ajestic is a very old kind of game presented in very flashy new
clothes. The part of the game that loads on the player’s computer
takes up only three megs of hard-drive space, because the game itself takes place
on the World Wide Web and in players’ minds. All that is on the
local hard drive is a tracking program that organizes the game’s clues,
guides the player to them and helps them keep in touch with other players.
The complicated graphics, movies and sounds that make up the game’s
clues are all stored on the Anim-X servers. So even though Majestic
uses the very latest in Internet doodads to display its clues, players need
only a very simple computer to play.
Beside this return to the client/server relationship of the first
mainframe-based games, Majestic is also a return to an almost
forgotten genre. Behind its video clues, Majestic is an adventure
game of the sort popular when all PCs were good at was text. The
game’s players search for clues, trying to find the right combination
of information and action to unlock the "door" to the next challenge.
In Majestic, instead of trying to repair a spaceship or hitchhike
the galaxy, players think they are sitting down to play a game about
government conspiracies and instead find themselves not just fighting a
conspiracy, but being threatened by one.
The Majestic Alliance Application consists of two windows. In one is an
iconic contact list of other players who can be instant messaged when they
are logged on. The other window is an iconic list of clues players have
collected. They can be double-clicked to be viewed, heard or watched.
Players collect clues by going to Web sites and by receiving instant
messages, internet videos, phone calls and faxes. A header tells players how many of the clues for their current episode they have found, and
a footer tells players what they should be doing: gathering more clues,
acting on the clues they have or waiting for updates.
Dial M for paranoia
The phone calls that game makes to players can be set to be preceded by
a message warning they are from Majestic, an option the player is
urged to turn on if they are not the only one in their house using the
specified phone number. There is even an option not to be called at all,
but turning off the phone kills half the fun of the game. As much fun as
it is trading messages with AIM robots and watching video of black-clad
agents kicking in doors, it is when the phone rings and at the other end
there is someone begging for help or (even creepier) threatening the
player’s life that Majestic is at its best.
The game is well designed, in that it doesn’t let players grow
frustrated. It presents clues and then it waits. If the player
doesn’t take the proper action, one of the game’s characters
contacts the player with a suggestion about what needs doing or where it
might be done. If still nothing happens, then another, more specific
suggestion arrives. It also makes it easy to trade information and clues
with other players, but once the first blush of starting out is over, not as
many player interactions take place. People aren’t online when the
players need help, and besides, the game itself will be contacting them
shortly.
Overall, it is good, interactive fun. The only downer is that when the
player puts together a string of clues and scores a breakthrough, it often
results in the game going on "standby." This is because Majestic
is played in real time and the player is cast in the role of the
hacker/librarian. The game’s characters do the legwork, and once the
player points them in the right direction, the characters need time to make
their journeys or do their work or whatever. Fortunately,
"standby" never lasts more than a day, and before long the phone
is ringing and the game is afoot again.
I thought there was no way Majestic could replicate the feeling of
life-and-death danger spy stories thrive on, but I underrated the impact of
having someone call me on the phone and order me to quit "or
else." It isn’t really an act of bravery to play Majestic,
but the game makes you feel it is, and that means it is a complete success.
— Eric
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