Majestic (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.7 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Ron Dulin
• Reviewed on: 08/15/2001
• Released on: 07/31/2001
• Originally published on GameSpot: Majestic (PC) Review

The problem with innovation is that it all too easily becomes a crutch. Majestic is one of the most inventive games in years. It has a great premise, involving shadow governments and conspiracies and the risks of trying to expose them. But it's the way Majestic brings this premise to life that is noteworthy. There is no game engine. Instead you play the game with everyday technology you most likely already have: e-mail, fax machines, telephones, AOL Instant Messenger, and a Web browser. The approach is so novel that the first few days of the game are exciting. But Majestic is a very passive experience, and as the novelty fades, so will your interest.

Majestic is broken up into episodes. This review is based on the pilot episode, which is free, and the first episode, which requires that you sign up for the EA.com Platinum Service (currently $9.95 a month). The pilot episode begins strongly. You are introduced to the browser-based interface and cast of the game. Then something dramatic happens. You'll stumble around trying to figure out what is going on. Within an hour, you'll receive phone calls, e-mails, and instant messages all giving contradictory information. You'll then be told that someone will contact you the next day, and the game goes dead.

It's a strong start. As you start researching the story behind the game, you learn that it is based on the theory of the Majestic 12, a shadow government that is heavily involved in both mind-control research and UFO cover-ups. As the game goes on, the conspiracy theory takes a backseat to a soap opera involving the makers of Majestic (or at least the actors playing the fictional creators) and the problems they face as a result of their research. The conspiracy is the heart of the game, but it's not the focus.

This is a problem. Majestic quickly becomes a passive experience, and your role becomes little more than solving simple puzzles as people send you e-mails and instant messages telling you exactly what to do. There's little challenge, and your tasks come slowly and individually. For instance, at one point some characters have seemingly vanished. You must help one of their cohorts find their new location. You are given a cryptic story and a map, and you must use one to find their location on the other. In theory it's a good puzzle: The setup is great, and the clues you are given are subtle. At first. But if you actually figure out what to do, you still can't proceed until someone contacts you and outlines exactly what you need to do. And then you see the map: It looks like a maze for children. There's one huge location in one corner and another in the opposite corner. It's so obvious that all the cryptic clues leading up to the puzzle are unnecessary.

Not all the puzzles are this cut and dried. One of the better puzzles requires you to call a long-distance number and retrieve someone's voicemail; another requires you to study a document and take several steps to prove that it is authentic. These are great, because they require you to make connections on your own. But there are few puzzles like these in the pilot and the first episode. And if you can't make the connections, the game will start giving you clues to move you in the right direction.

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