The X-Files Game

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The X-Files Game
point-and-click adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

The X-Files Game is an

Mac OS and PlayStation in 1998, and is based on the television series The X-Files
.

Plot summary

The game takes place somewhere within the timeline of the third season of The X-Files series. The story follows a young

FBI agent named Craig Willmore (played by Jordan Lee Williams) who is assigned by Assistant Director Walter Skinner to investigate the disappearance of agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who were last seen in the Everett, Washington area. In order to follow their trail, Agent Willmore must use a variety of tools along the way, including night vision goggles, a digital camera, PDA (an Apple Newton), and lock picks, as well as law enforcement gear such as an evidence kit, standard-issue handgun, handcuffs, and even his badge. During his assignment he is partnered with a Seattle Police Department detective named Mary Astadourian (played by Paige Witte
), and a minor romantic subplot involves a relationship developing between the two.

Several of the actors from the TV series reprise their roles in the game, including

third season
.

The screenplay for The X-Files Game was written by Richard Dowdy, Greg Roach and Frank Spotnitz, from a story by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz.

Gameplay

The game uses a point-and-click interface, uses

cut scenes
. Included in the gameplay are numerous occasions in which the player can alter other character's attitudes and reactions depending upon responses and actions (or inactions). Dubbed "UberVariables", certain decisions made by the player can set them along one of three tracks: Paranoia (Willmore will start seeing things like twitching corpses and shadowy figures), Loss (messages from his ex-wife are kinder), and "The X-Track" (more details are revealed about mytharc-related conspiracies). The player can also affect Willmore's relationship with Astadourian positively and negatively based upon how he responds to her suggestions and ideas.

Production

The game's developer, HyperBole Studios, had initially rejected the project when Fox approached them. They later became interested when they started to watch the show for themselves.

FileMaker Pro due to the number of options available to the player. In total, around 6 hours of footage was filmed for the game.[2] The game's development cost $6 million and lasted four years.[3]

The video portions of the game were filmed between seasons of The X-Files and just before the feature film. Some footage in the game, such as the hotel rooms and excerpts from Keystone Cops, is the same as seen in the episode Syzygy. Anderson and Duchovny were very busy, thus requiring the disappearance of Mulder and Scully and the introduction of the Willmore character. A former U.S. naval base, at Sand Point, was used as the setting for the NSA facility at the end of the game, and the boat used as the Tarakan is a training ocean-going tug, which had previously been used in a drug smuggling plot.[2] The 'melted blast effects' on the Tarakan were made using water-soluble paint, which caused havoc when it began to rain during filming.[2] "Tarakan" is Russian for cockroach.

The game was filmed on

Adobe Premiere and Media 100.[4]

The X-Files Game was displayed at the 1996

Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June. At the show, a writer for Computer Games Strategy Plus noted that it was "still very early in development", and was set for 1997.[5]

Reception

Sales

The X-Files Game was a commercial success.

Chart-Track's rankings during its first two weeks,[14] and held in the top 10 after nine weeks.[15]

According to HyperBole's Jason VandenBerghe, The X-Files Game made it into "the top-10-bestseller lists in most territories it shipped to." Breaking down its popularity by region, he wrote, "Our strongest markets were Europe and Japan, where The X-Files is an even larger phenomenon than it is here in the States".[16] Total sales of The X-Files Game reached roughly one million copies.[3]

Computer versions

Macworld wrote that The X-Files Game's "excellent use of QuickTime video is offset by tediously slow sections."[28]

During the

Pokémon Red and Blue, respectively.[30][31]

PlayStation version

Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PlayStation version of the game for

FMV adventure games still aren't great games."[38]

Reviews

References

  1. ^ "New Releases". June 11, 1998. Archived from the original on June 19, 2000. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d An Interview with Greg Roach, Prima's Official Strategy Guide, The X Files Game
  3. ^ a b Edge Staff (September 14, 2013). "The Making Of: The X-Files". Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on September 19, 2013.
  4. ^ X Files: The Game - Read Me file
  5. ^ Staff (June 1, 1996). "E3 Adventure & Role Playing Games". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on June 14, 1997.
  6. ^ "The Making Of: The X-Files". Edge. Future plc. 14 September 2013. Archived from the original on May 5, 2014.
  7. ^ Ocampo, Jason (July 9, 1998). "The battle between StarCraft and Unreal for No. 1 continues". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on April 6, 2005.
  8. ^ Ocampo, Jason (July 22, 1998). "Myst drops off the weekly chart". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on April 6, 2005.
  9. ^ Ocampo, Jason (July 29, 1998). "SWAT 2 storms the chart". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on April 6, 2005.
  10. ^ Ocampo, Jason (July 21, 1998). "StarCraft scores a hat trick with its third month at No. 1". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on May 2, 2005.
  11. ^ Ocampo, Jason (August 18, 1998). "SWAT 2 debuts at No. 5". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on April 6, 2005.
  12. ^ GamerX (September 25, 1998). "August's PC Best-Sellers". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000.
  13. ^ Staff (November 1998). "Letters; Mys-Adventures". Computer Gaming World. No. 172. p. 34.
  14. ^ Mallinson, Paul (October 1998). "Charts; This Month's Top 20". PC Zone (68): 24.
  15. ^ Mallinson, Paul (December 1998). "Charts; This Month's Top 20". PC Zone (70): 24.
  16. Gamasutra. Archived
    from the original on March 3, 2012.
  17. ^ "The X-Files Game for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
  18. ^ "The X-Files Game for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
  19. ^ Nguyen, Thierry. "The X-Files Game". Computer Gaming World. Archived from the original on October 10, 2000.
  20. ^ "The X-Files". PC Gamer: 129a. September 1998.
  21. ^ McCandless, David (1998). "PC Review: The X-files". PC Zone. Archived from the original on June 24, 2007. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  22. ^ Bottorff, James (1998). "X-Files: Where are Fox and Dana?". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Archived from the original on April 28, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  23. ^ Walk, Gary Eng (June 19, 1998). "The X-Files Game (PC)". Entertainment Weekly. No. 437. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  24. ^ Altman, John (July 1, 1998). "The X-Files". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on February 19, 2005.
  25. PC Magazine
    . 17 (19): 370.
  26. ^ St. John, Don (August 3, 1998). "The X-Files Game Review". PC Games. Archived from the original on September 2, 1999.
  27. PC Gaming World. Archived from the original
    on August 19, 2000.
  28. ^ a b Gowan, Michael (February 1999). "Name Your Game; From Goofy to Gory, Macworld Reviews 48 Ways to Play". Macworld. Archived from the original on August 10, 2001.
  29. MacAddict. Archived from the original
    on July 13, 2001.
  30. ^ "Second Interactive Achievement Awards; Personal Computer". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on November 4, 1999.
  31. ^ "Second Interactive Achievement Awards; Craft Award". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on October 11, 1999.
  32. ^ "The X-Files for PlayStation". GameRankings. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
  33. ^ MacDonald, Ryan (November 24, 1999). "X-Files Review". GameSpot. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  34. Computer & Video Games
    (215): 37.
  35. Allgame. Archived from the original
    on November 16, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  36. ^ Reiner, Andrew (January 24, 2000). "X-Files (PS)". Game Informer. Archived from the original on May 31, 2000. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  37. ^ Zdyrko, David (November 18, 1999). "X-Files: The Game (PS)". IGN. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  38. ^ a b Lundrigan, Jeff (January 2000). "Finals". Next Generation. Vol. 3, no. 1. Imagine Media. p. 98.
  39. ^ "The X-Files". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 50. September 1999.
  40. ^ Tong, Janice (November 6, 1999). "The X-Files Review". smh.com.au. Archived from the original on December 3, 2000. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  41. ^ "Backstab Magazine (French) Issue 12".

External links

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