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Who Shot Johnny Rock?

Score: 60%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: Digital Leisure
Developer: Digital Leisure
Media: DVD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Miscellaneous

Graphics & Sound:

Putting a different twist on the video game genre, Who Shot Johnny Rock? turn Full Motion Video (FMV) into an interactive game. Thanks to DVD technology, the video looks very crisp and you literally will be turning a short movie into a video game. Character voices come out clean and clear, but that's about where it stops. Sticking with a low-budget cheap mob theme, WSJR has some really bad acting. It's almost a 'so bad its good'... one of those things. It's actually humorous just to watch it.

Gameplay:

When you pop in your new game, you are first graced with the woman in red. You are a cheap crime scene Private Detective (complete with narration), and it's your job to find out exactly Who Shot Johnny Rock?. From the moment 'Red' enters your office to hire you, the mob is on your tail. Using your DVD Remote, you will move your crosshair cursor around the screen and shoot the baddies as they appear to you.

The basic premise behind the game is to work your way through the city of Chicago finding clues that you will eventually use at the end of the game to figure out Who Shot Johnny Rock?. As you venture between places like the pool hall and warehouse, you go searching for 'Mumps,' 'Measles,' 'Pots,' and 'Lockjaw Lil,' your four prime suspects in this case. Standing in your way are their respective cronies. You'll need a fast gun to take them down, or you'll face the wrath of the undertaker's extremely bad jokes.

Adding to the game is the replay value. Okay, so the replay value may not be as high as other games, but you will notice that there is a randomness about WSJR. For example, as you corner your suspects and ask for their clues, you will get a different answer each time you play. Also, when you enter certain areas with gangsters popping out from behind objects, you'll see that they don't always come out in the same order. So keep on your toes and keep your crosshair in the center of the screen when possible.

Although highly entertaining, Who Shot Johnny Rock? is a pretty short game to play through, depending on how good of a shot you are. Of course, using the Xbox DVD Movie Playback Kit (which is required) Remote makes things much more difficult than if you were allowed to use the standard controller. Fortunately, as you may have guessed, you could also play this game on a PlayStation 2. Doing so with a game controller makes for a much better experience.


Difficulty:

Who Shot Johnny Rock? does have two difficulty settings, Ace or Wimp, but I couldn't distinguish between them all that much. I'm guessing that there may be a bit more time given to shoot gangsters in Wimp Mode, but it's nothing highly noticeable. The biggest difficulty is in response time from your Remote Control to your console. I find that there just doesn't seem to be enough time to waste the bad guys before they send you to the morgue. Fortunately, you are given an infinite number of continues after you run outta dough to pay for your funerals.

Game Mechanics:

Since Who Shot Johnny Rock? is actually just a DVD movie, you'll be happy to know that you don't need to own an Xbox to play this title. In fact, you could actually use a standard home DVD Player with its remote if you want to. The problem of slow response time doesn't go away with this option, however. I would actually suggest that if you have a PlayStation 2, you use that instead. Who Shot Johnny Rock? is much more enjoyable with a standard game controller than using a remote control anyway. But, since this is an Xbox review and not a PS2 review, you can safely add another point to the score if you're playing on a PS2.

You will also notice that there is a slight pause between different video scenes. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about this with current DVD technology. It is possible that in the future, this problem will be less noticeable. Another problem is that even while playing this game on a console game system, you won't be able to save at any point, so you'll have to play the game straight through. You will be able to pause, but this requires leaving your Xbox or PS2 on at all times. On the flip side, if you're using a standard DVD Player, most of them will allow you to 'remember' where you last viewed and restart from that point when turning the system back on (see your owners manual).

Who Shot Johnny Rock? certainly is good for a few laughs and is a different way to play from your normal video game experience. With a cheap twenty-dollar price tag and a slight bit of replay value, you may want to pick this one up as you can play it on anything that plays standard DVD movies. If it is available for rent, you may want to do that instead, as it is a short game.


-Woody, GameVortex Communications
AKA Shane Wodele

Microsoft Xbox Turok: Evolution Microsoft Xbox ESPN International Winter Sports 2002

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated