Total Distortion caps an era of CD-ROM games
If you burrow far enough into the "massive video database" of the new CD-ROM Total Distortion, you'll eventually stumble upon a full-length anthem of creative angst -- a song written by Total Distortion's chief creator, Joe Sparks, about his own difficulties in completing the long-awaited game.
People say "quit" but not quite yet
Just a few more things to do. . .
We've got to saw it off and ship it
In a box
Saw it off and ship it
And send it on out, now.Total Distortion has been the most celebrated example of multimedia vaporware for so long -- close to four years -- that it's hard to believe Sparks and his company, Pop Rocket, have finally sawed off their product and shipped it. Clearly, the operation involved some pain.
What's in the box? Total Distortion casts you as a music-video entrepreneur -- male or female, your choice -- combing an alien universe called the Distortion Dimension for hot clips to sell to picky Earthside DJs. Its creators call it a "music-video adventure game;" it's something like a role-playing game inside a Myst-like environment with a make-your-own-video module at its heart.
You can play Total Distortion and get your money's worth without ever leaving your "Personal Media Tower" and its video-editing console. (A sort of sophisticated toy version of programs like Premiere, it lets you mix sound, titles and three graphic layers into videos that you can save, trade and even enter into contests at Pop Rocket's web site.) But to win the game, you need to earn money and "fame points" -- and avoid getting blasted to sonic bits by hulking "Guitar Warriors" whom you must face in chord-to-chord combat.
Ambitious multimedia innovators usually shy away from the "game" label. They seek to remove complex gaming elements from their creations -- to banish the buttons and inventories and combat systems that traditionally clutter a game's interface. They struggle to give audiences as transparently lifelike an experience as current technology allows. They want their games to feel like life.
Next page: The concept of "life is a game" taken to baroque extremes
