Mode Review

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Mode

Review by OrbJune 2003

Mode is a lost-in-the-shuffle, long-forgotten FMV title published by Corel in 1996, at a time when it was just about to shut down its game publishing arm. Corel also published Cassandra Galleries, a favorite puzzle game amongst adventure gamers.

Mode has that funky MTV-in-the-80s feel. But it has none of the overly pushy attempt to be cool that MTV’s game of similar ilk, Club Dead, had. Mode is designed almost like an interactive art installation. And the number of paths the story can take, the method of communicating to characters within the game, and the style of the game itself really bear this out.

The story is a really well-defined yet simple mystery tale. You have arrived at a fashion and art party hosted by Vito Brevis, a mad genius artist-type. You have crashed the party and must find a way of securing a Dome, a silver lapel pin signifying you are “in,” one of the invited, beautiful people. Part of the fun of this game is experimenting with the various story paths and character interactions to acquire the Dome, or in trying to play the game through as far as you can without getting bounced from the party for not having a Dome. These story branches actually cause the game to become more elaborate and defined, and I found myself becoming more intrigued by the characters and the story as I tried different things and sent myself down the different directions the game can take.

But the acquisition (or not) of the Dome is just one small part of the overall story. There is a deeper mystery that begins to unfold as the story progresses regarding who Vito Brevis really is and what his real intentions are.

The thing that makes Mode an exceptional lost jewel of an FMV adventure title is that the developers used a method of communicating with characters the likes of which I have not run across before. What is this device, you ask? Something called a “Mood Bar.” The Mood Bar is a colored strip that runs along the bottom of the screen. The colors in the bar start at a deep fuchsia and move through reds and blues and greens. When a character communicates to you, the player, you do not respond using prewritten choices from a standard conversation tree; instead you pick the “mood” of your response. These choices totally change the outcome of the game. Entirely different things happen with same characters based on the mood used to speak to them.

This system lays in an element of surprise as to how the conversation is going to turn out, and it is surprising to see that something one character accepts as friendliness, another will dismiss as mindless fawning. I was bowled over by this whole system and found myself exploring to see how I could make conversations change the game and the game’s outcome. The game has 11 different endings.  I was able to find seven of them—some were short, some were very elaborate, all were entertaining.

I was also surprised by the quality of the actors. Unlike many FMV games, the acting in Mode is well-done and consistent.  As this is really the main focus of the game, it serves Mode well to have this important aspect crafted so well. The game is played in the first person, and as my descriptions imply, it is completely character-driven.

There are also points in the game where the opportunity arises to actually use the dome pin on a character, and what occurs is almost sci-fi. Barman, I’ll have an LSD chaser with that Budweiser!

The music is cheesy techno, played in short, repetitive loops that don’t detract but do give the environment a clubby atmosphere.

There is a game-within-the-game that is presented at the party as an art piece, an interactive machine called the Mode Machine.  This machine also has a bar, but this is made up of the word “mode.”  If you rearrange the letters in the correct manner, you are able to access more of the background story. Each letter also has an interactive element where you can click on images to make different things happen. It’s a little hard to explain without seeing it, but it’s a bit of a cross between pop art, modern art and performance art. Whatever the hell it is, I liked it.

There is an ongoing fashion show, which also has the air of performance art, hosted by a stand-up comedian clown in a suit who becomes more intoxicated and belligerent as the night wears on. Each time this section of the party is visited, what is featured on the stage changes, and this occurs throughout the game. In one instance, a garage band comes on stage, one member wheeled in by a nurse who covers her ears with a pained look on her face as they begin to play. How many times have you wanted to do that with a garage band?

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of this game is kitschy and strange.  But I felt myself inexplicably drawn into it and completely entertained.  Usually I am not a big fan of character-driven FMV, but I loved this.

Jeff Green, the primary designer for Mode, still has a really interesting website up for this game. The website also features information on another Anamatics game called Midnight Stranger, which also used the Mood Bar, as well as some pages regarding a now-defunct interactive web portion of Mode called Club Mode. There’s also an email address where you can request a demo of Mode.

I think the Mood Bar was a clever idea that was simply marketed poorly and underpromoted by Corel, which at the time was giving up the gaming ghost. This is evidenced at the very least in the design of the box cover, a photo of the main character wearing his Dome, which comes off like a picture of someone’s waiter looking up at the sky, all bland grays and blacks and whites. The game itself is quite colorful—what were they thinking? The initial plan for Mode was quite the over-the-top dotcom starburst.  There was to be a huge online crowd, with major companies such as Donna Karan and Air Canada sponsoring sections of rooms in the game, and Corel had pledged the bandwidth and was planning to spend $40,000 a month on the project, including new portions of the game to be released with regularity on CD. Obviously, this all fell through, and Corel pulled out of the gaming biz. I’m sure there’s a really entertaining dotcom bust story here somewhere.

This is a very playable collector’s game, and your best bets for getting yourself a copy (if this at all piques your interest) are eBay or the Game Trading Zone. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Anamatics Multimedia Publisher: Corel Release Date: March 1996

Available for: Macintosh Windows

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System Requirements

PC: 486 DX 66 Windows 3.1x MSDOS 5.0 8 MB RAM 640×480/256 colors 2X CD-ROM drive 8-bit Sound Blaster or compatible sound card Mouse and speakers

Macintosh: LCIII System 7.1 8 MB RAM 640×480/256 colors 2X CD-ROM drive

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

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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