Bad Mojo

The Good
Bad Mojo is one of those "odd" games that came with the cd/fmv revolution. While some stuck to the tried and true when it came to game design, some others used this medium to try and make the weirdest things imaginable (no doubt to cater for those that wanted something different).

Bad mojo, has a great concept. You are transformed into a roach and you get to explore the most disgusting (or beautiful, depending on your taste) scenery ever to be placed in a hotel. There's a weird plot putting everything together, but that's not why you play this game, the main point of Bad Mojo is to get yourself lost in one of the most hellish gameworlds ever made, and in that aspect it succedes.

The video usage in the game is actually great, since it doesn't take over the game as in other multimedia products of the time, and instead does what it does right. The video moves the story along, and creates a great atmosphere also. Not to be missed are the excellent graphics, which are truly remarkable. Every place you explore as a roach is rendered with gruesome detail, using radical lighting and very gothic and dark imagery, the guys at pulse have come with some of the most striking background art ever to be found in a game which are, in turn, backed by a great (and weird too) musical score.

The Bad
Well first of all, there are only three major characters in the game, and the one that plays you is the only one that can't act! He is the absolute pits, and it makes you wish you would remain a roach forever, plus the picture you paint yourself of Roger as you explore his domains and find out his story differs a lot from the way he portrays his character (not sure if this is his fault or someone else's). Then we have the plot, which promises yes, but in the end becomes somewhat corny and stupid, dissociating itself from the entire insanity premise that seems to be so abundant in the game.

Regardless neither of these elements are enough to detract a lot from the game, the only aspect which I have a major gripe with is the lack of interaction and exploration. It's a shame that all you get to do is walk around and push stuff, would it have killed them to put a "look" option, or some other interaction options?? Yes, you have pseudo "conversations" with other insects, but that's all.

The Bottom Line
In the end Bad Mojo is not a great game, and it certainly doesn't have a great story. What Bad Mojo really is though, is a descent into hell which you'll never forget. Bad Mojo is like this beautiful lens through which every mundane and uninteresting thing in a house is rendered into a hellish, putrefact, and dark place. In that sense it's truly a sight to behold, and it encourages you to look and explore everything the game has to offer (which in the end, isn't that much). Unless you are turned off by anything that is remotely out of the ordinary, you should check Bad Mojo out, but not in the "wanting to get a reward out of it" way, this game will leave you dry if you try that aproach. If you play it to get entertained, or to attain a specific goal, you are missing out. You should play Bad Mojo merely to experience it, because that's were it really shines, not as a game, not as a story, but as an experience. It's a game were truly the search you make, the journey, is more important that what you find at the end.

The Good
We all knew what adventures had to be like in 1996. You had a point&click interface, steering around a human guy lugging tons around in his invisible inventory. Then "Bad Mojo" crossed our way and everything changed.

Not only that you aren't human (you're a cockroach), you also do not have an inventory (you're a cockroach). Now what? You don't know why you became a nasty insect, nor how to change back to your human body. But when you start to figure it out, things get freaky. The designers managed to let you see the whole small world of your apartment with the eyes of a cockroach. And suddenly crossing the bathroom becomes dangerous, a cat turns into an invincible monster and everything you plan may become obsolete with a brick in your way.

The Bad
You will be steering your little insect using the keypads, which makes it sometimes difficult to get exactly where you wanted to go. This is a pity, because some puzzles need precise steering. (E.g. you will be required to sneak past a sleeping rat - a dangerous animal, once it's awake) Another thing is the use of 16 Bit Quicktime videos within the game. This might cause serious problems on newer systems, since Apple's not really always downward compatible.

The Bottom Line
"Bad Mojo" is very different from other adventures because it requires you to think along lines you wouldn't have normally. You don't ask yourself usually whether this would be a cockroach's approach to a problem, do you?

The Good
The photographic backgrounds and scenes are so realistic. Up close they are pretty grimy which captures the perspective of a cockroach perfectly. Encounters with other creatures including mice, ants and other minibeasts serve to bring poetic but helpful hints. Scary rats add to the dark and dingy atmosphere of the rundown bar. All six rooms are equally heart-beating to navigate as you try to survive to your next destination. The deserted bar is the most depressing room in a good sort of way. Every object you see makes both Roger and Eddie three dimensional and not flat cardboard characters, which more than compensates for the cheesy acting. And lastly the music really reflects the situations and atmosphere you find yourself in. Absolutely spot on.

Difficulty is fair and exactly what you'd expect from a good adventure game. Some puzzles and paths run by trial and error such as the paint puddle labyrinth in the basement. It's good that after running out of lives, everything is the way you left it, so you're not stuck restarting from the beginning. Then of course you do have stray cockroaches that hint where to go. And the approximate ten minute countdown at the near end of the game is plenty of time to attempt the best ending.

The Bad
Some rooms like the bathroom and deserted bar feel a little bit short with not much in the way of puzzles, but otherwise leaves you plenty of room to explore. Those rooms could have had more things to do in order to bypass them. To be fair though, it did take quite a budget and time to make the game, so I can't really fault the shortness of a couple of rooms.

The Bottom Line
Even being a Katsaridaphobic, I can assure adventure game lovers that this is the next level up if you've mastered scary games like Dark Seed and Phantasmagoria. If you can stomach it, no doubt you can get through the whole game without throwing up. This is a kind of game that we don't see created anymore, so you won't want to miss out on this classic. Next to Franz Kafka's bibliography, it's legendary.