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 In
1989 Kemco released the spooky Shadowgate,
a point-and-click mystery that first appeared as part of the
MacVenture series released for computers.
The game received a lot of fanfare and was a modest hit. The following year Kemco released their
2nd MacVenture title, Déjà
Vu, which was actually the original MacVenture game. Déjà
Vu was not as successful or as popular as Shadowgate but has risen in stature over the years.
Unlike Shadowgate and the
final MacVenture release on the NES – The
Uninvited, Déjà Vu is not a supernatural mystery. Instead it is a 1941 crime mystery set
in Chicago
with a ton of humor. When the game
begins you wake up in a bathroom with blood on your body, a needle
puncture on your arm and a bad case of amnesia. You have no idea who you are or what
you have gotten yourself into. As
you explore the rooms around you, you will quickly discover a dead body. At this point the story unfolds: you
have to regain your memory, figure out who killed this man and clear your
name of all involvement with the crime by getting rid of any evidence
that links you to it.
The entire game is done with a point-and-click interface,
PC-style. You have to click on “examine”
if you want to search a body or a desk.
You have to click on “hit” if you want to punch someone or press a
button. You also must scroll
through a long list of items if you want to use one or reread a vital clue. While this can get very monotonous it
also provides the game with a unique feel that is only shared by the two
other MacVenture titles on the NES.
 Déjà Vu is one of the few titles
on the NES to have a genuine adult theme and throws in a ton of humor to
boot. In the game you will have to
knock out a prostitute, drug a 400 pound woman, dig up the goods on an
illicit relationship and search the inside of a toilet! You also have the ability to shoot
yourself with a gun (among the many ways to die), which results in your
game ending. Its quiet disappearance
from the NES scene in 1990 was probably met with a sigh of relief by the
lawyers at Nintendo of America.
It should be noted that Déjà Vu
II: Lost in Las Vegas was the final MacVenture release and was also
developed and supposedly finished for the NES. This game never came out on the NES but
was eventually released on the Gameboy Color as
a twofer packed with the original Déjà
Vu.
Positives:
This is one original game. I can’t
believe how much stuff this game got away with! I don’t know of any other game that
actually allows you to go through with suicide via a .38 magnum. I also can’t believe that searching the
inside of the toilet is an option.
One key element to Déjà Vu is
humor. The game is full of
sarcastic wisecracks to any weird command you try and give it. When you examine a lady that is knocked
out you get a stern reprimand and when you examine the dead body of your
partner it says that he’s lacking in the life department.
 Déjà Vu also has music that really
sets the stage as well as decent graphics for a point-and-click
game. It also comes with a battery
that allows you to save your game and actually presents a mystery that is
pretty tough to solve but a lot of fun along the way. What sets this game apart from Shadowgate and The Uninvited is that Déjà Vu has no mystical qualities
to it. This makes it much easier
to figure out what you should do next because there is no placing the
mysterious sphere onto the cracked ledge nonsense of Shadowgate. In fact
there aren’t really any riddles to solve along the way, you just have to
gather evidence to build your case and destroy any evidence that links
you to the crime.
Glaring
Negatives:
First off, the point-and-click style of the game can get very
frustrating. When you have to
scroll through three screens of items every time you have to pay a cabbie
it can really wear on your nerves.
Another negative is that it can be tough to find the spot to dump
the information that incriminates you in the murder. If you try and go to the police to
present your case and you haven’t destroyed this evidence, you will
always lose. The most frustrating
aspect is that if you get too many Game Over screens due to improper
evidence, the game will reset your entire save file. One
final negative is that although the game is intimidating at first, it is
actually a very short game that can be easily solved in under 30 minutes once you know what to do. There are only five buildings to visit
and only a couple rooms per building that you are allowed to enter. With a limited number of options, you
will figure out what you have to do pretty quickly.
Graphics
and Sound: Solid
The music is very catchy and mysterious, perfect for this kind of
game. The graphics are nothing special
but everything is very easy to distinguish, which is all you need in a point-and-click
style game.
Gameplay
and Controls: A little clunky
While the clunky controls will not result in any deaths, it will slow
you down. The point-and-click
style works a lot better with a mouse.
The gameplay is very fun because you can examine lots of items
that you wouldn’t normally get to look at in a typical NES game.
 Features: Battery
Déjà Vu has a battery and
allows for three different files to be saved on to it.
Fun?: Definitely
Déjà Vu is funny,
challenging and very beatable. It
is almost as much fun discovering all the ways you can die as it is to
beat the game.
Challenge:
Decently Tough
While not nearly as difficult as Shadowgate,
Déjà Vu will challenge you at first until you get the hang of
it. The key will be in figuring
out how to destroy evidence…
Replay: A
little
There are lots of things you can do that aren’t necessary to win the
game that are fun to go back and try after you’ve beaten it. It is also fun to discover all of the
ways to die and the different bad endings that you can get depending on
how guilty the judge decides you are.
2
Player: No
That is not an option.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
You can find all the NES manuals
at Nintendo
Age.
Bottom Line: Extremely entertaining and
original
Déjà Vu is one of the best
RPG style games on the NES. It is
similar to Shadowgate and The Uninvited but since it is
rooted in the real world it is a lot easier to solve. If you like humor, violence and RPGs then you need to go out and pick this game up
immediately.
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