Phantasmagoria (video game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
Phantasmagoria
Developer(s) Sierra On-Line/Kronos Digital
Publisher(s) Sierra On-Line/
Engine SCI Engine v2
Platform(s) MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS, Sega Saturn[1]
Release date PC
NA July 31, 1995
EU 1995
Sega Saturn
JP August 8, 1997
Genre(s) Horror / Adventure
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) ESRB: M
BBFC: 18
USK: 18
OFLC: RC
Media CD-ROM (7 - PC); (8 - SS)

Phantasmagoria is a CD-ROM horror-themed video game created by Sierra On-line for the DOS and Windows platforms, and later for the Sega Saturn in Japan. The game was released in 1995 and was followed by a sequel, Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh was released in 1996.

Made during the height of the "interactive movie" boom in the computer game industry, Phantasmagoria is notable for being one of the first adventure games to use a live actor as an on-screen avatar. The game was released on seven CDs to accommodate the massive amount of video generated by this process, the creation of which was contracted by Sierra to Kronos Digital Entertainment (who had previously worked on Sierra's King's Quest 6). Today it still stands as a record of sorts for the largest number of media cuts used in a game,[citation needed] though several other games, including an adventure game based on The X-Files television series have matched it in the sheer number of CDs used. Large portions of data were repeated on each CD, to avoid disk swapping when playing the game.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The story by Roberta Williams, somewhat similar to that of The Shining, revolves around paperback writer Adrienne Delaney, who has together with her husband Donald Gordon just bought a remote, enormous mansion previously owned by a famous magician in the late 19th century, Zoltan Carnovasch (Carno). Adrienne is hoping to get in the mood for writing her next novel and Don, a photographer, wants to photograph things. Immediately upon moving into the house, Adrienne begins having nightmares. Unbeknownst to the happy two, Zoltan the magician was into black magic and had summoned an evil demon which possessed him and made him murder his wives in grotesque ways remotely connected to their enjoyed hobby or career. For example, in one of the most controversial film sequences, the food-loving Regina is force fed animal entrails through a funnel until she suffocates and dies.

As far as the townspeople know, the wives died naturally however tragically, but as Adrienne explores the house she starts to see visions of the murders taking place. She finds out that Zoltan met his demise when his last wife realized he was a murderer. She conspired with her lover to kill Zoltan by sabotaging the equipment for his most famous and dangerous escapology trick; inspired by "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe, Zoltan would escape from being strapped to a chair with a built-in axe that swung back and forth above him and lowering until it killed him, all while his head was covered with a burning hood. The plan went wrong and both the wife and the lover as well as Zoltan died, and the demon escaped into a secret room of the mansion. Adrienne unwittingly releases it shortly after moving in and it possesses Don. Seeking help from, among others, the repenting spirit of Zoltan and a 110 year old man who as a boy was a witness to the demon's escape, Adrienne manages to banish the demon forever, although by then the completely insane Don gets killed.

[edit] Production

Actress Victoria Morsell spent months in front of a bluescreen filming the hundreds of actions players could direct her character to perform.[2] The game script was about 550 pages long, four times the size of a regular movie script, and an additional 100 pages of storyboards set the style for the over 800 scenes in the game.[2] The game required four months of filming alone and over 200 persons were involved in the production, not counting the Gregorian choir of 135 persons that was used for parts of the music in the game.[citation needed]. The final chase sequence took a week to film.[2]

[edit] Reception

 This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008)
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Phantasmagoria was a notable outing for designer Roberta Williams, best known for her family games like the King's Quest series. Featuring graphic gore, violence and a rape scene, the game stirred controversy over age restrictions and target audiences in the maturing game industry. It was banned in Australia; while CompUSA and other major retailers simply refused to carry it. The game was never banned in Germany, but had an 18-Rating. Despite the controversy, Phantasmagoria was Sierra's best-selling game in 1995 and one of the best-selling PC games of the year.[citation needed]

Reviews from the major editorials of the time were positive[citation needed]: Computer Gaming World (now Games for Windows) gave the game 4 and a half (out of 5 stars) and an Editor's Choice Award;[citation needed] PC Gamer scored it an 88% and also rewarded it with its Editor's Choice distinction.[citation needed] Computer Game Review (now defunct) applauded Phantasmagoria with its Golden Triad Award.[citation needed] Jeff Sengstack of GameSpot however, gave Phantasmagoria a 6.0 "Fair" rating and commented that "experienced adventurers will find Phantasmagoria generally unchallenging, the characters weak, the violence over-the-top, and the script just lame."[3]

Phantasmagoria was also ported for the Sega Saturn. This version, exclusively targeted for Japan, was developed and released by Outrigger Corporation in 1997. Renamed as Phantasm, it featured eight CDs and was fully translated and dubbed into Japanese language.

[edit] Legacy

Although Roberta Williams was at one point asked by Sierra to produce a third game in the series, [2] no further titles in the series were produced.

In a 2006 interview, [4] Roberta Williams cited Phantasmagoria as the game most representative of her game design career.

A boxed set of both Phantasmagoria games was released in 1999, called Phantasmagoria Stagefright.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Saturn - Phantasm. segagagadomain.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
  2. ^ a b c d Roberta Williams interview, 1999. adventureclassicgaming.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
  3. ^ Phantasmagoria review at GameSpot, May 1, 1996
  4. ^ Roberta Williams interview, 2006. adventureclassicgaming.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links