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Review: Majestic (part 2)

© Dan Finkelstein

Majestic is a game which defies definition, breaks barriers, and is one of the most original, engrossing entertainment titles I've experienced in quite some time. It is part spy novel, part adventure game, part reality TV show, and part Internet chat room. It is, at least so far, the game of the year.

"Played" both online and in real life, Majestic envelopes the gamer in a strange world of conspiracy theories, shadowy government figures, and an underground group of freedom-fighters called the "Alliance". Majestic starts out as "just a game", but quickly steamrolls into something much more: you'll quickly discover that the game is just a device for releasing information about secret government mind-control experiments to the public. The secret government, however, is not pleased, and is going after both the creators of the Majestic, and its players -- including you.

Gameplay is wildy original: The game passes on the slick graphics of other "massively multiplayer" titles and instead relies on simpler text, video, and audio to build its intricate world. In fact, the game program itself is fairly small, a system-tray application which keeps track of your progress and your "allies", other Majestic players who are at similar parts in the game as you are. Later, you are told you'll need to work together to accomplish goals.

For the most part, however, the game progresses online. As you gather information on the ever-expanding plot -- by doing internet searches, reading news articles, or watching video clips -- the game also communicates with you: by emails, links to certain webpages, news articles, instant messages, faxes, and phone calls.

Yes, as part of the game, computer-controlled characters will occasionally contact the player over AOL Instant Messenger, having brief conversations with you and sometimes requiring information in order to progress in the game. If you enter a fax machine phone number when you sign up, you'll sometimes receive faxes important to the game. And if you've entered your telephone number you'll also be interrupted at various times during the day with strange messages from equally strange characters. Other times, you'll be required to call certain phone numbers, where you'll learn new facts about the growing conspiracy.

As you may have guessed by now, this is no ordinary game. At times, I was alternately freaked out, continually impressed, and out-and-out confused by the world of Majestic. Since EA has wisely chosen a subject for the game which already has a large following on the Internet (conspiracy theories), it is almost impossible at times to determine if the website you've stumbled upon is real, created by EA specifically for the game, or created by a fan of the game. The game goes out of its way to convince you, in fact, that it is not a game, and in some sense, it succeeds: Don't even ask me about some of the characters whom you can contact over AIM or email -- I'm still not sure which of them were computer controlled and which were real humans (some are real, I think).