I’ve been racking my brain as usual, trying to figure out what type of game to review for the next edition of Throwback Thursday. I decided to focus this edition on things such as a rich family. A biochemical toxin. Kinky sexual encounters. Scandals. Lies. Murder. And while I could be talking about the brand-new reboot of the classic television series Dallas on TNT, I am actually talking about a video game released in 1993. The game was originally released for the Philips CD-i, however due to the failure of the system in the United States and beyond, the game (as well as a sequel) were released for the PC and Macintosh computers the following year. During the CD-i days, this title was frequently used in advertisements for the console, taking advantage of the full-screen video capabilities of the system. Today, I will be reviewing the title “Voyeur” as played on the original CD-i machines.

In this game, you play the part of a private investigator that was hired by a member of the Hawke family. This unidentified family member hired you to try to obtain enough information to expose Reed Hawke: The CEO of Hawke Industries, who is more than a little corrupt. Over the weekend frame that you play the game, Reed Hawke (played by Robert Culp), is preparing to make an announcement that he will be running for the presidency of the United States. And it is over this exact same weekend, that you have to obtain enough evidence to expose him. Your actions, will alter the storyline severely. You can witness immorality, murder, scandals, and other acts that may be considered just a tad bit illegal. Your job, is to get the information via the use of a video camera, audio recorder, and in some miraculous way, access their personal files in an unrealistic remote fashion. Depending on the evidence that you gather, you can either go to the police, or if you feel that a family member is in immediate danger, send a copy of your information directly to that family member, before it’s too late. However, if you go to the police with insufficient evidence, they may not take you seriously in the future. Whereas, if you send a copy of your findings to either the wrong family member, or not enough information is sent to the family member, Reed Hawke just might have a special surprise for you! (Even if it is a very cheesy way of saying “Game Over”.)

Depending on the video and audio clips that you view or listen to at the very beginning of the game, will later on decide what your possible outcomes could be at the end of the game. For example, you can learn how Reed Hawke’s daughter is very into the preservation of the rainforest. This would bring a situation later on in the game, where you would learn that Reed has a bio toxin, that could destroy all plant life for hundreds of miles with just a few drops. You could also learn, about a sexual assault that Reed Hawke did to his niece at a young age. This could allow a situation in the game, where the niece or the aunt would confront Reed about his actions, which could either end up with a simple apology, or a murder of one or another character (which you would have the ability to prevent, or if you were too late, at least show to the police.) In the many years that I’ve played this title, I have discovered at least six different scenarios, all with completely different endings. Most of the video does repeat from play to play, don’t get me wrong. But, with the number of videos and audio clips playing at the same time, as long as you don’t follow the exact same pattern every time, it will give you a very interesting and effective way of replaying the game without getting bored. I personally think that this is one of the games highest qualities, especially in a generation where memorization was all it took to beat a game. This type of capability in the software, was also used by Philips to prove how “smart” the CD-i system actually was, even though the system failed miserably.

The game itself, is a very simple point and click engine. For both the PC and CD-i versions, you move the pointer to the various windows of Hawke Manor. The cursor will change according to what video or audio clips are available at that exact moment in time. An eyeball will indicate that a video is available, an icon of an ear will indicate audio is available at that time, and a magnifying glass will indicate that papers and/or a computer terminal is available for your examination. Throughout the story, you will be introduced to Reed’s sister, niece, other family members, his secretary, and other acquaintances. You’ll learn throughout playing the game, that each character has a very distinguishable characteristic, that is important to discover to complete the story. This is one of those games, that as long as you pay close attention to everybody’s actions and statements, you will have no problem achieving a victorious outcome. This is one of those games, that I like to call “intelligent”. However, it’s not an intelligence that would solely require mental puzzle solving abilities alone. It requires excellent communication, listening and comprehension skills.

Voyeur is one of many games of the time that uses actual video throughout the game. But unlike many other games of the era that used “full motion video”, Voyeur actually only uses the outlines of the characters, and has a video game textured background. This is opposed to actually using a complete full video frame that was used for systems like Sega CD and Panasonic 3DO. In fact, this game didn’t even need to have the optional “digital video cartridge” installed in the system, which would have allowed actual full motion video. What this gives us though, is the ability to have smoother video in a time where full-motion video could not be handled by those video game systems and computers (even though the console companies wanted us to believe that.) In a way, it was kind of nice to see a game using video, but not using the full frame video that was being used on other systems, since while it was a nice change, the technology simply wasn’t there yet. I give kudos to Philips for not pushing the limits too much, too soon.

Ironically, this game was released in a very interesting time frame in the history of video games. Less than a year after the games release, another game called “Night Trap” was released for the Sega CD. It was at around this time period, that Congress had begun cracking down on extremely violent or suggestive video games. What is interesting about this, is that while Night Trap was the game that was most used in trying to convince us that a rating system was necessary for video games, Night Trap was quite  tame when compared to Voyeur. For instance, Voyeur contains brief female nudity (if only from the rear), while Night Trap does not. Voyeur shows actual murders taking place, in a realistic manner, whereas Night Trap was done in a comical fashion. Not to mention the obvious lesbian encounter. The only thing that saved Voyeur from being head of the spotlight of the issue, was the fact that it was released for a system that was not widely in use. I think if Voyeur had been released for any other game console, that it would’ve been the game given the third degree instead. If both games were television shows, Night Trap would have been rated TV-14, while Voyeur would have been given a strong TV-MA.

As I said in the beginning, this title sounds like something you would see on the show Dallas, Dynasty, or any other of the nighttime soap operas that aired in the 80s and 90s. If you are able to comprehend those types of television shows (or even if you just like a good thriller), this game will be very enjoyable to you. It’s long been widely known that the CD-i did not have a large variety of good titles in it’s library. In fact out of the few hundred titles made for the system (and yes, there were a few hundred made throughout the world), the number of excellent quality games that were made for the system could very easily be held in a single hand. The Philips CD-i holds a very strange love in my heart that some people would rather call an arrhythmia. For some reason, the system is one of my favorites. I don’t know why, it just is. However, Voyeur would certainly be one of the games in my hand where I’d hold the actual excellent games for the format. And, the good news, is that you don’t need a CD-i system to try out the game, since it was released for home computers of the day. (And yes. While the original CD-i version was officially “unrated” due to the lack of a ratings system at the time, the computer versions? Needless to say, rated M.)

Note: Video preview contains spoilers.