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Déjà Vu (video game)

Déjà Vu[2] is a point-and-click adventure game set in the world of 1940s hardboiled detective novels and films. It was released in 1985 for Macintosh – the first in the MacVenture series – and later ported to several other systems, including the Amiga. Initially, the game featured black and white graphics, and later releases introduced color.

Déjà Vu
Box art for the computer and NES versions
Developer(s)ICOM Simulations, Inc.
Publisher(s)Mindscape
Kemco (NES, GBC)
Composer(s)Hiroyuki Masuno, Kento's Group (NES)
Koji Nishikawa, Masaomi Miura (GBC)
EngineMacVenture
Platform(s)Apple IIGS, Macintosh, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amiga, MS-DOS, Game Boy Color, PC-9800, Pocket PC, Famicom/NES, PlayStation 4, Windows 3.x, Xbox One
Release
  • NA: October 1985 (Mac)[1]
  • NA: 1987 (MS-DOS)
  • JP: 1988 (Famicom)
  • NA: 1990 (NES)
  • NA: 1991 (Windows 3.x)
  • PAL: 1992 (NES)
1999 (GBC)
2017 (PS4, Xbox One)
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot and gameplay edit

 
Macintosh version of Déjà Vu

The game takes place in Chicago during December 1941. The game character is Theodore "Ace" Harding, a retired boxer working as a private eye.

Ace awakes one morning in a bathroom stall, unable to remember who he is. The bathroom stall turns out to be in Joe's Bar. A dead man is found in an upstairs office, and Ace is about to be framed for the murder. There are some clues as to the identity of the murdered man and to Ace himself. A strap-down chair, mysterious vials, and a syringe are found, suggesting (together with a needle mark on Ace's arm) that an interrogation has taken place.

Outside the bar, Ace encounters adversaries including a mugger, an old acquaintance with a grudge, and the police. Ace's boxing background proves to be a valuable asset. Ace must find addresses around Joe's bar and then make taxi rides to a few locations (including his office) to gather more elements and unravel the story. It involves a kidnapping in which Ace has played some part, but his memory lacks important details.

Ace's memory and mental condition progressively deteriorate, so the player is required to obtain an antidote to the drug that caused the memory loss. After that, Ace has recurring flashbacks filled with information that help the player to evaluate the evidence and take action accordingly. The memory deterioration is handled differently in the Nintendo platforms compared to all others, in all others the player has a limited amount of time before Ace's brain reaches vegetable status and has to live the rest of his days in a hospital for "helpless mental invalids" with a hard death coded on the second floor of Sternwood Mansion. Nintendo platforms mostly remove the vegetable status mechanic and also removes the Sternwood Mansion death if the player goes there without curing their amnesia giving the player all the time they need to get cured but instead has a hard death coded if the player goes to Ace's office while still suffering from amnesia in which the vegetable ending from the other platforms is immediately initiated. These changes apply to both the Nintendo and Gameboy Color versions.

This game and its sequel, Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas, require significant lateral thinking. Some situations are based in common detective techniques, while others require simple violence. Unlike other MacVentures titles (such as Uninvited and Shadowgate), no supernatural events are involved.

Technology edit

 
NES version

Déjà Vu was the first ICOM Simulations game to use the MacVenture interface and engine.

Numerous ports were made, including versions for home computer systems in 1987 and the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Versions of the game and its sequel containing new graphics and sound were released for Microsoft Windows in the early 1990s, and later as a combined single-cartridge release for the Game Boy Color in 1999 under the title Déjà Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding, which was also released for DOS, Windows 3.x (1992), and Windows Mobile (2002). The Game Boy Color version has even more censorship and creates its own detail such as renaming "Joe's Bar" to "Joe's Place" and adding details that were not present in other versions to the point of contradiction, most notably with Ace's "Suzy Q" memory and "Father O'Malley" memory. This version also changes the ending of the first Deja Vu game to better seamlessly lead into Deja Vu II.

Reception edit

Déjà Vu was reviewed positively in Macworld, which called it "a well-crafted game that's bound to draw you into its intriguing, albeit seedy, story." Macworld noted how the game's point-and-click interface set it apart from text parser-based adventure games, freeing the player from "having to second guess the program's vocabulary and syntax".[3]

Digital Press gave the NES version 6 out of 10, approving the puzzle-solving while have average opinions on graphics and music.[4]

Macworld inducted Déjà Vu into its 1986 Game Hall of Fame in the Best Adventure Game category, praising the game for avoiding the common adventure game pitfall of puzzle-solving overwhelming the game's literary possibilities: "Aside from its debt to the film noir tradition, it discards verbal pretensions and lets you mouse-and-window your way to a solution to a hard-boiled murder tale."[5] The game was named the Best Entertainment Product by the Software Publishers Association 1986.[6]

Reviews edit

  • Jeux & Stratégie #47[7]

Notes edit

  1. ^ "1985 Index" (PDF). Computer Entertainer. Vol. 4, no. 10. January 1986. p. 6.
  2. ^ Accent marks do not appear on the original game boxes or in-game logo, where the title is written as Deja Vu. However, accent marks appear in the text on the back of the box and in the logos for the NES and Game Boy Color ports. Some sources also add an additional subtitle of "A Nightmare Comes True!!", a tagline that is absent from the in-game logo and NES game box.
  3. ^ Lavroff, Nicholas (January 1986). "The Scene of the Crime". Macworld. Vol. 3, no. 1. San Francisco, CA: PC World Communications, Inc. pp. 120–131.
  4. ^ Bueno, Tony (November 1999). "Random Reviews". Digital Press. p. 14.
  5. ^ Levy, Steven (December 1986). "The Game Hall of Fame". Macworld. Vol. 3, no. 12. San Francisco, CA: PCW Communications, Inc. p. 120.
  6. ^ Lewis, Peter H (29 April 1986). "Peripherals; Software Gets Its Day in the Sun". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Jeux & stratégie 47". October 1987.

External links edit

  • Déjà Vu at MobyGames
  • Déjà Vu on the Amiga at The Hall of Light (HOL)

déjà, video, game, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, déjà, video, game, news, newspapers, books, schol. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Deja Vu video game news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2008 Learn how and when to remove this message Deja Vu 2 is a point and click adventure game set in the world of 1940s hardboiled detective novels and films It was released in 1985 for Macintosh the first in the MacVenture series and later ported to several other systems including the Amiga Initially the game featured black and white graphics and later releases introduced color Deja VuBox art for the computer and NES versionsDeveloper s ICOM Simulations Inc Publisher s Mindscape Kemco NES GBC Composer s Hiroyuki Masuno Kento s Group NES Koji Nishikawa Masaomi Miura GBC EngineMacVenturePlatform s Apple IIGS Macintosh Atari ST Commodore 64 Amiga MS DOS Game Boy Color PC 9800 Pocket PC Famicom NES PlayStation 4 Windows 3 x Xbox OneReleaseNA October 1985 Mac 1 NA 1987 MS DOS JP 1988 Famicom NA 1990 NES NA 1991 Windows 3 x PAL 1992 NES 1999 GBC 2017 PS4 Xbox One Genre s AdventureMode s Single player Contents 1 Plot and gameplay 2 Technology 3 Reception 4 Reviews 5 Notes 6 External linksPlot and gameplay edit nbsp Macintosh version of Deja Vu The game takes place in Chicago during December 1941 The game character is Theodore Ace Harding a retired boxer working as a private eye Ace awakes one morning in a bathroom stall unable to remember who he is The bathroom stall turns out to be in Joe s Bar A dead man is found in an upstairs office and Ace is about to be framed for the murder There are some clues as to the identity of the murdered man and to Ace himself A strap down chair mysterious vials and a syringe are found suggesting together with a needle mark on Ace s arm that an interrogation has taken place Outside the bar Ace encounters adversaries including a mugger an old acquaintance with a grudge and the police Ace s boxing background proves to be a valuable asset Ace must find addresses around Joe s bar and then make taxi rides to a few locations including his office to gather more elements and unravel the story It involves a kidnapping in which Ace has played some part but his memory lacks important details Ace s memory and mental condition progressively deteriorate so the player is required to obtain an antidote to the drug that caused the memory loss After that Ace has recurring flashbacks filled with information that help the player to evaluate the evidence and take action accordingly The memory deterioration is handled differently in the Nintendo platforms compared to all others in all others the player has a limited amount of time before Ace s brain reaches vegetable status and has to live the rest of his days in a hospital for helpless mental invalids with a hard death coded on the second floor of Sternwood Mansion Nintendo platforms mostly remove the vegetable status mechanic and also removes the Sternwood Mansion death if the player goes there without curing their amnesia giving the player all the time they need to get cured but instead has a hard death coded if the player goes to Ace s office while still suffering from amnesia in which the vegetable ending from the other platforms is immediately initiated These changes apply to both the Nintendo and Gameboy Color versions This game and its sequel Deja Vu II Lost in Las Vegas require significant lateral thinking Some situations are based in common detective techniques while others require simple violence Unlike other MacVentures titles such as Uninvited and Shadowgate no supernatural events are involved Technology edit nbsp NES version Deja Vu was the first ICOM Simulations game to use the MacVenture interface and engine Numerous ports were made including versions for home computer systems in 1987 and the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990 Versions of the game and its sequel containing new graphics and sound were released for Microsoft Windows in the early 1990s and later as a combined single cartridge release for the Game Boy Color in 1999 under the title Deja Vu I amp II The Casebooks of Ace Harding which was also released for DOS Windows 3 x 1992 and Windows Mobile 2002 The Game Boy Color version has even more censorship and creates its own detail such as renaming Joe s Bar to Joe s Place and adding details that were not present in other versions to the point of contradiction most notably with Ace s Suzy Q memory and Father O Malley memory This version also changes the ending of the first Deja Vu game to better seamlessly lead into Deja Vu II Reception editDeja Vu was reviewed positively in Macworld which called it a well crafted game that s bound to draw you into its intriguing albeit seedy story Macworld noted how the game s point and click interface set it apart from text parser based adventure games freeing the player from having to second guess the program s vocabulary and syntax 3 Digital Press gave the NES version 6 out of 10 approving the puzzle solving while have average opinions on graphics and music 4 Macworld inducted Deja Vu into its 1986 Game Hall of Fame in the Best Adventure Game category praising the game for avoiding the common adventure game pitfall of puzzle solving overwhelming the game s literary possibilities Aside from its debt to the film noir tradition it discards verbal pretensions and lets you mouse and window your way to a solution to a hard boiled murder tale 5 The game was named the Best Entertainment Product by the Software Publishers Association 1986 6 Reviews editJeux amp Strategie 47 7 Notes edit 1985 Index PDF Computer Entertainer Vol 4 no 10 January 1986 p 6 Accent marks do not appear on the original game boxes or in game logo where the title is written as Deja Vu However accent marks appear in the text on the back of the box and in the logos for the NES and Game Boy Color ports Some sources also add an additional subtitle of A Nightmare Comes True a tagline that is absent from the in game logo and NES game box Lavroff Nicholas January 1986 The Scene of the Crime Macworld Vol 3 no 1 San Francisco CA PC World Communications Inc pp 120 131 Bueno Tony November 1999 Random Reviews Digital Press p 14 Levy Steven December 1986 The Game Hall of Fame Macworld Vol 3 no 12 San Francisco CA PCW Communications Inc p 120 Lewis Peter H 29 April 1986 Peripherals Software Gets Its Day in the Sun The New York Times Retrieved 31 March 2020 Jeux amp strategie 47 October 1987 External links editDeja Vu at MobyGames Deja Vu on the Amiga at The Hall of Light HOL Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Deja Vu video game amp oldid 1194006136, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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