Bad Mojo: Redux

The Good

The Game
As much as I would like to write, "As Roger Sams awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect," it's more accurate to say, As Roger Sams quickly packed, checked his passport, and double-checked his briefcase full of questionably attained money, he was turned into a normal-sized cockroach. Or, rather, some essence of Roger Sams entered into a cockroach when he was transmogrified by his late mother's antique locket. Frankly, the connection between Roger Sams and the cockroach is somewhat inexplicable but clearly Kafka-esque.

Roger Sams (Michael Sommers) is a young, up-and-coming, entomologist who has either discovered a way to rid the world of cockroaches or a clever scheme to part people from their money. Roger lives in the apartment above Harry's On the Waterfront bar and kitchen. Harry (Mike Gilliam), the landlord, is a down-and-out boxing promoter turned slumlord, albeit the slum is a single apartment. Rounding out the less than heroic trio is Franz the cat played by Bogart.

Getting back to basics, this adventure game puts the player in control of a cockroach (Periplaneta americana). The cockroach is controlled with the arrow keys and these are the only keys the player will use save for jumping to an options screen. Though billed as a Redux, the game itself is the same as the 1996 incarnation. It has been tweaked to run well on modern systems yet it does not include an un/installation wizard.

As the cockroach, the player explores the environs of Harry’s, from the depths of the basement through the bathroom, kitchen, and bar, ultimately to Roger’s apartment. Each area acts as its own level. Part of the game’s charm is that the player can go anywhere a cockroach can go, but can only do what a cockroach can do. The biggest gameplay elements involve overcoming environmental obstacles. For instance, a barrier of grease may block your way, but you can push a nearby bottle cap and create a bridge. Early on, a spider is dissuaded by a burning cigarette. Later in the game, acting as a conductor triggers a fan which triggers something else, creating a path for the cockroach.

Harry’s bar is connected by its drain system, so it is possible (and sometimes necessary) to revisit earlier areas. This sense of connectivity is amplified by the fact that actions taken by the cockroach in one area have an effect somewhere else. The image of toppling dominoes is a good metaphor for the structure of this game. Connection seems to be the game’s theme, since progressing through the storyline reveals an un/expected link between Roger and Harry.

While moving through the game, the cockroach hits hotspots marked as eye icons that reveal hints about the area relayed by other denizens of Harry’s. A gasping catfish left on a cutting board has insights on the kitchen’s puzzles. Ants in the bathroom warn of the Rat King living in the wall. Other hotspots trigger flashbacks or possible futures for Roger and Harry and an eerie muse appears at the end of each level and offers guidance and advice for the road ahead.

Graphically, Bad Mojo offers a mixture of full motion video, 3D rendered transitions, and animated 2D screens linked together to create the illusion of a 3D environment. These work together brilliantly. While FMV can be controversial, Bad Mojo uses it well. The acting is over the top without playing the roles just for laughs. FMV never takes the place of gameplay. More importantly, FMV blends so well into the game that the player never feels pulled out of the setting. Sound is similarly as effective. The score is atmospheric and ambient noises are unsettlingly realistic.

The game comes on a standard CD-ROM.

The Extras
The apex of the extras is a thirty-minute long documentary covering every aspect of the game’s design from the concept to the inevitable “we’d like to do a follow-up” closing. Among the highlights are: a clip from Good Morning America featuring the original game (and its amazing $59.95 list price), a horrific tale of roaches-in-the-ear, and a disgusting account of roach wrangling leading up to a roach holocaust.

There are hints (video-walkthroughs) for each of the six levels. These serve as a nice overview, but really provide too much information to make playing the game fun. Also, if you are stuck on a level, do you really want to pop a DVD in and fast-forward to the puzzle you are stuck on?

Rounding up the Extras is the Goodies section offering all the movies with designer commentary, concept art, storyboards, a stills gallery, and information about the team. These are great, but the lack of user-friendly wallpapers is glaring.

The Extras come on a DVD playable via a DVD-ROM drive or a standard DVD player.

The Bad
As best as I can figure out, Bad Mojo has four endings. These are four full endings, not just little “you died” bumps in the road. This doesn’t really expand the life of a somewhat short game, since the possible endings are determined by end-game actions.

Anyway, the very best ending (to me) wraps up all the loose ends. Except at that point, there aren’t any loose ends in the player’s mind. The game ends on a “well, duh” denouement where the characters figure out what’s been obvious from early on in the game.

The Bottom Line
Bad Mojo is such a great antithesis to the glut of sanitary adventure games out there (1996 and now). It’s really a down and dirty exploration of building, with many cringe-inducing moments. It’s visceral stuff—bloody and disgusting… and fun. It acts on at least two levels: it’s great gaming figuring out how to navigate along a kitchen counter, running over food and utensils, and it’s repellent knowing that it could really be happening when you turn off the lights.

Bad Mojo Redux is a wonderful game that preserves a cult classic and also cares enough to give the player insight into the game's creation. It's a shame that more effort isn't put into making older games playable and that few developers are willing to take players behind the scenes.

The Good
You know, after you play games for a while, you get to a point where the same old FPS's with rocket launchers, and rpgs tend to get boring. The reason we play games is to be able to do things we wouldn't be able to do in real life, to get enjoyment out of it. And somehow that's escaped gaming today. But in Bad Mojo, recently resurrected in this re-release, Redux, you can tell this is a game of another calibre. Let's take a look at what it's all about.

Bad Mojo: The Roach Game, is essentially what is in the title. It's a game, where you are a cockroach. The sheer simplicity is the best part. As a cockroach, all you can do is move. Forward, backwards, whatever. That's it. The storyline leading up to this, while odd, is equally brilliant and well-played with real actors. But it's the gameplay that outshines everything. After a while, you become aware of everything you ignore as a person, but is so important to cockroaches. The mop that you place beside your stove, who knew in the world of small creatures, it's a bridge that allows them to reach heights usually unattainable. The coke you spilt earlier? It's like a great wall of protection against the roach. After a while, you become so engrossed that return to real life and wonder how you didn't take this seriously. Bad Mojo isn't a game, it's an experience.

The sound is moody and fitting. Ambiance fills the background, full of creaky noises and dark sounds. Roaches flutter in and out of your viewsight, and it's only when seeing them you discover how disgusting you yourself are too. The FMV used to progress the storyline is acted decently if not a little over the top.

The Bad
The only downside to the rerelease, is that for a game so old, I would expect a little more in the way of reworking. Sure, the images look a bit better, and the video is more crisp, but the overall visual representation of the actual game is more or less the same.

The Bottom Line
Bad Mojo is not an average game. Where most of today's games is just mindless violence and shooting, Bad Mojo shows us reality in the gritty way it is, not just explosions of blood passed off as "realism". It's definitely not for kids, but it's an excellent game. Bad Mojo : Redux successfully taunts all the new games on the market, saying "remember when games used to be like this?"

My rating for Bad Mojo, is a solid 5 out of 5.