Afro Republican
Banned
Let's take a blast to the past and talk about an extremely underrated Horror game series called PHANTASMAGORIA!
Starting with the first game:
Phantasmagoria was one of the first large budget FMV games to really start giving an equal balance between Movie and Gameplay, which I hoped would continue as technology improved, but years later around 1998 the genre pretty much died outside some exceptions here and there.
An Adventure game where you have real-life graphics along with traditional point and click gameplay. Also it was INSANE!
Your Husband being possessed by a demon slowly going more and more mad until he starts laughing maniacally and trying to kill everyone in the house including the electrician. A house which no sane person would have gone into without renovations and removing several things from the property.
The game was a success, however overtime there's been little exposure to this classic. I would recommend those who are fans of horror games or movies to try and track down this title, preferably legally, as it really is quite the game. Fantastic!
Plot: The Story starts out pretty simple, the main character and her husband decide to rent this ridiculously large circus mansion that used to be owned by a mad magician who had his essence sealed in a book. When this book if found by incident, she open the book to let out the demon spirit of the insane magician named Carno iirc. Who then posses her Husband, and he slowly becomes more mean and abusive before he snaps and starts acting like some deranged mad scientist as shown in the gif:
This crazed magician had tortured his own maids and killed how own wife in gruesome ways:
Gameplay: The game sometimes has sections where you need to act a bit faster to escape some shall we say, problems, however it's a pretty good game that isn't really difficult. You switch between the town and mansion to get information from the towns people on the original owner of the house. Tons of areas to explore as the house also seems to have its own dungeon, and a hidden area cut off around the back that's only accessible with he help of two homeless people, an old lady and her dumb but strong son, the latter of which can push down a tree (wouldn't want to make him mad.)
It's a pretty creepy game but not really too frightening, and had a nice dash of humor in it. I would highly recommend this game however for anyone that wants to play-through an enjoyable adventure title. For those that have already played the game, what's your opinion on it? How would you rate the acting, gameplay, music, and setting? Did you love it or hate it?
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PHANTASMAGORIA 2: A PUZZLE OF FLESH
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The sequel and final game in the series, PG2 goes a different direction than the first game taking a more cinematic approach and aiming more for jump and atmospheric horror instead of a horror theme that pushes blood and gore. However, this game still has plenty of blood so don't be fooled.
The main character is a man named Curtis Craig who had not long earlier had been released from a hospital. he goes to work at a "tech" company within a cubical. pretty average guy so far. After a very average opening things suddenly go awry:
Ok, that doesn't happen until a couple hours in (also wtf?)
BUT, suddenly Curtis has weird visions, touching walls will suddenly show blood splattered on his arms, he's hearing some crazy voice on his phone, he's having day dreams of his mom trying to I. His dad may have been murdered trying to uncover something called the "threshold project", made by the same company Curtis is currently working for!!!!!
Plot: the story may already seem a bit silly, and that's because it is. The game seems to be all over the place. Which is why it's probably my favorite horror game of all time. They occasionally tried more than the first game to throw some comedy in the mix, but the terrible writing makes this one of the creepiest and most hilarious horror games all at once. Heck, i'd even say it gives movies a run for their money. the plot is bat shit insane, they contradict what just happened in a scene less than 60 seconds from a scene, things happen for no reason, events the game thinks you should know never happen in the game. it's absolutely glorious.
Gameplay: Phantasmagoria 2 isn't too different from one regarding it's point and click style gameplay, but there's a lot more FMV involved with a bigger budget. I will say however that the game is a bit more difficult and not because of the gameplay itself but because some of the puzzles are really odd. There are also two points where the goal of a scene is just needlessly complicated for no reason. The first is...the first puzzle in the game. it's not that difficult to figure out but you'll be wondering who came up with such an odd puzzle. The worst though are within the last hour of the game, where I'm fairly certain these guys just threw puzzles together without even looking at it. The last major one is complete nonsense (and so is where it takes place).
Overall, I actually greatly prefer the 80's/90's movie hybrid approach this game takes over the first. it's hilarious, there's a lot more to be invested in, and the plot is outrageous. There's this crazy scene where Curtis passes out and has a flashback to the insane asylum which has some man talking about taco salad and disco dancing and it's just nuts. The game world is smaller but much less outlandish then living in some crazy magicians mansion and much more believable.
Well it was mostly more believable, until the FLIPPING ALIENS came up late in the game:
(pictured here, Alien makes a hologram of himself, which said hologram is able to pick up a head and shoot a laser and the..what?!?!)
What's more interesting about the Aliens late game is the guy in the fig is apparently the REAL son of your father and not you. This guy is actually in some other dimension or space or whatever, sealed up and unable to move. but has the power to send holograms of himself to do things... like kill people by slashing them or doing the above gif...SOMEHOW. Also, there was contact with other Aliens but by the end of the game he's the only one, where did the other aliens go? Why is who?
By now you're likely thinking "I need to buy this somehow original copy or PC download ASAP" well, you are correct because, at least for me, Phantasmagoria 2 is not only one of the best horror games of all time(granted for the wrong reasons likely not intended by the makers), but one of the best games of all time, and top 5 FMV for sure. Now, whether I like this more than Ripper or not is the question, I guess I'll give this the edge as it's very replayable and not as irritating with the disc switching. Plus it's one of the best comedies.
For those who have played PG2, what's your opinion on it? How would you rate the acting, gameplay, music, and setting? Did you love it or hate it?
-----------------------------------------------------
TL: DR
-----------------------------------------------------
TL: DR: I highly recommend you guys check out these titles, for those who had missed or never heard of this series, you'll have a blast. It really does show how you can do more with FMV than button prompt movies, and they are well designed games.
For those that did place PG1, PG2, or both, what's your reception of them at the time and/or retrospectively? How do you find the plot, gameplay, acting, and themes? Do you think they still hold up today?
Retro Flashback Thread Series by Afro Republican. All Gafs Reserved.
Starting with the first game:
Phantasmagoria was one of the first large budget FMV games to really start giving an equal balance between Movie and Gameplay, which I hoped would continue as technology improved, but years later around 1998 the genre pretty much died outside some exceptions here and there.
An Adventure game where you have real-life graphics along with traditional point and click gameplay. Also it was INSANE!
Your Husband being possessed by a demon slowly going more and more mad until he starts laughing maniacally and trying to kill everyone in the house including the electrician. A house which no sane person would have gone into without renovations and removing several things from the property.
The game was a success, however overtime there's been little exposure to this classic. I would recommend those who are fans of horror games or movies to try and track down this title, preferably legally, as it really is quite the game. Fantastic!
Plot: The Story starts out pretty simple, the main character and her husband decide to rent this ridiculously large circus mansion that used to be owned by a mad magician who had his essence sealed in a book. When this book if found by incident, she open the book to let out the demon spirit of the insane magician named Carno iirc. Who then posses her Husband, and he slowly becomes more mean and abusive before he snaps and starts acting like some deranged mad scientist as shown in the gif:
This crazed magician had tortured his own maids and killed how own wife in gruesome ways:
Gameplay: The game sometimes has sections where you need to act a bit faster to escape some shall we say, problems, however it's a pretty good game that isn't really difficult. You switch between the town and mansion to get information from the towns people on the original owner of the house. Tons of areas to explore as the house also seems to have its own dungeon, and a hidden area cut off around the back that's only accessible with he help of two homeless people, an old lady and her dumb but strong son, the latter of which can push down a tree (wouldn't want to make him mad.)
It's a pretty creepy game but not really too frightening, and had a nice dash of humor in it. I would highly recommend this game however for anyone that wants to play-through an enjoyable adventure title. For those that have already played the game, what's your opinion on it? How would you rate the acting, gameplay, music, and setting? Did you love it or hate it?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PHANTASMAGORIA 2: A PUZZLE OF FLESH
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The sequel and final game in the series, PG2 goes a different direction than the first game taking a more cinematic approach and aiming more for jump and atmospheric horror instead of a horror theme that pushes blood and gore. However, this game still has plenty of blood so don't be fooled.
The main character is a man named Curtis Craig who had not long earlier had been released from a hospital. he goes to work at a "tech" company within a cubical. pretty average guy so far. After a very average opening things suddenly go awry:
Ok, that doesn't happen until a couple hours in (also wtf?)
BUT, suddenly Curtis has weird visions, touching walls will suddenly show blood splattered on his arms, he's hearing some crazy voice on his phone, he's having day dreams of his mom trying to I. His dad may have been murdered trying to uncover something called the "threshold project", made by the same company Curtis is currently working for!!!!!
Plot: the story may already seem a bit silly, and that's because it is. The game seems to be all over the place. Which is why it's probably my favorite horror game of all time. They occasionally tried more than the first game to throw some comedy in the mix, but the terrible writing makes this one of the creepiest and most hilarious horror games all at once. Heck, i'd even say it gives movies a run for their money. the plot is bat shit insane, they contradict what just happened in a scene less than 60 seconds from a scene, things happen for no reason, events the game thinks you should know never happen in the game. it's absolutely glorious.
Gameplay: Phantasmagoria 2 isn't too different from one regarding it's point and click style gameplay, but there's a lot more FMV involved with a bigger budget. I will say however that the game is a bit more difficult and not because of the gameplay itself but because some of the puzzles are really odd. There are also two points where the goal of a scene is just needlessly complicated for no reason. The first is...the first puzzle in the game. it's not that difficult to figure out but you'll be wondering who came up with such an odd puzzle. The worst though are within the last hour of the game, where I'm fairly certain these guys just threw puzzles together without even looking at it. The last major one is complete nonsense (and so is where it takes place).
Overall, I actually greatly prefer the 80's/90's movie hybrid approach this game takes over the first. it's hilarious, there's a lot more to be invested in, and the plot is outrageous. There's this crazy scene where Curtis passes out and has a flashback to the insane asylum which has some man talking about taco salad and disco dancing and it's just nuts. The game world is smaller but much less outlandish then living in some crazy magicians mansion and much more believable.
Well it was mostly more believable, until the FLIPPING ALIENS came up late in the game:
(pictured here, Alien makes a hologram of himself, which said hologram is able to pick up a head and shoot a laser and the..what?!?!)
What's more interesting about the Aliens late game is the guy in the fig is apparently the REAL son of your father and not you. This guy is actually in some other dimension or space or whatever, sealed up and unable to move. but has the power to send holograms of himself to do things... like kill people by slashing them or doing the above gif...SOMEHOW. Also, there was contact with other Aliens but by the end of the game he's the only one, where did the other aliens go? Why is who?
By now you're likely thinking "I need to buy this somehow original copy or PC download ASAP" well, you are correct because, at least for me, Phantasmagoria 2 is not only one of the best horror games of all time(granted for the wrong reasons likely not intended by the makers), but one of the best games of all time, and top 5 FMV for sure. Now, whether I like this more than Ripper or not is the question, I guess I'll give this the edge as it's very replayable and not as irritating with the disc switching. Plus it's one of the best comedies.
For those who have played PG2, what's your opinion on it? How would you rate the acting, gameplay, music, and setting? Did you love it or hate it?
-----------------------------------------------------
TL: DR
-----------------------------------------------------
TL: DR: I highly recommend you guys check out these titles, for those who had missed or never heard of this series, you'll have a blast. It really does show how you can do more with FMV than button prompt movies, and they are well designed games.
For those that did place PG1, PG2, or both, what's your reception of them at the time and/or retrospectively? How do you find the plot, gameplay, acting, and themes? Do you think they still hold up today?
Retro Flashback Thread Series by Afro Republican. All Gafs Reserved.
