Déjà Vu (video game)

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Déjà Vu
Deja Vu box art, Amiga version
Developer(s) ICOM Simulations, Inc.
Publisher(s) MindScape
Engine MacVenture
Platform(s) Commodore Amiga
Apple IIGS
Atari ST
Commodore 64
Game Boy Color
Apple Macintosh
NES
MS-DOS
PocketPC
Microsoft Windows
Release date 1985 (Mac)
1987 (DOS)
1990 (NES)
Genre(s) Adventure game
Mode(s) Single player
Media Two 3,5" 400k floppies (Mac)
Input methods Mouse/Keyboard
Joystick (C64)

Déjà Vu[a] is a "point-and-click" adventure game set in the world of 1940s hard-boiled detective novels and movies. It was the first in the MacVenture series released on the Macintosh in 1985, and later ported to several other systems.

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[edit] Gameplay

The game takes place in Chicago during December 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The game character is Theodore 'Ace' Harding, a retired boxer who is working as a private eye.

The player awakes one morning in a bathroom stall, unable to remember who he is. The bathroom stall turns out to belong to Joe's Bar: a dead man is found in an office and Ace is about to be framed for the murder. There are some clues around as to who the murdered man is and to the player's own identity. A strap-down chair, mysterious vials and a syringe is also found suggesting, together with a needle-mark on the player's arm, that some kind of elaborate torture or other treatment has taken place.

The streets of early 1940s Chicago is clearly an unsafe place for a man with no memory. There are muggers, an old acquaintance with a grudge, not to mention the police. Here, the player's history as a boxer is a much more valuable asset than the smoking gun picked up in the game's beginning. Using addresses found around Joe's bar, Ace is able to make taxi rides to a few locations including his own P.I. office. A story unravels of a kidnapping in which Ace has played some part but his memory lacks important details.

Ace's memory and mental condition gets progressively worse but he can eventually obtain an antidote to the drug that caused the memory loss. The memory recurring flashbacks now become filled with information (of which not all is decisive to the gameplay). The police are still on his back, but with the new information the player can better value the various bits of evidence and take care of them accordingly.

This game and its sequel Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas require a lot of lateral thinking. Some are based in common detective techniques, others require simple violence. They are nonetheless more logically disposed than the two other MacVentures (Uninvited and Shadowgate), since there are no supernatural events involved.

Macintosh version of Déjà Vu.
Macintosh version of Déjà Vu.

[edit] Technology

Déjà Vu originated the MacVenture interface and engine that became ICOM's trademark. It was awarded SPA excellence in software awards for Best Entertainment Product and Best New World in 1986 and inspired similar point-and-click games such as Maniac Mansion from LucasArts. For more about the game engine see MacVenture.

Numerous ports were made, including versions for several home computer systems in 1987 as well as Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Versions of Deja Vu and its sequel with new graphics and sound were released for Microsoft Windows in the early 1990s, and later as a combined single-cartridge release for the Game Boy Color. The NES version was infamous for having a defective save system, probably due to a hardware defect.[citation needed]

Déjà Vu (NES version)
Déjà Vu (NES version)

[edit] Notes

a^ : The original game boxes and the in-game logo write the title as Deja Vu (without accent marks). However, the text on the back of the box spells the title in the correct manner, as do the logos for the NES and Game Boy Color ports. Some sources also add an additional subtitle of "A Nightmare Comes True!!", though this is more likely just a tagline and is completely absent on the in-game logo and NES game box.

[edit] See also

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