Roommania #203
The Dreamcast was a fun time for me, filled with Sega's last age of bizarre experimentation in game design. We were privelaged to the good and the bad in the west, with Seaman, Space Channel 5, Shenmue, and Jet Grind Radio showing off a creativity no other designer was putting out there. We didn't get to witness all of the wonderful crazy, though, and Roommania #203 definitely beat up crazy and stole its lunch money.
What Roommania #203 is, actually, is some sort of god simulator in which the player controls an invisible entity charged with helping some sad-sack Japanese student get his crap together and become whatever he's supposed to be. How do you accomplish this? By using your subtle influence (also known as throwing invisible ping pong balls at stuff you want him to interact with quickly and rhythmically enough to catch his interest), you coerce the young man into performing various tasks such as taking a nap, drinking water, watching TV, or taking a piss. Yes, urinating. Other times, when he is not present, you can inspect the room in first-person view, read his diary, move the furniture around, or even lock him out of the room, which freaks him the hell out.
The game progresses on a calendar, and you have a range of usually 2-3 days to accomplish a task, which you are given clues for before starting each day. Each day can be selected at either morning or evening, and must be completed at a specific time. You get 3 tries to complete a task, after which you fail and move on to the next challenge. At the end of the calendar, you get an ending based on how well you influenced your unwitting protege by sending him to chatrooms, making him smoke, and making him think his place his haunted, and you get to see if you set him straight or made him into an even bigger loser who wastes all of his time watching professional mahjong matches on TV. Did I mention he loves to watch professional mahjong? 'Cause he does, and the game includes lengthly excerpts of real mahjong broadcasts... it's... breathtaking? Boring? Who knows, but it's there, damnit.
Roommania #203 is nothing if not bizarre, but like Seaman, its charms are counterbalanced by a slow pace and some seriously dull challenges. Its strangely voyeuristic presentation and quirky premise make for a fun diversion, although its slow pace and repetitive play can detract from the novelty over time. Still, if you have a fondness for the time when Sega was throwing every idea they had out there to try to get back in the game, it's a fun little ride that is totally worth a look. Nobody does weird like Sega circa 2000.
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