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.