Night Trap

*"Night Trap, the cult classic of the Sega CD, is an interactive horror game that is most known for being one of two games that led to the creation of the ESRB, the people who give age ratings for video games. The claim was that the game showed too much gore, and promoted violence against women. Well, having finally beaten the game I can say, without a doubt, that people in 1992 were definitely overreacting, as the game comes off as a campy B movie that is clearly not meant to be taken seriously, a theme of most of the Digital Pictures games. The amount of gore is not as bad as people had claimed, in fact, most of the gore comes from a single scene where Lisa gets killed, which seems to be the entire focus of these claims. Also, the "violence" against women is extremely blown out of proportion, as I said, the game was trying to be a silly horror movie, but is barely any different then your typical slasher movie from the 80s. People die in horror movies, what were you expecting? Also, the claims imply the game was intended for kids, even though the Sega CD was pushed towards being more geared for adults, which is clearly the intended audience, however, even if a kid were to play it, the game would barely come off as nothing more than a scary game. Now that we got that out of the way, how is the game? Since Night Trap is a game that's built around the use of FMVs, the graphics are, for the most part, affected by the quality of the video capture used back then. However, unlike INXS: Make My Video, the FMVs for this game are surprisingly better quality, with only some graininess, but you can actually make out everything that is happening in the FMVs. The controls are also very similar, as it is a interactive game, however, these controls are much better than the INXS: Make My Video game as they don't slip around out of your control, and respond, surprisingly, very well. What about the audio? MUCH better than INXS: Make My Video, like completely different. Again, there is some graininess but you can actually understand every character that talks, even when they are being subtle in their delivery of lines. The acting is also MUCH better, if you go in to this knowing it's meant to be a campy, silly horror movie. The theme song for the game is also slapping. So is the game fun to play? Yes and no. Obviously it's limited to it being an interactive game. The only real gaming you are doing is watching videos and responding to things happening in the game. If you also know all the timing in game, it's not too difficult either. However, the game isn't boring like the INXS: Make My Video game, as the Night Trap movie you are essentially watching, is actually kind of entertaining. Also, if you have no idea what is going on, the game is more enjoyable since you are exploring the house seeing all the hidden scenes while trying to stop the villains (which is difficult). I recommend anyone with a Sega CD try this game out, or if you don't have a Sega CD, you are in luck, they have re-released this game on newer systems (with improved audio and video quality). It's known as a cult classic for a reason; it is good, but you just gotta give it a chance."*

* Logo
* Logo 2
* Box Art

### Release Date

US: October, 1992
EU: May, 1993
AU: June, 1993

### Genre(s)

Interactive,
Horror

### Value

Price Charting
Static Value:
$24 CD
$16 Instruction Manual
$31 Box
$117 Sealed

## YouTube Information

* Thumbnail
* Title Card

### Score

 Graphics
 Sound
 Control
 Fun Factor