The Residents' Bad Day on the Midway
Sold Out		(Win95/Win3.1/Mac) (Retail) (BADDAYDR)

Inscape

Game

Ratings:

4 1/2 stars from CD-ROM Today

4 stars from PC Entertainment

80% from PC Gamer

Gold - Adventure/Role-Playing Game Title from New Media's 1996 Invision Awards

Some Say It's the Ultimate Role-playing Game!
Other's Simply Say It's Twisted!

Live the lives of outlaws and outcasts caught in a carnival of the doomed. Obsess upon the accident and be driven to uncover its dark secrets. Become overwhelmed by compulsion as you enter each eccentric exhibit, searching for pieces of passion and truth. Enter a coma, experience the reality of a rat, and watch the world of the Midway as it teeters on the brink of chaos and collapse.

You might survive A Bad Day on the Midway, but beware, for nothing is quite as it seems.

Timmy - His hamster has three legs. His goldfish froze to death. Why is he so happy?

Dagmar - Why is this cynical stripper covered with tattoos of dogs?

IRS Man - Who was his lost love and why was she found hiding under a car?

Ted - His mother is a Human Log. Is that why he's so strange?

Dixie - Husband in a coma. Taxman on her trail. Wouldn't you be worried?

Otto - Does this chubby rat-racer always have a Bad Day on the Midway?

Game features:

Choose which bizarre character you want to become and see the Midway through their eyes

Solve a twisted mystery of murder and intrigue

Amazing 3-D animation by Jim Ludtke

Original soundtrack by the Residents

Multiple character role-playing opportunities, subplots and outcomes yield virtually endless gaming

Ingenious AI customized game to player's moves

Requirements - For Windows: Win 3.1 or higher, 486DX 33 MHz or faster, Double-speed CD-ROM (300 k/sec), 16 bit sound card, 256 colors at 640 x 480, 8 MB RAM.

Requirements - For Macintosh: System 7.1 or higher, 68030 33MHz or faster, Double-speed CD-ROM (300 k/sec), 256 colors @ 640 x 480, 8 MB RAM.

Reviews:

PC Entertainment, March 1996

"Bad Day presents an amazing mix of imagery and ideas that's hard to get used to at first. As you delve deeper into the game and get the lay of the land, however, you uncover a disturbing, compelling scenario to which you'll find yourself more and more drawn."

"Much of the appeal lies in the collaboration of the Residents, the San Francisco - based troupe of absurdist musicians/writers, and Jim Ludtke, the brilliant computer animator who worked with the Residents on their innovative first CD-ROM, Freak Show. The pairing results once again in a graphically rich game environment, driven by a musical soundtrack that creates an air of danger and tension. But compared to the truly bizarre Freak Show, Bad Day establishes more believable 3-D characters in a swirling, dark, full-motion environment that perfectly mirrors the sensory overload of a carnival."

"Eventually, you get used to the constant shifting of roles, and as you get to know the inhabitants, they reveal morally ambiguous, three-dimensional lives - becoming people with flaws and qualities not immediately apparent. That depth of the Residents' writing, coupled with superb graphics and challenging game play, makes Bad Day on the Midway a first-rate gaming experience."

PC Gamer, August 1996

"What makes Bad Day unique - beyond its resemblance to a drug-induced hallucination - is that the player can navigate the game through new characters by assuming their identities. Within each host-character's body, you can read the thoughts of the person and hear their stories. The stories often take the form of strange little movies that tell players about the character's background, all executed in beautifully stylized graphics and sound."

CD-ROM Today, March 1996

"Playing Bad Day on the Midway is the Twilight Zone. There's an episode of the Twilight Zone. There's an eerie stillness to this virtual world, a feeling of claustrophobia and lurking menace that makes it unforgettable."

"The point of the game is to survive as long as possible, without being killed by Ted the Psycho, crushed by the skeleton of the abominable three-headed snowman, or succumbing to the red rat plague. But your real objective is to piece together the links between each character's story. Who's blackmailing Dixie? And is the man in the coma really Ike, Dixie's proto-Nazi husband?"

"Like a good Twilight Zone episode, the weirdness is held together by more serious underlying themes. The art vignettes in particular offer graphic commentaries on the ugliness of fascism, racism, and war."

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