Who’d have thought anything would top Atlantis: The Lost Tales for weirdness.
This was the first game that friend-of-the-blog Darkshoxx and I played for our Love Letters to Adventures collaboration in January. Starting with ‘A’ at the beginning of the year, we’re on a mission to try a classic or obscure point-and-click release with a title beginning with each letter of the alphabet.
It’s safe to say that I won’t be returning to the Atlantis series any time soon despite a promising start in the first two hours. What I eventually discovered was a story with an ending that’s both predictable and ridiculous, full of characters who are too simplistic in their representations and timed puzzle sequences that feel out of place. The most surprising thing to me about the first instalment is that it was a commercial success back in 1997.
I had to do a little research when Darkshoxx suggested that we follow up with Bad Day in the Midway for our letter ‘B’ entry in February. While I didn’t want to read too much and spoil the experience, I’d never heard of this game before and wondered what we were letting ourselves in for. It was hard to determine that from the articles I found and to be honest, I think it’s going to be even more difficult to summarise it in this review.
Bad Day was written and directed by The Residents and developed and published by Inscape in November 1995. According to the former’s website, they are alternately seen as ‘a rock band, an arts collective and a spirit’ and have been regarded as ‘icons in the world of experimental music for almost 50 years’. Their lengthy career has also taken them into world of television, film, digital media, internet series and of course, video games. Some people may argue however that Bad Day doesn’t fit into that last category.
Its setting is a failing amusement park full of politically-incorrect attractions such as the Kill-a-Commie shooting gallery and Torture’s Top Ten horror house. Designer and owner Ike is presumed dead but his legacy lives on, complete with a rumour about treasure being buried beneath the Midway. That’s something that his wife Dixie could really use right now. With the park falling apart and in need of repair, the last thing she needs is someone from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) demanding to see her tax returns.
But these are adult responsibilities that you don’t have to worry about when you start the game. The initial protagonist Timmy, a ten-year old boy who has decided to skip a violin lesson for a fun day at the Midway, is completely oblivious to the challenges faced by its residents. You’ll wander around, marvel at the attractions and chat to anyone who crosses your path. Because this spirited child knows no fear, he is protected by most threats within the amusement park by his innocence.
You can complete the adventure by staying as Timmy and be safe in the knowledge that nothing (except one nasty fall) will harm you. But things get a lot more interesting, and even weirder, when you decide to switch to another character. Clicking on a person standing in front of you will pull you into their mind so you become them and start seeing the world through their eyes. While residents may react rather nicely to a young boy, they might not be so friendly when you’re in another body.
The thoughts of the character you’re currently in control of will display randomly in text at the bottom of the screen. They may think something in reaction to event they’ve witnessed, location they’ve visited or a person they’ve met, and sometimes they’ll give away clues as to where to go or what to do next. On one hand, this is an interesting way of revealing more about the motivations of each character and their backstories. It mimics our own internal dialogues and the secrets we keep hidden from others.
On the downside though, this mechanic created confusion for me at times. When another character wanted to stop for a conversation, I found it difficult to follow the text thoughts and spoken dialogue at the same time and constantly felt like I was missing things. This is perfectly in-keeping with the game, however. The length of a playthrough depends on the characters you choose and places you go but they’re rather short and you’ll never see everything in one sitting. You’re meant to play over and over to get the full picture.
While Bad Day on the Midway is included in the adventure genre, you shouldn’t expect any traditional puzzles, inventories or dialogue trees. Instead, each character has their own objective and it’s up to you to see them through to the end. According to The Resident’s website, the programme has a randomiser built in and changes the character’s goals and actions so their interactions are more complex and unpredictable. It’s practically impossible to get the game to follow the same course in each playthrough.
Time doesn’t flow normally on the Midway and this adds to the title’s chaotic feel. Occasionally, a clock appears at the top of the screen to show not how many hours have passed but rather the time that it is currently. Time usually ticks away when you enter or exit a building, and how many minutes that is exactly is seems to be determined by the character you’re in control of. The game begins at 13:00 and ends at midnight if you don’t meet an unfortunate demise, at which point you’ll trigger one of its endings.
We’re planning on streaming the first two hours of each release featured in the Love Letters to Adventures series. Unfortunately, because of its premise and the fact it doesn’t play like a traditional adventure, Bad Day wasn’t a great choice for Twitch. So much in this release relies on atmosphere, storytelling and characterisation and playing it in public caused a lot of that to be lost. You can see from our reactions in the video above that Darkshoxx and I didn’t really know how to take the game.
Returning to it on my own a couple of weeks later felt like a completely different experience. This is similar to what happened when I completed The Path for last year’s #MaybeInMarch event. Being able to play Bad Day on my own for several hours, spending time wandering around the amusement park while uncovering the characters’ stories, gave me a different perspective than the one I’ve formed on Twitch. While it might not include it in my list of favourite adventures, I’ve found a new appreciation for The Resident’s creation.
I’m glad it ended up being Darkshoxx’s choice for the letter ‘B’ as it’s a unique mark in the adventure genre’s history. As well as winning two Macrovision International User Conference Awards in 1995, one of the most interesting things about it was that it was optioned by Ron Howard at Imagine Television for a proposed series to be directed by David Lynch. However, the project was dropped because a script was never agreed upon so we can only imagine what it could have been like.
Darkshoxx and I will be back this month with our letter ‘C’ adventure game: Chronomaster by DreamForge Intertainment. After Atlantis: The Lost Tales and Bad Day on the Midway, I have no idea what we’re going to find.