Michigan: Report from Hell

released on Aug 05, 2004

Michigan: Report from Hell, released as Michigan in Japan, is a survival horror game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Spike. It was released in Japan on August 5, 2004, in Europe on September 30, 2005, and in Australia in 2005. This game was never released in North America. Directed by Akira Ueda and planned by Goichi Suda, the game focuses on a news crew for the fictional ZaKa TV, dedicated to covering strange phenomena. The game is unique in the sense that it is played almost entirely though the viewfinder of a camera; and the game is lost if the player runs out of film before solving the mysteries in a mission.


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The brimstone-level voice acting is so fucking funny that it makes it difficult for the player to take the game's attempted scariness seriously, and the game is clearly-embattled by a lack of polish emanating from budget constraints, but I definitely give it credit for trying a novel new idea for a survival horror game with its first-person found footage type perspective and gameplay scenarios, which games like Outlast would execute to a significantly more effective degree in the years since.

I'm not gonna sugar coat it, this game is AWFUL. But HOLY SHIT do you need to play it once in your life, because as bad as it is, it's also fucking hilarious.

This game sucks but has such heart and goofy whimsy to it that I'm captivated by it. I'm not even ironically a fan, it sucks and I adore it for that.

I love you so much Jean-Philippe Brisco. Mwah mwah mwah I kees him

EL PEOR PEDAZO DE MIERDA QUE HAYA JUGADO EN MI VIDA

(ME ENCANTA)

This game is strange. It feels unfinished, it is buggy, it does not look or sound good, the voice acting is awful (OH MY GAAAAAWD) and the NPCs are as lifeless as they can be... BUT, it is also a game very different from any other game I have played.

The main concept is that you play a camera man in a team of three people. You and your team are in charge of investigating a mysterious fog that has engulfed the city of Chicago. Because your hand are on the camera, you can't do anything but watch your environment and point at things while your colleagues interact with the environment. This creates an interesting situation in which you have to help your reporter survive, but you can't intervene directly, only show, alert and watch.

While this concept is unique and has potential, it feels more like a 3D point and click than a survival horror game. The thing is, you are (almost) never in danger. The worst case scenario being you fail to protect a reporter, she dies and you go to the next level, where you will meet a new one. That lack of tension or danger kills any potential scary atmosphere. The game tries so hard to spook you, by playing random spooky noises for no reasons in certain locations, but it never works because you know that you are not a part of its universe.

But this is not at all a negative aspect if you are open to a different type of experience! In fact, this dissociation of the main character from the rest of the universe fits in very well with the low budget of the title. It creates a surreal experience where nothing makes sense but nobody seems to mind. Every location feels empty as if it had never been inhabited, the NPCs scream in fear when there is a monster, but they are not animated and they freeze right next to it while looking away, action scenes are just as slow as the rest of the game, everything just feels out of place.

The real thing I'm not so enthousiastic about in this game is the scoop/morality/erotism meter. In every levels, you can choose between investigating, helping your colleagues or straight up sexually aussaulting your female colleagues. This doesn't really affect the story, aside from some small pieces of dialogue and some lore clues to find (lol). I feel like the erotism part should not have been included because it serve no purpose other than score. It sometimes manages to create funny moments, but most of the time it is just disrespectful to women.
ALSO, when you finish the game, you unlock a strip club mode where you can make all the reporters pole dance in underwear... and it is way more animated than any other element in the game... there even are jiggle physics :')
I think it explains why the rest of the game has no budget lmao.

While this is not a perfect game, or even a good game, I enjoyed the 5 hours it took me to complete it. It's a strange experimental game that tried some neet ideas. Nothing more, nothing less.

I didn't know where to put this but props to the voice acting and the run animation of the guy you meet just before the end of the game. I don't think I have ever seen a better run cycle than this one hahaha!

kind of this weird point of middling jank and very half baked story beats and gameplay mechanics. both of which could’ve been so much more interesting if not glorified jerk off simulator for horny millennials in Europe and Japan. like if this was a two hour long arcade cabinet that you’d find in like a speciality arcade I would vibe w it a lot more. instead it’s like this very middle of the road weird piece of obscure ps2 history that rlly should’ve never been a console game. shame too bc I rlly do like the aesthetics the game is trying to go for w such an intensely low budget, I like the fog and I like the closed in cramped corridors. Chicago has such a cool rich history to it wnd so many very vibey and yeah scary iconography and landmarks that it’s a bit of a shame it just uses all interiors that look like they could be in anywhere in America or the rest of the world. I do like the fog and I do like the anime girls puking up blood and slug monsters, I like the zaka tv logo and I like the flavor text ur rewarded w for finding random items in each level. I do think it takes advantage of the fact that ur a cameraman too, like there’s rlly cool mise en scene going on, stages are almost set up like a diorama for a horror house and I think it’s cool they rlly do allow u to frame other characters in cool and interesting ways, the boom mic guy appearing out from behind a palm tree as he drunkenly rants. it looks good and u get to make it look better if u want. idk how can u not love low texture fast food bag in the style of like in n out that just says FOOD on it and which u can interact w. reminds me of those insurance ads that are poking fun at horror movies, like anything that can go wrong does. but also end of day it’s way too boring for how short it is and also v casually misogynistic which yeah is expected in the genre but just bc it’s expected doesn’t mean it’s excusable. one of my favorite boxarts ever though, both for europe and japan tbh and it sucks that the game doesn’t at all deliver the aesthetics that it promises.