APRIL TOGETHER RETRO RUN-OFF VOTE

[BogusMeatFactory]

Lauren, you can totally play it on tabletop simulator! Check it out on steam. Their workshop has all the VHS games available to play with a built in virtual VHS player.

[Gunstar Green]

Actually, I probably should consider Crusader: No Remorse. Which version, though? PC or console?

Both versions seem fine so I guess it's really just a matter of personal preference with this one.

[J T]

Just as a helpful tool, over the years I have found out about a lot of FMV games by visiting this site:

http://www.fmvworld.com/games.html

They also list the release year in their list, so it's easier to know if you are in the '90s or not. FMV World is a great resource for all of us FMV dumpster divers who eat up all this old gaming trash. MMmmm... this one tastes like corn! Sweet!

[J T]

Also, if you want to explore some of the trashier side of FMV, then I used to maintain a thread for posting some of my favorite cheesy cuts from the genre:

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=26265

[BogusMeatFactory]

Just as a helpful tool, over the years I have found out about a lot of FMV games by visiting this site:

http://www.fmvworld.com/games.html

They also list the release year in their list, so it's easier to know if you are in the '90s or not. FMV World is a great resource for all of us FMV dumpster divers who eat up all this old gaming trash. MMmmm... this one tastes like corn! Sweet!

We are game raccoons! OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

[J T]

[Exhuminator]

Man I would totally play this if I had people to play it with

Well if you didn't live a million miles away, I'd totally play it would you.

I don't talk about it here 'cause it's not really related, but I'm a board game nerd too. I play board/card/pen 'n paper games as much as video games.

I knew about table top simulator on Steam, didn't know they had the VHS games on there. That's pretty rad.

[Key-Glyph]

Wait a sec – Journeyman Project counts? That game got an even stronger hold on my brain than Silent Steel. So much so that I've been meaning to buy it for years!

In my mind I was discounting it because even though it had that full–motion graininess, I thought it was mostly animated prerendered CG. If it does count, though... geeze, April might be a month of reckoning for the white whale demo obsessions of my youth!!

[crazythink4]

Some great suggestions so far!

As it turns out, I'm reading HG101's Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures and, for reasons I can't explain, I obsessively catalog all of the games in books like this and attach dates to them. I guess I like to see the evolution of games and genres over the years and this allows me to more easily put the games into context with its peers.

From this spreadsheet I made, I did a bit of research and picked out the ones that I felt fit this theme. You can see the list below, but one thing that struck me was how blurry the "FMV" line can be. For example, Countdown (1990) appears to have digitized actors for sprites, but it's debatable whether this would count (in my opinion, it wouldn't but I could see it argued the other way). Wikipedia says that reviewers considered it to be one of the first "interactive movies". Of course, if digitized actors fit this theme, then it would open the door to games like Mortal Kombat.

Similarly, video technology and storage improved such that realistic artistry could be made that would almost pass for FMV. I'm not sure whether an actor was used for Dark Seed, but the opening NIS shows that realistic-looking actors could be rendered artistically and used in a cutscene. (Content warning: H.R. Giger scewed-up sexual imagery: Dark Seed intro Edit: upon thinking about it more, I removed the link. It's easy to find if you look for it.).

My personal criteria for the FMV theme would be: 1) includes real human actors who are 2) used in a video format (h.264, MPEG, QuickTime, etc.). That excludes games where individual video frames are animated together like a regular sprite, and rotoscoped work. Of course, this is open to interpretation and I'd like to hear others' thoughts too.

Anyway, onto the game list from the HG101 book. I used the super-scientific method of 1) looking up screenshot of the games to see if they contained digitized actors, and 2) a quick look on YouTube to see if it looks like it contained FMV. (Per my guidelines above, I excluded games which had a photo and slapped a sprite over the mouth to make them "talk".)

Also, some in the list have already been mentioned, but I included them anyway for completeness. Since I haven't played many of them, I can't vouch for their quality, but if anyone wants me to look up what Kurt Kalata reviewed, I'll post a sentence summary (but the book is great, I recommend it heartily).

Of course, I'm happy to edit the list of people have additions or feel something doesn't quite fit. Just let me know!

90s FMV Adventure Games featured in HG101's Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures

1993
The 7th Guest
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers Edit: Bogus pointed out that this one doesn't contain FMV, unlike its sequel. Oops!
The Journeyman Project (I'm not sure about the original, but the remaster, The Journeyman Project Turbo counts, released a year later)
Lost in Time
Myst
Return to Zork Edit: Thanks to Bogus for pointing out I missed this one!

1994
Under a Killing Moon

1995
The 11th Hour
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery
The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
Mission Critical
Phantasmagoria
Shivers
Snow Job
Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands

1996
Bad Mojo
Harvester
Obsidian
The Pandora Directive
Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh
Rama
Ripper
Toonstruck

1997
Riven
Shivers 2: Harvest of Souls
Tex Murphy: Overseer
Zork: Grand Inquisitor

1998
Black Dahlia
The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time
Morpheus

Edit: Date corrections

[BogusMeatFactory]

Woooo!!! Great list! I would like to note that Gabriel knight: Sins of the father is not fmv at all. Also a nice addition to the list would be return to zork. The best of the three fmv zork games in my opinion. So good!