Software:Return of the Phantom

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Short description: 1993 video game
Return of the Phantom
Developer(s)MPS Labs
Publisher(s)MicroProse
Producer(s)Matt Gruson
Designer(s)Raymond Benson
Programmer(s)Brian Reynolds
Artist(s)Kenn Nishiuye
Writer(s)Raymond Benson
Composer(s)Michael Bross
Platform(s)MS-DOS
Release1993
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Return of the Phantom is a point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by MicroProse in 1993. It was produced by Matt Gruson and designed/written by future James Bond novelist Raymond Benson. It is based on the 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.

The game was the second graphical adventure game developed by MicroProse, following Rex Nebular and preceding Dragonsphere. It was developed using the MicroProse Adventure Development system, and made use of 256-colour graphics. A CD version featuring full voices for the characters was also released.

Plot

The Palais Garnier is in the midst of the world premiere of Don Juan Triumphant when the enormous chandelier adorning the domed ceiling of the auditorium plunges into the middle of the stalls and kills several members of the audience. The player takes the role of Raoul Montand, a detective from the Sûreté and patron of the Opera. The manager, Monsieur Brie, suspects the Phantom may be the cause and has Raoul investigate. Raoul encounters the leading actress of the show, Christine Florent, who has received a note from the Phantom which threatens her. Some time later, Christine is found strangled by the Phantom. Raoul goes to the catwalk where the Phantom appears and pushes him off the edge. Then, he awakens to find himself transported back in time to the year 1881 where he is mistaken for the Viscount Raoul de Chagny.

During a production, Erik captures Christine Daaé. After a great deal of work and exploring, Raoul enters the Phantom's lair and rescues Christine, but the Phantom appears once more and re-captures Christine. Raoul climbs to the chandelier and does battle with the Phantom, eventually causing the chandelier to fall and kill both men. Raoul awakens back in his own time, where none of the events related to the Phantom seem to have taken place, but before the credits begin the Phantom's shadow is seen behind him.

Characters

  • Raoul Montand (Voiced by Stuart W. Howard): The player character; an investigator of the French Secret Police: The Sûreté.
  • Christine Florent (Voiced by Jonathan Caspian-Kaufman): The present opera star; somehow connected with Christine Daae.
  • Christine Daaé (Voiced by Jonathan Caspian-Kaufman): A simple-minded girl from Sweden; the woman whom the Phantom loves.
  • Monsieur Brie (Voiced by Raymond Benson): The present opera manager.
  • Monsieur Richard (Voiced by Douglas Kaufman): Opera manager of the past.
  • Madame Giry (Voiced by Lynne Siglar): The Phantom's box-keeper; knows that Raoul is from the future.
  • Jacques (Voiced by Nick Raye): A man who knows a great deal about the Phantom; is eventually killed.
  • Julie Giry (Voiced by Dorianne Weaver): A descendant of Madame Giry who also knows about the Phantom.
  • Charles (Voiced by Steven Zumbrun): Present day stage master.
  • Edgar Degas (Voiced by Douglas Kaufman): An artist interested in painting pictures of ballerinas; somehow knows that Raoul is from the future.
  • Erik, the Phantom of the Opera (Voiced by Greg Kemper): The main antagonist throughout the entire game.

Reception

QuestBusters called Return of the Phantom "a high quality game with few bugs" and praised the game for having used professional actors, a designer with real-world experience in Broadway theatre, and an original "Bach inspired" score. The magazine wrote that "Micro Prose uses their own unique adaptation of the classical animation overlaying process, producing a very life-like final animation video. Numerous digitized sound effects round off the experience."[1]

Computer Gaming World in October 1993 called the game's plot "gripping" and "intriguing". While criticizing the slow movement speed and lack of keyboard shortcuts, and the game "offering only 12 to 18 hours of gaming for the average player" given the US$69.95 (equivalent to $152.26 in 2024) price, it praised the rotoscoped animation—"as fluid and lifelike as that of any computer product to date"—and "rich and full" music. The magazine concluded that Phantom was best suited for those who preferred story over puzzles, especially at a lower price. It criticized the CD-ROM version as "a disappointment" for "unspiring vocals and slow [CD] access".[2] In April 1994 the magazine said that the CD version "needed more rehearsals prior to release". While preferable to the floppy version "the vocal talent leaves much to be desired", and with no added lip movement animation the game resembled "a poorly subtitled foreign film".[3] Power Unlimited gave the game a score of 70% writing: "Return of the Phantom is a great adventure for beginners. It also looks good, so it can easily keep your attention. It is a pity that the story and the sound are not much."[4]

References

  1. ↑ Giovetti, Al C (September 1993). "Return of the Phantom". QuestBusters: pp. 6. https://archive.org/stream/questbusters-v10n08/qbusters_v10_n08#page/n5/mode/2up. Retrieved 8 January 2015. 
  2. ↑ Miller, Chuck (October 1993). "Chasing Down An Organ Donor". Computer Gaming World: 20. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=111. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  3. ↑ "Invasion Of The Data Stashers". Computer Gaming World: 20–42. April 1994. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=117. 
  4. ↑ "Power Unlimited Game Database" (in nl). November 1994. Archived from the original on October 20, 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20031020134027/http://www.powerweb.nl/database/img/index.php?page=database&&query%5border%5d=datum&ending=ASC&query%5bstart%5d=100. Retrieved December 4, 2022. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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