Bad Mojo

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.