Night Trap is an interactive movie released in 1992 on the Mega-CD, made infamous by the controversy surrounding it that led to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board. It is possibly the most well known FMV game as a result.
Plot[]
You are part of an elite team of special operatives codenamed S.C.A.T. (Sega Control Attack Team on the Mega CD, Special Control Attack Team on other versions).
Your commanding officer Lt. Simms informs you that the team was alerted to the disappearance of five teenage girls who were last seen at the Martin winery estate.
When the Martins were questioned by the police, they claimed the girls were invited to stay the night, but left safely the following day. They would not however allow police to take a look around their property.
Suspicious at the Martins' behaviour, Lt. Simms has sent an undercover operative, Kelli Medd (played by Different Strokes star, Dana Plato), to infiltrate another group of girls who have been invited over to the Martins and find out what is going on.
Your job is video surveillance, to keep an eye on Kelli and the girls and to spring traps that S.C.A.T. have managed to set up in the Martins' home to keep the girls safe from anything untowards...
...and as it turns out the Martins' are offering up the girls as sacrifices to Augers, Vamparic creatures that require blood to stop their bodies from decomposing, so you better be quick and careful with those traps if you want to save the group from becoming sacrifices.
Gameplay[]
The player must watch the events on the eight video surveillance cameras, switching between locations to keep an eye on what is going on with the girls and the Augers.
Kelli will provide aid to the player with certain clues trying to guide them to succeed, but other clues can be gathered simply by listening in on conversations.
The player can spring a trap when the sensor bar moves into the red zone which will capture them. The player must avoid accidentally catching Kelli, other S.C.A.T. agents or the house guests in these traps to avoid a game over. These traps only work, however, if the access code is correct.
There are six possible access codes, and the player must eavesdrop into the conversations to find out when the Martins change the code. When a new code is learned, the player must wait until the speaker leaves the room before changing the access code to the correct color to maintain control of the traps. Counters on the screen indicate how many perpetrators have entered the house and how many have been captured.
Characters[]
Legacy[]
Night Trap was center to a congressional hearing, in which the subject of violence in video games was brought up. It, alongside Mortal Kombat, were penned as the biggest two perpetrators of violence in video games with Senator Joe Lieberman, who admitted never playing the game, claiming Night Trap featured gratuitous violence and promoted sexual aggression against women.
This wasn't really the case, at least for Night Trap, as you were attempting to save these women from being drained of their blood rather than enacting violence towards them, but nethertheless this led to the creation of the ESRB, giving a much needed age rating system to each and every game released from there on.
Trivia[]
- This was one of the very first video games to feature celebrities.
- This game was touted as one that would "never appear on the a Nintendo system" back in 1993 by then President of Nintendo of America, Howard Lincoln, during the congressional hearing. Ironically, it appeared on the Nintendo Switch 25 years later.
Gallery[]
External links[]
Standard links[]
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Sega-16 links[] |