a little bit, slyly winking at you to get you to try clicking on them and see if something wondrous may happen?

The cast is bad-film superb. The women are leftover “actresses” from the legendary Vivid Video’s house o’porn, in their first real acting jobs with their clothing on. The male actors look like they were ripped off from one of Vivid’s set crews. The first giveaway to this, of course, is the notice on the back of the CD case—”All actors are on file and over the age of 18.” What a hoot! For an adventure game?

Puzzles consist mainly of clicking on the right thing and finding the correct hot spots in each room that will lead you to the next correct room. There are three inventory items that are collected at the beginning of the game and three more in the middle. All but one aren’t actually ever used. I kind of got the idea that these were needed in order to get through more of the rooms, but this isn’t really spelled out anywhere. There are multiple wrong rooms that can be chosen that will lead to a game over “death” screen. These are enigmatic and inexplicable, although I’m sure the guy that thought them up was having some sort of idea about them; however, the player just can’t decipher it.

One of the great things about this package is that it comes with a separate CD entitled “The Magic of Mirage: The Behind the Scenes Look at the Critically Acclaimed Game.” The guy in charge of the music, cryptically named “Saint,” looks suspiciously like an escapee from a Thompson Twins video. The entire package is pure high camp, all the much better because it has no idea it is at all. A truly Ed Wood kinda gaming experience.

You and I both know this isn’t going to qualify for a good verdict.  But one has to ask by what standard should it be judged? Are we going to apply a John Waters criterion to it and give it a star?  Or with a straight face call a spade a spade and give it the cornpoop it deserves? I can’t decide. I think the player will have to figure that out for him or herself. The End

The Verdict

?

The Lowdown

Developer: The Dream Designers Publisher: Atlantis Interactive Release Date: 1994

Available for: MacintoshWindows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlarge

System Requirements

Mac: Macintosh LC or greater 68030 or greater 2X ROM drive System 7 or better 16-bit color 6 MB RAM minimum

PC: IBM 386 or better 2X ROM drive Sound card 16-bit color Win 3.1 and above 6 MB RAM minimum DOS 5.0

Where to Find It

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

Pages

Top

Category Archives

Top

Blog Posts

Top

17 Responses to First Impressions: Heavy Rain

  • Toger

    I hate QTEs, but Heavy Rain is sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for me to push the button. I don’t even own a PS3, but I plan on buying the game anyway. I do have a good friend who’ll let me play at his house. Of course, I’ll have to drive 100 miles, one way, through the snow to get to his house. His chat-happy birds will cheerfully chirp thereby completely disrupting any atmosphere, but I can play.

  • David

    What!?  Heavy Rain is full of QTEs?  I totally did not see that coming.

    The whole dad experience thing sounds intriguing.  I’m already getting odd looks from my girlfriend for exclaiming over cute kids on the bus or at the mall, something like what you described might send my biological clock over the edge.

  • Lewis B

    My sentiments exactly David!

    Mat has been playing the Heavy Rain demo for a while now, and although he admits he is intrigued by the story, he does constantly complain about the control method.

    R2 + Analogue stick to run? *scoff*

  • Gregg B

    @Lew: DEMO?! PS3 DEMO?! *runs off to PS3*

    That sounds like the Batman: Arkham Asylum controls – Crazy Bonkers Design. The sort of design that puts pull handles on push doors.

    @Steerpike: “I despise children. They are disgusting and annoying. They knock things over. They interfere with everything. They’re not useful until they’re at least 13, when you can get them to mow the lawn and stuff. But you can pay a service to do that for just a few hundred bucks a year and the service won’t vomit on you, shit in its diapers, grow up to resent you, or otherwise suck. Don’t flame me and don’t post comments to the contrary: kids are repulsive. Why anyone would want them is beyond my feeble imaginings.”

    HAHAhahaha- I er, – hahahaha – you’re as outspoken as me about demon spawn children.

  • Lewis B

    Yeah its been on the internet for weeks and weeks Greggi.  I think you have to do a couple of online puzzles etc to get the appropriate code or something.

    Search on Kotaku, they first ran with it IIRC.

  • Mat

    The puzzle code was for early access before it hit the PSN Store. It’s been available to all since last week.

    Regarding the demo, it took me around 3 or 4 attempts at it to appreciate it. First time around I couldn’t have been more dissapointed by it, but after the 3rd or 4th I decided I wanted to stick with it. I don’t think the demo is a particularly great example of what the game supposedly does best either – choice. I also HATE the control scheme and some of the voice acting is so wooden. Creating an immersive, realistic game is fine but having characters stumbling into tables and fridges because of the ham fisted controls, and listening to French voice actors impersonate Americans does remove that realism a little!

    Still, I rushed out to buy it this morning and will rush home from work to play it in about an hour!

  • xtal

    @ Toger: I don’t own a PS3 either, and it’s not like Heavy Rain seems to be “that” game which makes you run out and buy one– like Bioshock made me run out and get a 360– and it’s also not like this game looks groundbreaking in any way, because it really doesn’t. It’s just got me curious…and people tend to do crazy things the week after they get their yearly bonus. Soooooo yeah, who knows; maybe I’ll own a PS3 soon, but like hell I would admit that it was for Heavy Rain. Psh. I’d tell people it was because I wanted to watch BSG on blu-ray; though anyone who knows me would see right through that lie since I am an avid non-format-upgrader: I’ll switch my BSG collection from DVD to blu-ray the day I upgrade my copy of Jurassic Park from VHS to DVD. (Hint: never)

  • Toger

    @xtal: I’m in no hurry to upgrade my meagre DVD collection to blu-ray either, but I have to say the movies I’ve watched on my friend’s PS3 are absolutely stunning. Blade Runner was simply breath-taking in blu-ray and it made me want a PS3. I don’t think Heavy Rain will be a system seller for me, but I’m betting the game from the Ico team will.

  • xtal

    A game from the Ico team, you say? Hmmm. I’ve been making rounds on Kijiji and Craigslist looking for a copy of Ico (eBay prices are so shudder-inducing) for a few days now. I really need to play that game after my experience with the indescribable Shadow of the Colossus.

    It’s good to know they haven’t died some Interplay-esque death in the meantime.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Nope, they’re a small team that works within Sony. Fumito Ueda is the lead and he’s got like ten or so people who’ve worked with him on all his games. Sony pretty much lets them do what they want.

    The Last Guardian is the game that’s coming up from them. It looks more like Ico and less like Shadow of the Colossus to me, which is to say it appears to be focused on platform elements. If I didn’t already have a PS3, it’d be the game that sells it.

  • Gregg B

    @Toger: Ooh, Blade Runner on Blu-ray, gorgeous in all its gorgeosity. In 5.1 it sounds incredible too.

    I bought my PS3 for Team Ico’s unnamed-at-the-time game, Heavy Rain (back when it was just a teaser), LittleBig Planet (yes, yes, I know), Dead Space and Motor Storm: Pacific Rift which sort of pushed me off the fence.

  • Toger

    Gregg, oh yes. The surround sound was spectacular. Did I mention my friend’s HDTV is 72″ (obscene, isn’t it)? It’s like being at a high-class theatre: better food, pauses for bathroom breaks and no one talking through the movie.

    Is Trine up on PSN, yet? If so, that might be my tipping point: Last Guardian, Heavy Rain and Trine.

  • Gregg B

    *spits tea out, despite not drinking any*

    O_O

    72″?! I’m speechless. I can only imagine how awesome that is. Size does matter.

    Not so sure about Trine… hang on. I think it is.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I think it is too, Toger. I’ll check.

    To be honest, though, I doubt you’d be disappointed with the purchase even if Trine’s not there yet. I’ve been way happier with my PS3 than with my 360. Demon’s Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, Uncharted, Folklore, even little games like Flower – I’ve had more concentrated fun with the PS3 than with Microsoft’s console, which tends to gather dust for months between game releases.

    72″???? I thought size didn’t matter!

  • Toger

    Size doesn’t matter. 😀

    In my friend’s defense, it was a great deal: opened box, itty-bitty scratch on the case, not a dead pixel to be seen and it was less $$ than the 60″ he originally wanted.

    Thanks for checking guys. I’ve played a tiny bit of Uncharted, but I’m horrible at the combat. Flower intrigues me. As does Demon’s Souls, but I know that game will crush my soul.

  • Gregg B

    There were certain moments in Flower where it just totally succeeded in conveying a feeling that I can’t say I’ve had in many other games, usually when rushing across a field through the grass or through a canyon or just skimming a pond, but it was never anything to do with collecting bloody petals or fulfilling some rudimentary puzzle. I think my problem with it was that it felt like it was trying to be this deeply emotional piece but in the end there seemed to be too many concessions to being a game rather than just running with the emotive side of the experience. One thing I am sure about though, is the trophies. Don’t get me started on the fucking trophies…

    One of my favourite little games on the PS3 is Everyday Shooter. It’s got a brilliant soundtrack that suits its raw visual style and I love how each level requires a certain tactic or strategy to survive it. It’s a very satisfying game in small bursts.

  • Hanover

    Unfortunately Cage mucked up the ending yet again.  The problem is that the mechanic of the game forced them to have to cheat in order to prevent spoiling the mystery of the game.

    There is also a red herring that makes no sense and is obviously put there to misdirect the player.

    90% of the game is awesome, the last 10% while not as bad as the indigo prophecy, is still sloppy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.