So now that 2020 is done, I think it's only appropriate that we close out the decade with the definitive list of the 5 best and worst FMV games ever made.
Obviously the number one worst is going to go to Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, but there's still plenty of room for debate for the other 4.
So what's your list?
EDIT: I might as well put my list up here at the top.
Bottom 5 - I'm going to restrict my list to professionally published games. No need to pick on some indie guy with a camcorder.
5 - The Quiet Man - Deserves special mention for being a modern FMV game that made the spectacularly stupid decision to release without audio. The main character is deaf, you see, so the player can identify with his struggles by also withholding sound... Except he can read lips and understand sign language, neither of which are given subtitles, so you will play through the story having barely any idea what is happening any why. They did eventually release the audio as dlc, but only for second playthroughs, I believe.
4 - Zelda CD-i: Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon - Debated whether or not to include these games because they don't utilize live actors, but the style of the game is very much FMV, and is also called such on Wikipedia. Also, the animation and voice acting are spectacularly awful and it is easily the worst bit of software bearing the Zelda franchise name.
3 - Foxhunt - Foxhunt is incomprehensible. It's some sort of zany spy comedy, but the editing is so fast, the plot so off the wall, and there aren't any subtitles so you will have very little understanding of what is going on and why. The game is also not funny. It's painfully not funny. And it wants SO BAD to be funny, but it isn't. The gameplay is likewise incomprehensible, with almost no feedback as to whether you are making correct inputs or not. Winning the game is almost random.
2 - Man Enough - Have you ever wanted a dating sim where every. single. line of dialogue was sexual innuendo and your progress was decided by your ability to determine which of 3 terrible lines was best? No? Well too bad, now you have Man Enough. The premise is that you are terrible at dating, so you go to an agency to help you, where upon you are given the task of dating a number of women in order of being worthy of dating the head of the dating service. The game is mostly still images, but has FMV scenes here and there. This game is pain in software form.
1 - Plumbers Don't Wear Ties - Somehow still the king of bad FMV. It has the incomprehensible plot of Foxhunt, the slideshow FMV of Man Enough, and no budget. Why don't plumbers wear ties? I don't know? The main character is wearing one! Is he a plumber? Who can say! It's simply the worst. Not even debatable.
Obviously the number one worst is going to go to Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, but there's still plenty of room for debate for the other 4.
So what's your list?
EDIT: I might as well put my list up here at the top.
Bottom 5 - I'm going to restrict my list to professionally published games. No need to pick on some indie guy with a camcorder.
5 - The Quiet Man - Deserves special mention for being a modern FMV game that made the spectacularly stupid decision to release without audio. The main character is deaf, you see, so the player can identify with his struggles by also withholding sound... Except he can read lips and understand sign language, neither of which are given subtitles, so you will play through the story having barely any idea what is happening any why. They did eventually release the audio as dlc, but only for second playthroughs, I believe.
4 - Zelda CD-i: Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon - Debated whether or not to include these games because they don't utilize live actors, but the style of the game is very much FMV, and is also called such on Wikipedia. Also, the animation and voice acting are spectacularly awful and it is easily the worst bit of software bearing the Zelda franchise name.
3 - Foxhunt - Foxhunt is incomprehensible. It's some sort of zany spy comedy, but the editing is so fast, the plot so off the wall, and there aren't any subtitles so you will have very little understanding of what is going on and why. The game is also not funny. It's painfully not funny. And it wants SO BAD to be funny, but it isn't. The gameplay is likewise incomprehensible, with almost no feedback as to whether you are making correct inputs or not. Winning the game is almost random.
2 - Man Enough - Have you ever wanted a dating sim where every. single. line of dialogue was sexual innuendo and your progress was decided by your ability to determine which of 3 terrible lines was best? No? Well too bad, now you have Man Enough. The premise is that you are terrible at dating, so you go to an agency to help you, where upon you are given the task of dating a number of women in order of being worthy of dating the head of the dating service. The game is mostly still images, but has FMV scenes here and there. This game is pain in software form.
1 - Plumbers Don't Wear Ties - Somehow still the king of bad FMV. It has the incomprehensible plot of Foxhunt, the slideshow FMV of Man Enough, and no budget. Why don't plumbers wear ties? I don't know? The main character is wearing one! Is he a plumber? Who can say! It's simply the worst. Not even debatable.
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