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- Sierra Entertainment
- Sierra Entertainment
- Sierra Entertainment
- Sierra Entertainment
Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh
Released On: Nov 30, 1996
Metascore
Critic reviews are not available yet
6.6
All Platforms
tbd
Critic Reviews
tbd
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 User Ratings
6.6
45% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
35% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
20% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 User Ratings
6.6
45% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
35% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
20% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
This is a rare live-acted movie, point-and-click adventure game. The acting is probably among the best of any PC game. The setting is very 1996 and the writing is very specific to that time period. My score of 8 is within the context of mid-1990s PC video games. There will never be another attempt of this genre because it is very expensive to create the live acting material.
2019 Update:
So, Bandersnatch has been released on Netflix and this represents the first live action, point-and-click movie I've seen since Phantasmagoria Puzzle of Flesh. I would rate both the game and the movie an 8 because they represent uniqueness in story telling approach - even though they are very different in their approach to the genre.
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PC
Ok. I Must admit - for the amount of oldies i am proud to claim, i have never played the original Phantasmagoria. i guess this might be y i give it a somewhat higher rating than others.
I am not a fan of cinematographic games, although in Gabriel Knight it worked quite nicely. And so it did here - i just didnt like the actor who played the protagonist.
Either way, i finished the game, and even though it was a rough ride - in retrospect, it is a nicely written story and a good game. I remember the ending well, and it was quite awesome and helluva scary! :)
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PC
The original Phantasmagoria was a unique and interesting concept, the use of live actors superimposed on to game environments was just beginning to become a thing and that is part of where it's charm came from.
As for the second game, A Puzzle of Flesh, it brings nothing new to the table and actually suffers from a lot of other problems. This time around the backgrounds are much more realistic looking then the first game.
To begin with, the movement in the game is awful. I don't know if it's the layout of the rooms, the context sensitive areas for the arrows or the angles, but moving around in A Puzzle of the Flesh constantly feels painful.
Other terrible issue with the game is the amount of inane events in the game. While Phantasmagoria had interesting events and plot devices you can optionally reveal through the progress of the game, either during chapters or special events, A Puzzle of Flesh has a ton of content and events that all rely on worthless actions such as calling someone from a phone or flipping one of your co-workers the middle finger.
This wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the fact you have absolutely no context on what you are supposed to do next to actually progress the story line. You simply have to slog through a mountain of garbage until you find the right action that will send you on your way.
A number of the puzzles, while using loose logic are completely unnecessary. A great example is when you first play the game, before you leave your apartment you need to find your wallet. If you search under your couch, you'll find your wallet, but in order to get your wallet, you need to use your pet rat. But your pet rat won't come out from under the couch, so you have to use a granola bar to lure him out to get your wallet to leave your apartment.
The above described puzzle is all fine and good, but the entire time I am doing this, I am asking myself, "why didn't he just reach under the couch?" or "why didn't he just move the couch", instead we have to rely on a basic logic puzzle that is stupid in order to get a wallet that would have taken 10 seconds otherwise.
Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh failed because of dumb writers and a director who didn't realize a large portion of their game was unnecessary and annoying.
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PC
