Your days were spent photographing the birds, deer, rocks and anything that came across your lens. At night you would study your work and sometimes listen to the local radio talk show when the reception was clear. One night while listening to the radio, you heard that you would soon have a new neighbor named Cussler who bought the land opposite of you on the ridge. Wondering what it would be like to have to share the area with others, you began to point your lens in their direction 3,000 feet away. You became fascinated with the day-to-day activities of the construction workers and your new neighbors.
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| Jennifer O'Neill |
Feeling as if they had invaded your privacy, you became preoccupied in your desire to learn everything there was to know about these people. Night after night, you couldn't wait for your next chance to spy. Your obsession drove you to buy a video camera with a long-range lens and microphone. With your new equipment you could listen and watch all the rooms of the cliff-side mansion, seeing everything no matter how private it may be.
As the sun sets, you listen to a radio newscast about the death of the late Dr. Everett Cussler played by William Burns. Dr. Cussler is survived by his two children Peter (Matthew Flint) and Rachel (Karen Mayo-Chandler) and leaves behind the control of his corporation of which Sylvio Donato (David Groh) has had a significant investment in since its beginnings. Spying on Dr. Elizabeth Duran (Jennifer O'Neil), listening to the news is how the game begins with its full screen, full motion video. Tonight, you'll have to pay extra close attention to everything you see and hear, because tonight, you may witness a murder. Will you be able to prevent it? That's for you to figure out as you play Voyeur II.
The game requires that you last the whole night recording important evidence to show who may be the guilty party. This may prove to be a difficult task as your cabin uses solar energy and you must ration your power to make it through the night.
Voyeur II always begins the same way and runs for about twenty minutes depending on your moves. There are no save-game options as the night takes place in real time once started. You can pause and quit the game at any time. Conversations will take place simultaneously in different rooms and you'll be the judge on which of the two or more situations should be recorded. Gathering up all of the information onto video tape is what the game is all about. If you don't have the proper convincing events recorded, the sheriff, John Parker (Dennis Weaver), will not take to you kindly.
Other interesting details can be heard on your radio in the cabin and on your slide projector. They contain important information for figuring out specific incidents. To spy on your neighbors, you'll be using your long range video camera. When looking through the eye piece, you'll see eight different windows that you can zoom in on. To zoom, you just click on the window of your choice and do the same to leave the room. Clicking on the cliff will take you away from your camera and you'll see your cabin again. Your grandfather's gun will be locked up on the wall with a four digit combination. This too can be used for spying on your neighbors and can also be fired if necessary.
The graphics consist mainly of over 80 minutes of enticing video. The full screen video is not as clear as television as it contains a few jagged edges from the pixels, but this is a minor detail when playing the game. Each corner has a small square bracket to indicate that you are looking through a lens and a red light will illuminate at the bottom of the screen while recording. The sound is perfect containing music and sound effects for all the different scenes. With your highly sophisticated spying equipment, you'll also hear all the conversations just as clearly as if you were in the room.
Different endings occur on the CD-ROM as you make unique choices on what should be recorded. Which of the stories and directions are the correct ones is, again, what this game is all about.
Visit Philips' Voyeur II Home Page
Written by Trevor Bennicke
Click here for screen shots.
486 DX2-66 MHz or higher,
Min 8Mb memory,
MS-DOS 6.22 or DOS 7,
Hard drive required with 1Mb free,
Double speed CD-ROM drive or faster,
MSCDEX version 2.2 or higher,
256 color VGA or SVGA display,
SoundBlaster or compatible sound card,
Microsoft compatible mouse.
| Graphics: | 86% |
| Sound: | 95% |
| Music: | 87% |
| Gameplay: | 90% |
| Interest: | 92% |
| Overall: | 90% |
Philips Media Inc.,
10960 Wilshire Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Web site: Philips Media
