Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True
| Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True | |
|---|---|
| Studio | ICOM simulations |
| Publisher |
Mindscape Kemco (NES Version) Pack-In-Video (PC-98) |
| Senior Developer | Kurt Nelson |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1985 |
| platform | Apple Macintosh , Apple IIgs , Atari ST , Commodore 64 , Commodore Amiga , DOS , NES , PC-98 , Windows 3.x |
| Game engine | MacVenture |
| genre | Point-and-click adventure |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Mouse & keyboard , gamepad |
| medium | 3.5 " floppy disks or cartridge |
| language | English |
Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True is a computer game developed in 1985 for the Apple Macintosh and is considered the second point-and-click adventure game .
The game was developed by the American developer ICOM Simulations with their MacVenture engine and ported to numerous other systems between 1987 and 1992, including mainly Atari ST , Amiga , DOS and Commodore 64 , but also consoles and handhelds. A direct sequel appeared in 1988 under the title Déjà Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas .
action
Set in Chicago in the 1940s, the game is about the private detective Theodore "Ace" Harding, who was drugged of his memory and is suspected of murder. Harding is a former boxer who now works as a private investigator. At the beginning of the game, Ace wakes up in a toilet and can't remember who he is or how he got there. It quickly turns out that he's in a shabby pub called Joe's Bar and is suspected of murder. One floor up he stumbles over the corpse of a man who was fatally hit by three bullets. In his own pocket, Ace finds a revolver missing three bullets. There are several clues about the identity of both the victim and the main character. A chair that was apparently used to tie someone up, then a syringe, mysterious vials and the marks of a puncture on the detective's arm indicate kidnapping and torture. However, Ace has difficulty or even no longer remembering events from the recent past.
The player's task is to piece together the traces of the case and memory flashbacks from the private detective and find an antidote for the drug that was administered to him. His memory and state of mind deteriorate as the game progresses. However, the various other characters gradually give you different addresses in the area around the bar. The player takes taxi rides to these locations, including his own office, to solve various small puzzles and the whole case before the police arrives at the detective arrested or his mind finally passed.
Production notes
After the appearance of the first Apple Macintosh in early 1984 and under the impression of the increasing success of mouse-controlled graphical user interfaces, ICOM Simulations, Inc., a game developer from Wheeling , Illinois , decided to forego the classic text input for future graphic adventures and to rely entirely on mouse control . ICOM developed the MacVenture game engine for this purpose . Déjà Vu was the first of four games developed on this engine. Déjà Vu II was the last.
The first version for the Macintosh appeared with black-and-white graphics on two 3.5 "disks, single-sided with 400 kB each . In order to accommodate the necessary system software and all player data, some effort was required for the image compression . Later porting and the successor received revised colored graphics and sound. In 1988 the game came out on Cartridge, under the title Déjà Vu for the Nintendo Entertainment System and for Famicom , the Japanese version of which, when デ ィ ジ ャ ブ A Nightmare Comes True !! . 1999 became it was published on a shared cartridge with its successor as Déjà Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding for the Game Boy Color .
Déjà Vu inspired numerous other game developers to develop comparable point-and-click engines. In particular, the Californian Lucasfilm Games with their Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion and the adventure of the same name developed on it in 1987, with which the company, later renamed LucasArts , developed into a market leader in the point-and-click adventure genre.
In January 2015, the company Zojoi, which was founded in 2012 by former ICOM employees, published a version of the game on the Steam platform that contains the original graphics, but can run on modern hardware.
reception
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The ASM described Déjà Vu as an “excellent example of the use of window technology” and praised the graphics and atmosphere of the game, which all in all represented an “outstanding adventure”.
The game was named Best Entertainment Product in 1986 by the Software Publishers Association (SPA) .
Web links
- Deja Vu at MobyGames (English)
- Déjà Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding at MobyGames (English)
- Deja Vu for Amiga at The Hall of Light (HOL)
- Video Deja Vu Review - MacVenture Series Part 2 on YouTube via the FoxeoGames channel
Individual evidence
- ↑ The spelling on the original packaging was Deja Vu , but always Déjà Vu on the back of the box and on later ports
- ↑ In it Adler: 20 Years of Computer Software. 1985: Schoolwork suffers. In: Darin Adler's personal web pages. Retrieved May 29, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Bernd Zimmermann: Worth seeing! . In: Current software market . April 1987, p. 64.
