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Michigan: Report from Hell
Text Review
Michigan: Report From Hell is a creation of Goichi Suda (a.k.a. Suda 51) and his development team Grasshopper Manufacture who are known for making unique and strange games such as Killer 7 and No More Heroes, and if unique and strange is what you want, Michigan sure delivers.
First off I should mention that this game is not available in the United States unless you have a way to play import PS2 games, it was only released in Japan and Europe. For you guys in the US of A, this is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand you miss out on one of the most unique and disturbing survival horror games ever made, but on the other hand, you don't have to experience how the low budget English translation ruins much of the game.
Strangely the game doesn't take place in the state of Michigan, it takes place in Chicago - it's called Michigan because the events of the game take place close to Lake Michigan. In the game you play as the cameraman for a TV team from ZaKa TV (a fictional TV channel present in many of Suda's games) who is investigating a strange mist that has suddenly covered the city. You soon discover that strange monsters have appeared in the city along with the mist.
Unlike most other horror games, the player character can almost never be killed in the game, instead it's the team's reporters that risk getting killed if you don't help them during certain parts of the game. If the reporter is killed, the level will end and you will begin the next level with a new reporter. You could almost say that the reporter is the real main character of the game. You're the one who points out interesting things on the level but the reporter is the one who actually interacts with the levels and fights the monsters. There are one or two instances in the game where your character can get killed, but usually the only way to “die” is if you stay in a level too long and your camera runs out of batteries.
Since you play the cameraman, the objective of the game is to film interesting things for the TV audience which earns you “scoop points”. This is actually where much of the game’s horror comes from. The atmosphere and the monsters may be just as creepy as any other horror game but what really makes this game disturbing are the things you are able to do in order to get scoop points. The first sample of this comes in the game’s tutorial level. The reporter is walking backwards while you are filming her and you notice something on the ground behind her. You can warn her and she will be fine or you can choose to let her trip on the object and then gain scoop points for filming her panties when she has fallen down. As creepy as that may sound it gets much worse - at many parts in the game you can actually let people die just to get some juicy footage of their messy demise.
The graphics in the game are good for the PS2 and add to the suspenseful atmosphere. The sound design is well done with some great effects and music, but the music clip that often plays when you discover something gets extremely repetitive after a while. Michigan Report from Hell seems to have been translated on a very low budget which is the game's most notable issue. The voice acting is some of the worst I have ever heard (not bad in a good way like Resident Evil) and the English script is equally terrible. This is a big problem because of the amount of dialogue in the game.
It's hard to recommend Michigan because it has some major flaws, but somewhere behind the terrible voice acting and stupid dialogue is a great, ambitious and genuinely creepy game. If you love unique gaming experiences and feel that you could look past the flaws you might really enjoy it. Maybe there will be a remake of Michigan at some point in the future because, with good voice acting and some polish, this could have been one of the best horror games ever made.
- Christian Ljungqvist
First off I should mention that this game is not available in the United States unless you have a way to play import PS2 games, it was only released in Japan and Europe. For you guys in the US of A, this is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand you miss out on one of the most unique and disturbing survival horror games ever made, but on the other hand, you don't have to experience how the low budget English translation ruins much of the game.
Strangely the game doesn't take place in the state of Michigan, it takes place in Chicago - it's called Michigan because the events of the game take place close to Lake Michigan. In the game you play as the cameraman for a TV team from ZaKa TV (a fictional TV channel present in many of Suda's games) who is investigating a strange mist that has suddenly covered the city. You soon discover that strange monsters have appeared in the city along with the mist.
Unlike most other horror games, the player character can almost never be killed in the game, instead it's the team's reporters that risk getting killed if you don't help them during certain parts of the game. If the reporter is killed, the level will end and you will begin the next level with a new reporter. You could almost say that the reporter is the real main character of the game. You're the one who points out interesting things on the level but the reporter is the one who actually interacts with the levels and fights the monsters. There are one or two instances in the game where your character can get killed, but usually the only way to “die” is if you stay in a level too long and your camera runs out of batteries.
Since you play the cameraman, the objective of the game is to film interesting things for the TV audience which earns you “scoop points”. This is actually where much of the game’s horror comes from. The atmosphere and the monsters may be just as creepy as any other horror game but what really makes this game disturbing are the things you are able to do in order to get scoop points. The first sample of this comes in the game’s tutorial level. The reporter is walking backwards while you are filming her and you notice something on the ground behind her. You can warn her and she will be fine or you can choose to let her trip on the object and then gain scoop points for filming her panties when she has fallen down. As creepy as that may sound it gets much worse - at many parts in the game you can actually let people die just to get some juicy footage of their messy demise.
The graphics in the game are good for the PS2 and add to the suspenseful atmosphere. The sound design is well done with some great effects and music, but the music clip that often plays when you discover something gets extremely repetitive after a while. Michigan Report from Hell seems to have been translated on a very low budget which is the game's most notable issue. The voice acting is some of the worst I have ever heard (not bad in a good way like Resident Evil) and the English script is equally terrible. This is a big problem because of the amount of dialogue in the game.
It's hard to recommend Michigan because it has some major flaws, but somewhere behind the terrible voice acting and stupid dialogue is a great, ambitious and genuinely creepy game. If you love unique gaming experiences and feel that you could look past the flaws you might really enjoy it. Maybe there will be a remake of Michigan at some point in the future because, with good voice acting and some polish, this could have been one of the best horror games ever made.
- Christian Ljungqvist
So RAD it hurts!
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