The Hall of Shame 10.31.07: Night Trap
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 10.31.2007
It's Halloween, and we induct a game so scary, it literally freaked out the goverment.
Ah, Halloween. The one day of the year where it's okay to scare the shit out of people, eat lots of candy, and watch really bad horror movies. Meanwhile, people are doing all sorts of themed columns. Damian Sarcuni of Angry Gaming shows how horror game plots are ruined by simple logic, James McGee of The Game Plan has been showing off the most famous of horror games, and over in the Movies/TV section, J.D.Dunn does his annual 31 Years, 31 Screams, looking at a new horror movie every day in October.
So gettin into the Halloween spirit, this week in the Hall of Shame, we induct a game that is basically a glorified B-movie. It is also surprisingly responsible for the formation of the ESRB when it created controversy based on how violent it was. Unfortunately, it was not only hated for it's violence, but also for being a really bad game. This is Night Trap for the Sega CD.
The game has had it's share of both fair and unfair criticism. Let's to the fair criticism, which is why this game sucks.
So just how exactly do you play Night Trap? There are eight different channels covering the rooms in the house. Your job is to switch from channel to channel and press a button whenever you see an Auger get close to a trap. You also have to change the access color based on what the characters are saying, so you have to pay attention to bad acting. So basically, you're basically switching from empty room to empty room until you find an Auger, then you have to press a button. It sucks because not only is it the only thing you do in the entire game, but it also means you get to miss out on a lot of the bad acting and storyline, which are way more entertaining then the actual game itself.
If you go on YouTube you can see all the movie scenes of Night Trap shown like it was a movie, and damn is it bad. But it's more of a "funny bad" rather then a "BAD bad". The Night Trap "movie" basically feels like a cross between a B-Horror movie with a B-Sitcom show and a B-Porno film. Seriously, there was at times where I thought I was about to watch some kind of sadomasochistic porn. I mean, you have a family that sets up all kinds of traps to "surprise" each other, and they have weird shit lying around that looks like something they got from a discount porno store. No wonder this game got accused of having porn in it.
"My dad collects weird things." I hate to see what else came from that closet.
The B-Horror feeling is obvious, and the reason I also say "B-Sitcom" is because sometimes you just want to laugh at what happens rather then be scared or amazed like you're supposed to. I mean, when Dana Plato is telling you the importance of capturing augers while one walks on by right behind her, it's hilarious. Seriously, if you edit out the videos in a certain way, you can make this look like a bad sitcom. I just might have to do that one of these days...
Meanwhile, just who exactly is sending you in to save these generic teenage horror girls? A bunch of guys from S.C.A.T. (again with the B-Porno feeling). The soldiers from S.C.A.T., unfortunately, are really, really stupid. Whenever these guys enter the house, they basically get their asses killed in quick order, and aren't very good at their jobs. For one thing, why did they leave the cable that should NEVER be disconnected in plain site for everyone to see? Also, during the intro when Commander Sims (your worthless boss) is giving you instructions on how to play, he gives you the WRONG button you're supposed to press! On top of that, he decides that if you don't cut away from the intro and play the game, he immediately cuts you off, resulting in a game over. That's right: YOU CAN DIE DURING THE INTRO CUTSCENE!
Towards the end they all break into the house together with their nerf guns of doom(~!), but pretty much just stand around like a bunch of goofs. "I don't think you understand Mr.Martin, but you're in serious trouble here". No Sims, I'm pretty sure he understands what kind of trouble he's in. Too bad the only real threat to him is Dana Plato and a guy with a Sega Genesis controller. So as predicted, they get their asses handed to them by the family and the augers. Way to go their chief. SCAT must be so proud of the shithead you've become.
Speaking of the family, the children look horrible. Jeffery looks like he belongs on another show, Sarah looks like she has a plastic face that melted, and Tony apparently thinks he's too cool to be a vampire. Either that or he's heard that Corey Hart song too many times.
im stelthE lol
And the Augers...just look at them! They look like special education ninjas that fell off the short bus. Then they were run over by that short bus. Then dragged across a street still attached to that short bus. Also, because they use that weird device from the discount porn store instead of biting you, they don't really post that much of a threat. The reason these Augers are using the drill because apparently they wanted to use something so fantastical no one could mistake for reality. Eventually the little brother involved gets this special device from the wacky neighbor Crazy Eddie (again with the B-Sitcom feeling) that shoots bad special effects at the Augers. The "BSFG" is so bad that the Augers decide to simply disappear into thin air.
Towards the end, and I don't know if I missed a scene or not, but everyone but Dana eventually leaves out of nowhere. The last of the vampires are captured, and Dana congratulates you on a job well done, especially compared to the shit team named appropriately after shit porn. However, if you really hated Dana for the bullcrap you've been put through, you can activate a trap and get a special ending where you betray her. It's quite possibly the best moment in the entire movie.
Yeah, for some reason when she "dies", she gets warped down into some abyss. Even when her death involves getting bit by a vampire.
"Our state of mind at the time was not about creating some horrible frightening thing." ~Jim Riley, Director of Night Trap.
Ironically, the gameplay was so bad that it indeed became a horrible frightening thing.
So now that we covered why this game was fairly criticized, here are the criticisms that this game really didn't deserve.
Basically, the government was hating this game for all the wrong reasons. One even went so far as to call this game child abuse. In fact, here's the actual quote:
"Shame on people who produce this trash. It's child abuse." ~Sen. Byron Dorgan, (D)umbass from North Dakota
Not only were senators and soccer moms protesting, but Captain fucking Kangaroo was even offended by this game. When Captain Kangaroo thinks your game sucks, you know you've got problems on your hands.
So to see just how unfair the government judged this game (just like how they misjudge EVERYTHING), we're going to compare what happened in the game to what the government tried to spin it as.
Violence:
The Game - There's absolutely no gore in this game at all. Blood is shown in frozen form like an ice pack, and one "dead" body is hung upside down while he is being drained of blood. Augers use a device that drill into a person's neck, but no blood is shown during this process. Kid shoots a weapon that basically has sparks popping up.
Government Spin Job – The senators claimed this game was "ultra-violent and that the game was about you trying "to trap and kill women".
Sex:
The Game – Besides seeing a bit of cleavage from one of the girls and one appearing in her nightgown, there is NO sex or nudity in the game.
Government Spin Job – The object of the game was to "rape and kill sexy co-eds". The most offensive scene to them was the "Nightgown scene" where Lisa gets killed like an idiot because she doesn't notice the Auger right behind her in
The Testimony:
Tom Zito – Went to the hearings to defend the game but was told that there wouldn't be time to hear his testimony.
Government Spin Job – Dorgan Claimed Tom Zito never bothered to show up to defend the game. Tom Zito responded that he was here, only to be told by Dorgan that he was out of order.
Knowing about the Game:
Gamers – Actually play the game and read reviews.
Government Spin Job – Lieberman said he never actually played the game because he "knew" it was filth. With knowledge like that, it's no wonder he and Al Gore lost the 2000 election.
You know why gamers don't want the government regulating video games? Because THEY GET EVERYTHING ABOUT THE FUCKING GAMES WRONG! Night Trap wouldn't be the last time the government would make shit up about video games. With the ignorance these people have, it's enough to induct this government of ours into this Hall of Shame for all the bullshit spin jobs they do on video games. Hmmm...
The story of Night Trap is a very unique one. Here you have a crappy game released on a crappy system that becomes so infamous based on government lies that it helps form the ESRB, a major step forward for video games. Even though it brought the industry some good, it was still a really bad game with even worse acting, and that's why it shall remain in the Hall of Shame.
