Bad Mojo

From thecrankyhermit

Bad Mojo
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Companies Drew Pictures, Pulse Entertainment,
Acclaim Entertainment
First release date Feb 29, 1996
Original platform(s) Windows
Current official platform(s) Official source port: GOG, Steam

Cinematic adventure

Bad Mojo
Playing an FMV-heavy adventure game as a roach scurrying around a filthy San Francisco apartment makes for a unique experience, if nothing else. There are no inventory items, no point & click controls, and no NPCs to talk to. Puzzles are organic and environmental, keyboard controls are slippery, and clues come from observing the environment, or from many surreal, out of body experiences. Exploration is intentionally disorienting, with controls that let you crawl on any solid surface, from any angle, and camera angles don't always make it clear which direction is up. Puzzle design is clever, if on the easy side, and frequent prophecy-like clues often seem cryptic but make perfect sense once you deduce their meanings. Cut-scenes, flashbacks, and ingame visuals competently tell a decent plot, but the real strength is how forced microscopic perspective builds an uncanny world out of an otherwise mundane, if unsanitary setting. A 2004 re-release called "Bad Mojo Redux" offers remastered 24-bit color FMVs, some bonus videos, and the usual improved performance on modern systems.