Juggernaut

"A no-frills, point and click, horror masterpiece"

Warning: Definitely not for the faint of heart!

The plot is a cross between “The Cell” and “The Exorcist”, where you must delve into the mind of your demonically possessed girlfriend. Inside her mind you have to face a variety of surreal encounters, aided only by an exorcist who appeared mysteriously at your door.

This game may not be visually stunning or add more than the standard point and click features, but the suspense and disturbing events in the game will freak out even the most jaded horror fan.

A bookcase filled with eyeballs….a machine where you can switch to a smaller body….dying in the spirit world of her mind….corpses everywhere….rot, decay….and oh so much blood.

The suspense doesn’t end here though. Besides the gore, Juggernaut’s best feature is suspense. Being in a surreal world, where absolutely anything can happen, you can never be quite sure what will happen next.

The game isn’t just wandering around her mind though, eight times during the game you take control of a different character in a bizarre, distant situation. You must solve each of their dilemmas, each in their own scenario (although only 4 different physical locations: Island, Forest, Jail and Virtual Reality).

Graphics (8): The graphics are very well done at parts, to give the game a surreal, freaky feel. Almost every scene of the game feels like an impressionist painting. Humans are also done quite well and often look very life-like. The only flaw in the graphics is the lack of animation, as everything tends to stand still, like a painting, but a very good painting.

Control (5): There’s really nothing wrong with its point and click style, but there really isn’t anything good about it either. It’s more than a bit tedious and definitely detracts from the freedom of movement, setting the player on a specific, set path.

Story (9): The main story is magnificently freaky, with the one small setback of involving no real characters but yourself. This gives you the feeling of falling down the rabbit hole into a wonderland gone mad, with nothing to greet you but the insane. The eight side stories will bring you into stories of mystery, suspense and horror (The forest with the eyeless bodies is my favorite). The story ends in a second quest in which….well, I wouldn’t want to give it away, would I.

Challenge (9): You may go mad just from the sheer challenge of the puzzles in this game. From finding elusive objects, to making large leaps of logic, and solving mind-bending puzzles, you definitely won’t be disappointed.

Overall (8): It has its drawbacks (the biggest being virtually no replay value), but the pluses definitely outweigh the minuses. The game is, however, very linear, so don’t expect a lot of freedom of choice, instead just sit back and enjoy the ride.

A very dark ride.

Rent or Buy?: Rent

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/01, Updated 07/16/01