The Spoony Experiment

FMV Hell – Johnny Mnemonic

by Scarlett on November 30, 2007 · View Comments


Take a tour of the FMV games I grew up playing and learn how they scarred my existence! There’s more to come, and we’re leading up to a full-length review of one of the oddest FMV games ever made! Now we tackle the most dreaded of the FMV titles: the interactive movies. We begin with Foxhunt and continue on to one of the rarest and most difficult games to run: Johnny Mnemonic.

He’s a data courier in a future that hasn’t invented e-mail or thumb drives, and if you touch the computers your head explodes. Jeez, even in the future nothing works. Will Johnny ever find the rest of his computer so he can start tracking down that damn download code? And will it do him any good since every computer he touches melts his brain?

Only Chef can provide those answers, so we head to the Lo-Tek headquarters to hack our own brains and to get our hands on some chocolate salty balls!

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Andrew's Site : Nostalgia in Historical Game Articles
June 15, 2010 at 9:18 am

{ 97 comments }

SCSLJeStEr9000 July 17, 2009 at 6:50 pm

its BLAST HARDCHEESE!!!! lol I fuckin love MST3K

Maniac July 26, 2009 at 2:55 pm

Spoony spoony spoony…

You got me intregued. So intrueged I actually shelled out 5 bucks on amazon (with 3 shipping) to buy a brand new sealed copy of this game, just to say I actually played it. However, while I’ve been calling everyone I know to see if they kept their old legacy machines, or still had any of the legacy machines I gave them (I had a really good p1 133mhz 16 mb system in 97 that now I wish I kept).

So my question is, if I have to run an emulation layer on a dedicated test pc (and the only test pc I have which I wouldn’t mind destroying the os by accident since there’s nothing important in it is a Win 7 64 amd athlon2 64bit x4 8gb 1066 system. How the heck do I get it running?

Emran July 29, 2009 at 5:48 pm

does he do the minority report review?

What is the origins of the “lord of Tekken” joke?

Chione August 1, 2009 at 8:24 pm

I flipped out at the Final Sacrifice reference.

ROWSDOWER!!! :D

rigby August 3, 2009 at 8:01 am

i think the street preacher guy is jonny knoxville. i really do. i am almost certain that that is him. please look.

malkavian August 4, 2009 at 7:29 am

is it just me or were there a dozen Discworld book under the minority report game?

Maniac August 5, 2009 at 5:27 pm

How the heck do you get the secret ending in this game? I’ve been playing it as intensely as I can and still can’t figure it out. Help!

Mariofan3425 August 6, 2009 at 6:20 pm

What is the ending where you don’t die

OniYouji August 6, 2009 at 8:57 pm

Wow…this was quite the obscure, almost surreal review. It was very informative. Though Indigo Prophecy had popularized it, or at least brought it into the mainstream, Black Dahlia, Ripper and Under A Killing Moon all sound really interesting. Now, if only I could run those…I’m already shelling out too much money on visual novels, now I have to get into interactive movies.

By the way, who else is hyped for Heavy Rain?

BrUS August 7, 2009 at 3:38 pm

Lol, bet the only reason there are so many Chinese people in this game, is because of the big sum they had to pay out to “Chef”. Yeah… I’m like totally are prejudical racist… sorry….

Still… Peace, love and rainbows and shit, though :)

Badly-Drawn Manchild August 22, 2009 at 10:54 am

Actually, I’ve just remembered that “Space Pirates” game appeared once in an episode of GamesMaster here in the UK. The person who played it though didn’t do very well. :P

Rmaggedyn August 27, 2009 at 9:50 am

That guy from Foxhunt was on MadTV. He played Keanu Reeves a few times.

Zack Dolan August 29, 2009 at 4:08 pm

so wait a minute…does this game actually have any legal or marketing ties to the film? if so, why didn’t they just use the footage they arlready shot instead of all this hackneyed poop? and if it wasn’t and came out before or after…WHY MAKE IT AT ALL????!!! WHO THE HELL WOULD WANT IT?!?

and i agree. live actors were the worst thing to ever happen to video games. they were all community theatre rejects that couldn’t get jobs as extras on baywatch nights. remember the live actors in FMV’s for the first resident evil? oh god i piss my pants every time I or one of my friends brings up the old chestnut “barry?…WHERE’S barry!!!???” or “blood..I hope this isn’t…CHRIS’S…BLOOD!!!” hahahah. it’s like they all went to shatner school

man, seriously though, this game looks more annurism inducing than sewer shark. though am i the only one who finds it funny that in the movie, the rebel leader dude is played by Ice T…which means having chef play him in the game makes it so he’s the only character played by a BIGGER ACTOR than the hollywood movie?!

spoony is one fuuuuuuunny mother…hush yo’ mouth! …just talkin’ bout spoony baby

CConfire September 12, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Oh… I remember Foxhunt. It was beyond awful. I never got past the hospital stage, the game was just too annoying to finish.

HapexIndustries September 18, 2009 at 12:27 am

Wha-a-a-at? No mention of Quantum Gate? That was the first real FMV game I sat down and played, and if I remember right it would play out differently depending on what decisions you made. I’m pretty sure that for a while there it was included with a lot of CD-ROM’s (probably when the 2x’s were coming out, cause I’m sure it cost 50 bucks when it was brand new); I remember at least 3 friends having it, too. Quantum Gate actually stuck with me my entire life, the memory and the empty jewel case ironically, as the endgame sequence TOTALLY BLEW MY FUCKING MIND.

UTTER SPOILERS

I don’t remember the specifics, but you’re on some alien planet fighting what appear to be giant insects or some shit. You can even go outside into the deadly environment with a special suit and a helmet that “renders” all the insects into crude polygons (or sprites, more likely) so you can blast them. Well, at the very end of the game (maybe 2 hrs of playtime?) your suit has been compromised and initiates an “auto-euthanasia” protocol and you take off your helmet and see the aliens for the first time and they are fucking angels. I’m not putting that in all caps cause eyes would be directed straight to it but oh my god fucking beautiful winged humans. I was like 12 and it blew me away. Maybe a lot of it is nostalgia, but it made a permanent impression.

AdamDuffield October 3, 2009 at 6:17 am

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH This was hilarious if only for the fact that Im studying Se7en for my Film Studies Course :L:L

Christopher Ryan October 4, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Was spoony planning to review Minority Report next, or was that just for the Se7en joke?

Niouxsie October 12, 2009 at 4:22 pm

“I’m trying to tell you how much I admire you”. I love Burton.

bryan October 17, 2009 at 5:31 am

rofl at the se7en reference with the head in the box

dm_stealth October 24, 2009 at 1:55 am

UAKM tried to keep most of the relevant transitions/rooms on each disc, but yeah you’re right. If you were unlucky enough to travel to a location that’s stored on another disc, uh oh change time! The most memorable was the phonograph in Tex’s office… if you accidentally examine that you have to change over to the first disc, then back to whatever disc you were on. The fact that it was a great game compensates though. Access did better with the sequel (Pandora Directive).

HSM November 5, 2009 at 8:21 pm

I lol’ed at the Mask of the Red Death reference at the very end.

Busterdrag November 6, 2009 at 9:07 pm

I know I’m stupid, but was that comment about Ripper honest, means do you really like the game or was that just a joke?

Soundman November 27, 2009 at 4:25 pm

Does Spider say Skronk at 22:10? :\

Zargon November 30, 2009 at 9:01 am

Whatever happened at 11:26 and forth, that scene is hilarious.

Zeitona December 11, 2009 at 9:51 am

To Maniac:
DosBox is pretty much the answer to all this old (and often shitty) games ^^. Unless it’s not meant for DOS, those games that aren’t old enough to be old, nor recent enough to be new… those can be a bitch to run

Lieutenant Fish December 16, 2009 at 11:06 pm

Kyle Reese thanks you for the wonderful gun!

cultistofvertigo January 23, 2010 at 1:03 pm

Hey, that song’s from Silent Hill… 2… right? Yeah, 2. Or 3? Nah, 2.

Harry417 January 27, 2010 at 1:16 am

I was in Hollywood Video the other day and I swear to God that I saw “Mad Dog McCree” on the Wii.

Harry417 January 27, 2010 at 6:16 am

I was in Hollywood Video the other day and I swear to God that I saw “Mad Dog McCree” on the Wii.

cynic667 February 19, 2010 at 4:01 am

love the lil music-clip from the Burton-Segment… Fountain OST, when I have heard it right. Clint Mansell/Chronos Quartet FTW!
Somehow seeing all this FMV I should be happy that i hadn't a PC until this fad was over ;P

lefiath April 9, 2010 at 4:06 pm

Super Andy Dick is now my favourite catchphrase.

The_Hyphenator April 12, 2010 at 10:36 am

Super Andy Dick can easily be defeated. You just need to summon Super John Lovitz.

Wilbert Gyllenhal April 22, 2010 at 5:31 am

X Files the video game was a great game ! I Loved playing an FBI agent, I played it several times. And there was a lot of humour in it.

phonnix May 10, 2010 at 2:55 pm

Will you ever review Black Dahlia?

phonnix May 10, 2010 at 2:55 pm

Will you ever review Black Dahlia?

Knuckles June 12, 2010 at 1:27 am

General Mist as Played by King K. Rool

CornBRED-X July 1, 2010 at 2:08 pm

I've seen this one a few times but just figured I'd comment now that we can. This is one of the best FMV hell reviews, its unfortunate he couldnt get the game to work but it was good enough. This game was bargain bin for years (even shortly after it was actually released, I had the chance to get it once a long time ago but never did).
Its kinda funny how much the game mimicked the movie (even so far as using a musician for the leader of the Low Teks same as the movie).

Only thing I dont like is that you act like most all FMV games are bad. Well, ok they are but theres more good ones then you give credit for =P
Oh and I've always wondered if your ever actually gonna review Minority Report: Everyone Runs, but at this point I'm going to assume thats a no haha. That game had some good ideas but ended up being tedious. Making people puke is kinda cool though =P

Anyway, continuing my marathon of classic spoony reviews. This is my third time watching all these. Wish you'd do more of these again. Keep up the good work Spony

Omnikus Schlotter July 2, 2010 at 3:39 pm

Where the F is that Minority Report Review?!!?!!

Tavish DeGroot July 6, 2010 at 1:09 am

Who the hell is Jane and where is Molly?

Here's hoping the Neuromancer film won't mangle it like Mnemonic was.

supergub July 13, 2010 at 2:28 am

Is it just me, or is that kid that handed the guy the box with the head in it the kid that played Screech in Saved by the Bell?

BoomDowg July 21, 2010 at 5:41 pm

Minority Report, Everybody Runs! ain't that bad of a game, compare it too the movie and it blows, but as a stand alone game or compared to other games at the time, it ain't half bad!

Vincent Beers August 1, 2010 at 9:10 am

DOSBox can't fry your master boot record. Something must have gone wrong at the time that wasn't actually related to you installing this game. But it's a bummer you couldn't get it to run.

How about getting an old PC with old software on it and capture the video from that? That usually works best.

By the way, Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny was a rather nice game (or at least I think so). It also had a bunch of cheesy FMVs.

Nicholas Nicola August 9, 2010 at 3:18 am

FUSE BOX

Nicholas Nicola August 9, 2010 at 10:18 am

FUSE BOX

Ismael Almaguer August 29, 2010 at 6:03 pm

why don’t u try using virtual machine and get a copy of windows 3.1?

Anonymous September 1, 2010 at 1:37 am

Wait, wait, wait… The clip from the x-files game (or so I think it’s X-Files…) She was killed by a shot to the SHOULDER???

Anonymous September 1, 2010 at 1:37 am

Wait, wait, wait… The clip from the x-files game (or so I think it’s X-Files…) She was killed by a shot to the SHOULDER???

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