Déjà Vu: MacVenture Series

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Déjà Vu is a remarkably innovative game, especially since it was first released in 1985 for the Mac (BEFORE being ported to other systems). POSITIVES Unlike the typical (Infocom-style) text-adventure games of the 80s, this game uses an exclusively graphical interface with action verbs as buttons and a point-and-click method of selecting the object upon which the action is applied. This feature alone is, in a way, more advanced that most of the Myst-style games of the 1990s (that typically lack the ability to interact with environmental objects). Why this approach wasn’t further developed in point-and-click adventure games, I’m not sure. The original Mac version (like all other pre-color-Mac software) is confined to a “film noir” aesthetic, but the other color versions aren’t too bad. The 80s-Mac image resolution is limited but the drawings are still quite sophisticated, inasmuch as they use a true (rather than simplified-isometric) perspective. Another unusual feature is the use of a 2D window for managing the player’s inventory. This is an (excessively) object-rich game, so being able to easily scroll through a graphical array of inventory items is nothing less than brilliant. Again, why this approach wasn’t further developed in point-and-click adventure games, I’m not sure. NEGATIVES On the downside, there are a fair amount of imperfections: • The extreme lack of plot guidance is a questionable game-design approach. More determined players will figure out what can and needs to be done, but less experienced players may get completely lost and give up. • It’s not an especially long game (since 80s microcomputers had very little memory and storage capacity), so that fact that the same solution method is used several times makes the gameplay feel a bit repetitive. • Selecting some of the smallest objects is frustratingly difficult at times. It looks like many of the smallest objects may only be about 2 pixels thick. • Worst of all, one of the few enemies that appears in this game has only one combat method and a 4-hit limit before killing the player’s character and abruptly ending the game. Because several trips need to be made down the same street as the mugger, the probably of encountering the mugger is such that the only way to win this game is to reload from saved games an excessive amount. While I personally believe that games should embrace the realism of no do-overs, I’m willing to accept the use of saves in lengthy and complicated games that are hard or impossible to play in one sitting. However, games that aren’t playable at all without excessive saved-game manipulations are just poorly designed. RECOMMENDATIONS It’s a nice game and worth playing to experience an unusual graphical interface that is years, if not decades, ahead of its time, but having to reload saved games to avoid racking up four hits on the mugger makes the gameplay perfectly dismal.

I played through this many times back when it was first released and I can say it hasn't lost anything since then. The story is fun to work through and figuring out the mystery is satisfying.