BOOOO this game. What happened? Did they run out of money to pay the actors for a decent ending? Did they write themselves into a corner?They should have just made Magnotta the Ripper and called it a day.Oh well. Great review Spoony.

It must've been Catherine…right? The ripper voice being on the monkey and everything…who did it?

Once again, great work Spoony. Though what a let down of a finish from that game. You had introduced the concept of a monkey uprising and that was way more interesting and entertaining than what they gave us instead. Boo on Ripper.

Yay for Spoony writing alternate endings to underacheiving video games.

Okay, how the hell does this game score an 8.6 on IMDB? The people there must be bat-guano insane.

Horrible ending.

I thought it would either be Katherine(Not helpful, mysteriously survived the attack) or Burton's Assistant, Paul Giammati, he ACTED very helpful but never actually did anything for you and in fact made things harder(The image is up, we can see the Ripper! OH WAIT NEVERMIND!….. fix the computer and you might find something…. etc etc.)

These endings don't explain what happened to the first girl who died in the original Ripper game because if the killer is interchangeable it means that the whole game and the clues were totally pointless.

@*#$#@%&

Great video though Spoony.

i hate multiple endings game like this
fallout 3 like ending are ok
as everyone said there are no big clues to who is the real ripper
so all of them could of been the ripper and you only got one

Love this game (with all it's faults:). Great cast, epic overacting, ambitious and often nonsensical subplots and very odd design choices. Great, great B-movie game.

Anyway, the killer is his girlfriend. The game does a rotten thing. It picks the killer more or less randomly, although the only one with a clear motive, clear opportunity and the only one burdened by evidence is his girlfriend. She didn't know who killed her mother (this would be the into scene?), so she decided to take out all the players. This explains how she survived the Ripper attack, where all the brain activity came from and why she was so close to Quinlan (because he was the only one truly investigating the murders and she could keep an eye on him). Also, in the final FMV Quinlan narrates in all three other cases that he won't go into madmen's motives, but in “his girlfriend is the killer” ending he explains the motive thoroughly. Finally these kind of stories always have a twist at the end, and she being the killer would be the only major twist in the game (since the mutant monkeys plotline decided to go nowhere).

The game probably had only this one ending but the creators decided to tack on others as possible killers because they thought this would extend the game's replay value.

However there are still couple of questions. Who did Quinlan shoot and who killed her mother in the first place (and who the f is Clarence:). It's probable that Magnotta was the original killer (he wanted to kill Burton for leaving him but got the wrong girl when Burton and Catherine's mother switched roles and then pinned it on Falconetti for stealing Burton away from him) and that he attacked Burgess Meredith because he found out he new something about the events. Since the designers realised that thay had no budget left, but still had 100 hours of plotline to go, the last act left this plot thread opened.

btw

This game was waaay better (and cooler) than Black Dahlia by the same publisher. That game took itself way to seriously for it's mystical plotline.
Maybe Spoony could try that one next. No Walken, but Dennis Hopper shows up for no reason in a scene or two.

Back to this game. Let's face it. The ending everyone was waiting for would be if the Ripper was the Continental. We want the DLC now!:)

Spoony did a great job on finding the Quinlan guy in The 10th kingdom. I couldn't remember a single role of his, and he did a fine job in the game.

It shoud've ended “…but I did not feel up to pondering the “plot holes” of this ending, not today anyhow.”

I think that's what the developers said at the end of development, let's just wrap this up, screw the endng…

Thanks for sharing this one. I almost bought this many times in the 90's and was always curious because of the cool intro cinematic (which I had seen on a demo CD somewhere when the game released). Also glad I didn't buy it; in the pre-Gamefaqs era I would never have been able to figure out half the puzzles. So you saved me that headache as well as god knows how many hours of swapping discs. Cheers to you, sir, and I hope you do more of these. I don't quite have the audacity to suggest anything, though I think it would be cool to play through a non-FMV game (*cough* I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream *cough* DreamWeb), but I understand that the point isn't so much to play the game as it is to play and mock it. Keep it up, sir.

I was really digging Ripper up until Act 3. It just sort of came apart at the seams, after what I thought was, actually a pretty cool little story. I felt like Spoony didn't have much to work with at that point but until then, there's some really funny stuff! I loved all the Warriors references.

Mike

God, I love Scott Cohen. Say whatever you want about this guy, but I 'really' enjoy his acting. Overall, Ripper was… quite… entertaining, actually. Seeing it as some sort of 'direct-to-video thriller produced in canada', it is quite good at that. David Patrick Kelly's character was suprisingly smooth as well. I kinda dig it.

I think it's because Phantasmagoria was overall a tad more cheesy and worse acting and plot wise. Especially since it took itselfs way too serious for it's own good. Ripper, while not being a masterpiece at any bit of sense, was much more enjoyable. The acting, while mostly feeling out-of-place because of the two-dimensional cameraperspectives and horrid backgrounds, was – at least – decend, and the whole experience felt overall enough aware of itself to get a good laugh out of it, even without Noah's commentary.

I guess one problem about this “let's play” is the fact that the imagery spoke enough for itself that Noah didn't even had to make that many jokes up. The Walken's overacting alone was glorious. In a nutshell: You watch the Phantasmagoria 2 “Let's play” for Noah's comedic talent, but you watch “Ripper” for the overall game experience. At least, that's how I see it.

That being said, I enjoyed the “Phantasmagoria 2″ playthrough more, as well.

Actually, what Spoony did was play through Act 3 multiple times to get the different endings. You only get to talk with John Rhys-Davies if either Burton or Catherine was the killer; the altered photos only appear if Magnotta or Eddie did it. Going chronologically, the first real clue we get is the Ripper contacting Quinlin as he breaks into Magnotta's apartment; in that case, Magnotta is the Ripper, the other Rippers contacting you at a different location. So conflating the Burton and Magnotta sequences makes it look as though the Ripper is who you choose it to be whereas it really depends on what clues you receive.

Ripper is actually really good and impressive for its time. The story is interesting (even if at times a BIT far fetched) and the amount of talent within it is high.

But like many games of its kind in that era: it has the horribly long transition periods, overly complicated puzzles, somewhat campy acting (not as bad as games like Phantasmagoria 1, but that game was so over the top if became awesome – goes to show professional actors go a long way.), weird interface bugs, Many CD's,etc..etc.

None of that makes it a bad game(every game then tended to have the crazy puzzles), just not the best game. A lot of the limitations we had 15 years ago are gone, and a remade Ripper probably would be a lot of fun.

Spoony One, thanks for that clip there at the end. I've since made sure to put the entirety of the 10th Kingdom on my Netflix queue. Anything where a crazy person tries to shove an old lady into the oven needs to be watched.

This was horrendous.

You have Christopher Walken, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davis and other quality actors in your game. The puzzles are merciless, disc-swapping is constant, and just moving in the world is an ordeal. You'd think a game that came on SIX DISCS would have a pretty long, satisfying ending, where you got some closure with the other characters. What happened with Haman? How would Quinlan get back at Magnatta? What would happen with Dodds now that the truth was out? What about Dr Burton and her unholy army of psycho monkeys? I'd expect something like five or ten minutes.

Instead, we get a one-minute clip of Quinlan typing at his desk (a grim foreshadowing of the future, where Quinlan is one of the first thousand typewriter operators to be killed in the Great Monkey Uprising Operation: Shakespeare?) WITH AN INTERCHANGABLE VOICEOVER.

No, game! Not good enough! For a game that required you to take notes, spending precious paper and pencil graphite, to solve the puzzles, the gamer deserves more than that!

Man. If I played that game as a teen, I would've been mightily ticked off.

Still, Spoony's review saves it for the predictable (but no less appreciated) Clue reference, and I can't believe other people have seen The 10th Kingdom! I loved that show, but somehow I missed the final episode, and I never got around to watching it. Now I'm a bit weird about it for some reason.

There are so many fucking t-shirts that can come be of the froobywoosday

Wow, that was a really weird game. Thanks for sharing such an odd slice of gaming history, it's really something.

Clap! Clap! Clap! You have finally finished and I am pleased. Loved the long funny as hell ride into the Walkeny goodness Spoony. You are still the man!

Funny stuff as always man.

“DIE YOU MONKEY BITCH!!” XD The best freakin' part about the ending!

Okay so basically they didnt want to go to the trouble of deciding which one the ripper was so they just made it random… Either that or it doesnt even matter which one you blast, whichever one it is, thats the ripper… lol… that is one of the most anticlimatic endings ever

hmm That's a pretty good breakdown scissors69 it makes sense now.

All I have to say is Quinlan going batshit crazy in that 10th Kingdom clip was the perfect way to end it lol. Like with FF8 or Phatasmagoria I am kind of sad to see it end. But at least this frees Spoony up to begin reviewing some other obscure an oddly entertaining old game.

I remember way, waaaaaay back, that I was even enticed to buy this game, just based on the cast alone. I seen it for $80 I remember. Then as I was going to buy it the cashier told me “Don't waste your money, the ending is shit.” FACT FOR FACT those are the exact words. So I took the advice and bought some others instead. I got that stack of games laying around here somewhere. But I'll never forget the day that I received that advice. That advice got me plenty of other GREAT GAMES and I think I saved like a few bucks because I bought a pop and chips I remember for the bike ride home. Ahhh the good ol' days when you feel great about making a wise decision. Today you just don't get that anymore with the internet. It's a shame. Those games are classics too the ones I picked up back then. I gotta find em and post the titles.

AAhhhh shit, ok that was kind of disappointing. Then again this was the predecessor to later games like knights of the old republic with their light side/dark side system, I guess this was just one of those stumbles needed to perfect the art!

AAhhhh shit, ok that was kind of disappointing. Then again this was the predecessor to later games like knights of the old republic with their light side/dark side system, I guess this was just one of those stumbles needed to perfect the art!

You can play the clips from discs. He found the clips of different endings.

[SAVING...}SAVE COMPLETE{]

Ah, of course, my apologies. I was using review in the more general sense of evaluation, but I see what you mean.

Holy crap, now I know why Quinlan looked familiar… Scott Cohen plays a character in my favorite Law and Order series! No wonder…

From what I've read, I don't think the Ripper ends up being whoever you want. The clues, and therefore the real killer, varies with each play-through.

But since the ending is essentially the same each time, what's the point of going through multiple play-throughs?

One of the best music videos…. ever :D

since you made me buy this game here is a tip:
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/964/

quoting ufopedia:
“This weekend only, you can grab the X-COM Complete Pack at Steam for the unheard of low price of $2!”
i am a fan of this series and in the case that you dind had tha chance to play this before GET IT NOW!

I'd like to see the rest of little quips that come right after you tag the Ripper with the weapon (see: Falconetti at 4:32 into the video), if there are any more. I'm just curious to see if Walken overacts or phones in his last line before walking off stage.

Yes. I am disappointed that the Ripper was never really revealed. But now matter. I no look forward to Captain American. As well as the Spoony production of Captain America vs. Dr. Insano.

This might have been a pretty lame way to end their game (in some ways I kind of like how the ending is sort of the same, but I'd like a bit more poetic elements if they were going to can that old pattern), but if nothing else it did sort of inspire sort of my own ideas on what they could have done as a way to end it. In my own considerings, they really did have a selling point as to how any of them could have been the demented killer the whole time. For their own reasons they came to hate each other, not quite equally, but there wasn't any parterning up between them, they were all against each other. Eddie would probably be the hardest to pin as the killer though, since if he is the murderer of the first woman (assuming the real Ripper did start it all off with that crime), meaning he meant to kill his future wife, that means he wanted her dead for some reason (but then he marries her; seems his hate for her came after she left him). The cop could have done it as a means to get revenge on her for not being with him, frame Eddit, and use his guilt when it was his crime to ride to fame, power, and that sort of thing. Obviously he would have to frame Eddie with fake evidence and other tactics (since he's the guy doing it all), but he has the ability and man-power to do it (and those two definitely give power behind their acting to be nuts enough for it, I'm leaning towards the cop here myself though). Either way though, the surgeon's records would have had to been stolen, giving her plenty of resources herself (motivation would be tricky though; if she wanted Eddie screwed, he could get framed, but the cop would get power and fame from it and their relationship for her is hatred so she wouldn't want him getting revenge or gain from her crimes, and for me her relationship towards Eddie is more distrust and fear I'd guess). This is sort of assuming an insane person would be rational in their thoughts, but such obsession over so many years (I don't quite get the waiting period myself though, other than to make the mystery more skewered through time, since it didn't separate out suspects to their advantage like waiting that damn long would be planned for), and then committing the crimes without direct evidence busting any of them leads me to think they wouldn't screw up their goals but get the criminal activities and escaping capture down correctly (more or less). What really happens here is trying too hard to make it a mystery that had obscure clues as to who did it without it being too obvious (anyone could at any point prove to be the murderer; which is good, but not at the sacrifice of overall coherence). Catherine to me is the least likely (especially since I don't remember that much from the beginning now). Since it is assumed to be connected to the first game so long ago, who killed her mom (that would be a separate crime unsolved, and without much motivation it seems; other than a mistake to kill the other bitch, but hey she's still alive. Maybe the person was a petty murderer, felt horrible for killing at all, but especially for killing the wrong person and committed suicide?). Anyways, other than making it all a big conspiracy as to how it was her the whole time for a shock ending (or the obvious idea that since the game cycled through 4 main choices, there was the real killer who just wasn't included as it tried to force your hand to pick one of the four and you had to ignore the compulsion to act on instict and pick one of the four obvious choices, Catherine being the big secret twist, revealing as you waited the real real secret twist killer), she only had the fake coma, steal the story (not getting how that would be tied in), and kill everyone else associated with the game for revenge on her mother's death motivation (which would only serve to make the paranoia, hatred, and warped relationship the trio had as filler for the real killer, who was there the whole time like in the first Saw movie; gay by the way).

Yes, just rambling about how they all had motivations, you all know all of that stuff, just detailing it out for myself I suppose. Here's my idea on how they could have warped it into a cheap mind fuck (like Phantasmagoria 2). The gaming experience had been introduced to new elements by Eddie, who used or asked the other two for seemingly minor technical gizmos or programs (or hell, they were obsessed and were glad to help him by contributing all sorts of screwy programs or what not), and played around with some ideas to make it a whole new gaming experience. He screws it all up though because they're tampering with crap they don't understand together, let alone him mixing it all together himself, and what happens is it triggered the one female's death, and those three crafted a disturbing cyber-psychic connection between them somehow (they were plugged in using elements they concocted to test his ideas to make it better, and they fused or whatever). It created an insane triangle where they were both friends wanting to play this game they obsessed over, and who blamed the death on each other (and the relationship issues where the surgeon was between the two dudes). Over the years it just warped further and further, where they each went out and played different parts towards what would become the same goals of incarnating the Ripper in some sense. Surgeon chick did at least the foregrounds to the program, Eddie did testing garbage and played the main original suspect, and the cop threw a monkey wrench in to throw more people off and perfected the program (all 3 have experience with bodies and murder as well it seems, all different angles of it). Catherine isn't Ms. Innocent, but she isn't at all behind the murders (her guilt is in trying to steal the story and playing what's his face). So the reason all 3 seem to be possibly guilty is because they all are, and here's how you have to win with that one program at the end(oh, and the reason their genders cycled and could shift who killed who is because it's 3 people). Their relationship is so twisted and deranged to where they don't even know what's going on really, the only way to win is to kill Catherine. They hate each other (mixed in with obsessive love towards each other, since they are joined somehow) and want each other dead, but if you do kill one the other two snap against you and rip you to pieces, stabalizing their relationship where they get along well enough to become truly monsterous murderers (genocide scale here; so horrible ending). When you kill off Catherine as the murderer, when they all know on some level it's them (consciously or not, they could be all unaware of what they're doing) it throws their relationship into chaos and they kill each other and end it. Either way, Catherine will die, just in one case the criminals die and the world is better off and become wary of technology, or its abused by the criminals and they go rampant. Working out the technical details behind it would suck, but the concept would be more of a mind messing one, and the ending would have more punch and definitive right or wrong (though the right one still blows). If anyone reads this far, what'd any of you think of this redesign so to say?

Ya, what a wasted ending. Though contray to what many have said, it isn't pick a Ripper. The game randomises it each time and intersperses the game with different clues. Now if only we could force him to play FFX somehow. I get the feeling his hatred would create a monumentally awsome rant video.

Also, has anyone else seen the odd grouping of Women in underware ad above idiotic PETA ad? This may sound strange but am I the only one being made to feel hungry by whatching that?

Wow, such an anticlimactic ending.

It's just like the new Alone's in the Dark's endings, pretty epic game is scope, then it just ends.

Only one time!

The first CD of the game includes a movie player with which you can see any of the FMV movies without having to play the game itself.
I also watched the alternative endings with this when I finished Ripper many years ago.

Dear Spoony, does it depress you that so many of your fans are BLOODY IDIOTS? This is better than the confusion the ending to your Dirty Harry video caused.

The Ripper is NOT whoever you want it to be. Seriously, people.

cheers you commentors, else I wouldnt have had a clue about what was happening at the end.

Aww, this sucks. This game could have been cool, but the multiple endings kinda ruin it. Yeah, there's a specific Ripper each time, but the fact that it's not any particular person makes playing this game kinda useless. I really wanted to know who it was. My money was on Catherine.

GOD DAMNIT QUINN, STOP CHICKEN PECKING YOUR KEYBOARD! Annoys the hell out of me. >w<

Hey Spooney, did you know that at the dos prompt if you type riper.exe instead of ripper.exe you'll get a little cinematic about a gross apple? Now you know.

Thankyou,

This game is worth jack shit. but the presence of Christopher Walken and the Blue öyster Cult puts it up to a solid 7/10!

sure as hell enjoyed your playthrough! moar please :D how about The 11th Hour?

i don't think i completely under stand. the murderer could have been any one of them? a game with so many intriguing and stimulating puzzles and the most important decision of the game and you can't make the wrong answer?

I…love…that…SONG!

Hysterical as always, Spoony. With regard to the game itself, for the time and the genre, actually not too bad. A damn sight better than Phantasmagoria 2 at any rate, and the awesome cast and theme song definitely lend cool points. The story was kind of silly, but not too shabby. I think I may steal them for a cyberpunk-themed GURPS campaign I'm working on. The non-specific multiple killer ending was a real cop-out though. If they had actually provided a Scooby-Doo-esque recap outlining why each one could have been the killer, it would have been a lot more fun. Oh, well. Can't win them all.

I love these playthrough riffs. Keep making 'em, Spoony, and I'll keep watching.

Fantastic Mini-Series. I'd recommend it to anyone who missed it (saw the original airing when I was about 12, liked it then, and it holds up about a decade later)

Scott Cohen completely steals the show.

Great review, although I do feel rather gypped by the ending.

Did anyone else have fond memories stirred of ReBoot based on the “futuristic” graphics they used for parts of cyberspace?

WTF, no definitive suspect is the Ripper? I hate that. thanks for the video, it was entertaining. and once again, that girl from the intro of the game is damn hawt.

and WTH with those random clips of that actor? lol

The real fundamental flaw with this game is this. It's not a good mystery.

It does start off very well, as far as mysteries go. But it looses the plot with the 3 main suspects + Catherine. The problem boils down to one simple thing: motive.

Of the 4 potential Rippers, only *one* has an honest-to-God motive: Catherine. Revenge for her mother's death. The other 3 have motives, but those motives are only for killing *each other*. Killing the rest of the WebRunners just doesn't make sense, motive-wise.

That's why the ending voiceover for the other 3 don't go into motive, simply saying they're insane: because it flat-out doesn't make sense for them to be doing it. Only Catherine has a legitimate motive, and only in Catherine's ending voiceover is that motive discussed.

I get the distinct impression that the developers originally intended the main 3 to be false and Catherine to be the real Ripper all along. But then someone decided that they could shoot a little extra footage and change a couple of things to make any of them were the Ripper. So they decided to do this random Ripper thing, which ultimately doesn't make sense.

They did talk about having timers when referring to the way the Ripper killed, and if the Ripper was such a genius like everyone said it might boil down to knowing how people would act and react and plan accordingly-making it so they could prerecord some audio, have it triggered at a certain point, and make it seem even less plausible it was Catherine. She did know a lot, and even looking at her apartment is saying something for her funds. As Spoony said, she went through a lot of trouble just for a few simple puzzles. Now, of course, those could just be taken as simple puzzles that don't really connect to the story and go along with the puzzle aspect of the game, which they mostly do.

However, I am biased. I thought it was Catherine, and went along with it because she seems the most likely suspect, and because they even go far as to not include her as a suspect and play down her role so much it would make sense if she turned out to be the killer. That is a main reason I'm disappointed they'd cheapen the ending by having whoever it was you chose be the “killer” be the killer, not even going on to have more murders to show you were wrong or anything. It totally defeats the purpose of even putting a mystery there, in my own opinion.

I’m going to have to agree with you on this one. Besides, it’s always alluded to that the first death – Cathrine’s mother – was done by the same guy that did the rest of the killings. That then brings up the question of why would Cathrine kill her own mother and then seek revenge for it? Personally, I always thought of Magnotta as being the one with motive. The fact that he obviously had control issues and psychological disturbances, coupled with the way Claire and Eddie shot him down could easily of sent him over the edge. The other WebRunners were good targets to perfect his method, and they would’ve had insight into his own personal psychosis and obsessions.

Still, even in Spoony’s playthrough, I don’t get what evidence was the damning nail in Burton’s coffin. Going into Whitechapel, it seemed everyone was as likely.

I loved the Tenth Kingdom. I really need to watch it again…

Ok so, I understand that the culprit is randomized… What I don’t understand is, what are the clues that actually point to Karen Allen in Spoony’s playthrough ?… And do they actually make sense ?

This has got to be the Opus of Spoony right here. The jokes are in top form, a perfect combination of riffing, let’s plays, combined with a fairly interesting story. Just a word to the wise, don’t go watching this after your let’s play is in final editing makes you want to scrap the entire thing.

Oh MAN The Tenth Kingdom! BEST END EVER.

spooneyone, you are the funniest and most awesomest person i have ever seen and you deserve your own tv show. but i doubt they’l give it to you, cause then no other TV shows would ever be watched.

Spoony, this video isn’t working for me. Can you please look into it? Thanks!

I always liked Spoony’s use of the “Clue” multiple ending music.

This game is like watered-down-William Gibson-meets-cut-rate Agatha Christie.

Unable to play this episode :(

All it says is “Sorry, we’re unable to play this episode”.

Video’s dead; both here and on Blip.

so.. who was the killer?

Hah! I THOUGHT he looked familiar! Oh Wolf, what were you doing trying to do, taking on some cyber four-man ripper squad?

They seriously don’t even BOTHER to explain how they did it? FUCK, that blows.