The X-Fools

Last updated
The X-Fools
X-Fools Mac Cover art.jpg
Macintosh Cover art
Developer(s) Parroty Interactive
Publisher(s) Palladium Interactive
Director(s) Steven Horowitz
Producer(s) Stacey Rubin
Programmer(s) WayForward
Writer(s)
Composer(s) Chronic Music
Platform(s) Windows, Macintosh
ReleaseOctober 1, 1997 [1]
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s) Single-player

The X-Fools: The Spoof Is Out There is an interactive comedic 1997 video game developed by Parroty Interactive. It is a parody of supernatural television series The X-Files , which ran from 1993 to 2018. Released on the Mac and PC, it was the company's third game after Myst parody Pyst , and Star Warped which lampooned Star Wars , and would be followed by Microshaft Winblows 98 , a parody of Microsoft Windows 98. [2] The game was distributed throughout North America by Mindscape. [3]

Contents

Plot and gameplay

The game centres around two ex-FBI agents and skeptics named Mully and Scudder (parodies of X-Files protagonists Scully and Mulder) who encourage the player to undergo training as a new recruit. As such, the player is "subjected to a deprogramming regimen" according to Business Wire , which consists of a series of games, quizzes, and skits. [3] The gameplay experience is essentially a series of minigames thematically linked to the television show The X-Files . For instance, Conspiracy Computer sees the protagonists analyse popular conspiracies, and Run, Agent, Run! sees the player evade aliens and villains from The X-Files. [4] Kill Screen described the style of the game as "distractionware" and an "interactive MAD Magazine." [5]

Development

Palladium's vice president of marketing, Rob Halligan, explained that the success of Pyst paved the way for The X-Fools, [6] and noted that the game was being released at a time rife with interest in the supernatural: the news was buzzing with the 50th anniversary of the Roswell incident, the Mars Pathfinder mission, and the impending premiere of the fifth season of The X-Files. [3] Artist Tom Richmond, who had an ongoing professional relationship with Parroty Interactive, provided some of the game's illustrations. [7] Michael Donovan did voice work for the game. [8]

Release and promotion

The game's official website went live on September 16, 1997, and allowed players to access additional content, while providing a free demo for those yet to purchase the title. [9] The website held a "Conspiracy Quest Contest" from October 31, 1997 to July 17, 1998 [10] where players solved riddles relating to the concurrently airing fifth season of The X-Files, [11] with prizes (a digital camera, 2,000 acre real estate plot on Mars, and a Palladium Gift Pack) being awarded to multiple winners. [12] It also allowed players to send "X-cards", [13] and offered players the opportunity send in X-Files questions for the developers to include in the title's trivia minigame entitled Trust No One. [14] Game modules from The X-Fools were added as bonus features on the Special Edition of Pyst in October 1997. [6] The X-Fools uses Shockwave as its game engine. [15]

The game received mixed reviews from critics upon release; Positive reviews from MacHome's Tamara Stafford and Roy Bassave of The Seattle Times suggested fans of the original series would enjoy The X-Fools. [16] [4] Detractors included PC Gamer's Richard Cobbett, who negatively compared the game to Parroty's previous title Microshaft Winblows 98 (1998); [2] and Wojciech Kotas of The Mac Gamer's Ledge, which found The X-Files' self-referential humor better than the "lukewarm," limited, and uninspired parody of the game. [17] In 2011, The Sydney Morning Herald ranked the game 79th on its Re-Play: 100 worst games ever list, writing that it "couldn't be unfunnier". [18]

Related Research Articles

<i>Pyst</i> 1997 video game

Pyst is an adventure computer game released in October 1996. It was created as a parody of the highly successful adventure game Myst. Pyst was written by Peter Bergman, a co-founder of the Firesign Theatre, and was published by Parroty Interactive, with Bergman, Stallone, Inc. as co-publisher. Mindscape began distributing the game on August 20, 1997. The parody features full motion video of actor John Goodman as "King Mattruss", the ruler of "Pyst Island". Versions of the game were produced for both the Windows PC and Apple Macintosh operating systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parroty Interactive</span> American video game developer

Parroty Interactive was an American video game developer based in Larkspur, California, which acted as a division of publisher Palladium Interactive, Inc.

<i>The Legend of Lotus Spring</i> 1998 video game

The Legend of Lotus Spring is a graphical adventure computer game co-developed by Women Wise and Xing Xing and released on Valentine's Day in 2000 in North America. It was originally released by Xing Xing in 1998 in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. T. O'Sullivan</span> American gridiron football player (born 1979)

John Thomas O'Sullivan is an American former professional football quarterback who played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL), two seasons in NFL Europe and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the UC Davis Aggies, starting for three years and throwing for career totals of 10,745 yards and 96 touchdowns. He was named a first-team All-American in 2000 and a second-team All-American in 2001. He was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.

SegaSoft, originally headquartered in Redwood City, California and later San Francisco, was a joint venture by Sega and CSK, created in 1995 to develop and publish games for the PC and Sega Saturn, primarily in the North American market.

<i>Star Warped</i> 1997 video game

Star Warped is a first-person point-and-click adventure video game that parodies the Star Wars universe, specifically the original trilogy released between 1977 and 1983: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. It was created by Parroty Interactive, which was a division of the game's publisher, Palladium Interactive. Star Warped was released in the United States and Canada, for both Windows PC and Macintosh, in late 1997 as a follow-up to their debut Myst parody, Pyst. The game is no longer in release, as Parroty's parent company folded after being bought by The Learning Company in 1998. The game invited players to "Be seduced by the power of the Dork Side". Star Warped received mixed reviews from critics: some praised the game's variety, originality, and humor, while others dismissed it as lazy, unfunny, and dull.

<i>Hopkins FBI</i> 1998 video game

Hopkins FBI is a 1998 point-and-click adventure game from MP Entertainment, most famous for very large amounts of gore. A sequel titled Hopkins FBI 2: Don't Cry, Baby, involving Hopkins having to rescue the President's daughter, was announced but never released.

The 1998Canadian Professional Soccer League season was the inaugural season under the Canadian Professional Soccer League name. The season began on May 31, 1998, and concluded on October 14, 1998, with the St. Catharines Wolves defeating the Toronto Olympians in 4-2 victory in a penalty shootout to claim the first CPSL Championship held at Centennial Park Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. Though Toronto was denied the treble they still managed to go undefeated the entire regular season, and dominate the league with the best offensive and defensive record.

<i>Egypt 1156 B.C.</i> 1997 adventure video game

Egypt 1156 B.C. – Tomb of the Pharaoh is a 1997 adventure video game co-published by Cryo Interactive Entertainment, Canal+ Multimedia and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux for the Microsoft Windows and PlayStation. It was later released in North America by DreamCatcher Interactive.

<i>Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius</i> 2000 video game

Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius, also known as TimeScape: Journey to Pompeii in North America, is a 2000 historical adventure game. The game was developed by Arxel Tribe and Réunion des Musées Nationaux, and published by Cryo Interactive. It is followed by a sequel, Jerusalem: The Three Roads to the Holy Land.

<i>Microshaft Winblows 98</i> 1998 video game

Microshaft Winblows 98 is a 1998 interactive comedy video game for Windows and the Classic Mac OS. It parodies the then-upcoming Windows 98 operating system, as well as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Released by Palladium Interactive during the United States v. Microsoft Corp. case and at a time when Microsoft, Windows, and Gates were easy targets for jokes, the game offers a satirical take on this ripe subject matter.

The Arthur video games franchise was a series of learning and interactive story video games based on the American-Canadian children's TV show Arthur. The games were released in the 1990s and 2000s for PlayStation and Game Boy Color alongside Windows and Mac OS computers.

<i>Cydonia: Mars - The First Manned Mission</i> 1998 adventure video game

Cydonia: Mars - The First Manned Mission is a 1998 adventure video game, and the premiere title for developer Aneiva Interactive.

<i>Search for the Golden Dolphin</i> 1999 video game

Search for the Golden Dolphin is a first person educational adventure video game released in 1999 for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Macintosh. The game was developed, produced, and published by Cinegram Media Inc. in association with the Mystic Seaport museum, as part of Cinegram's Digital Treasures series.

<i>The Forgotten: It Begins</i> 1999 video game

The Forgotten: It Begins is a 1999 adventure/puzzle video game developed by Ransom Interactive and published by DreamCatcher Interactive. A sequel was to be released called The Forgotten II: The Collection. The Forgotten narrative was originally supposed to last over 7 games ("modules"), but these were never completed.

<i>The Arrival</i> (video game) 1997 video game

The Arrival is a 1997 adventure game developed by Enteraktion and published by Live Interactive. It was released on Mac and Windows. It's an adaption of the film of the same name.

<i>The Real Neverending Story Part 1: Auryn Quest</i> 2002 video game

Auryn Quest is a jump and run adventure game based on Michael Ende's novel The Neverending Story and his film adaptation of the same name. Originally developed by Discreet Monsters, "bad luck and mishaps" left the company bankrupt, and the game was eventually completed by Attraction. Initially an ambitious adventure game, bankruptcy forced the release to be reworked into a first-person action, 3D platformer jump game vaguely based on its source material. The first entry in a subsequently abandoned series, it became the sole game project for Discreet Monsters.

<i>The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript</i> 2006 video game

The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript is an adventure game developed by Kheops Studio and published by Tri Synergy on June 7, 2006 on the PC. In 2009 it was released on the Mac OS X.

References

  1. ↑ Staff (October 1, 1997). "X-Files Spoof on CD-ROM". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on February 18, 1998. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Cobbett, Richard (February 5, 2011). "Saturday Crapshoot: Microshaft Winblows 98". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  3. 1 2 3 Naify, Robert (October 1, 1997). "Newest Parody – The X-Fools – Takes Comical Look At Little Green Men And Government Cover-ups". Business Wire. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  4. 1 2 Bassave, Roy (November 9, 1997). "CD-Rom – The X-Fools". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  5. ↑ Kotzer, Zack (December 16, 2015). "A few things I learned from the late-90s game about nerds, Star Warped". Kill Screen. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  6. 1 2 Naify, Robert (October 21, 1997). "Parroty Interactive Launches PYST Special Edition; New Special Edition of PYST Includes a Module of Driven, a Sneak Peak Parody of the Eagerly Anticipated Riven – Sequel to MYST". Business Wire. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  7. ↑ Richmond, Tom (October 27, 2016). "Illustration Throwback Thursday- Star Warped!". Richmond Illustration. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  8. ↑ Donovan, Michael (2000). "Main Page". Botsmaster. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  9. ↑ Spy. Sussex Publishers, LLC. March 1998.
  10. ↑ "Conspiracy Quest Official Rules". The X-Fools. June 29, 1998. Archived from the original on 1998-06-29. Retrieved 2017-07-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ↑ "Conspiracy Quest". The X-Fools. June 29, 1998. Archived from the original on 1998-06-29. Retrieved 2017-07-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ↑ "Conspiracy Quest Winners". The X-Fools. March 4, 2000. Archived from the original on 2000-03-04. Retrieved 2017-07-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ↑ "X Cards". The X-Fools. March 1, 2000. Archived from the original on 2000-03-01. Retrieved 2017-07-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ↑ "Trust No One". The X-Fools. November 16, 1999. Archived from the original on 1999-11-17. Retrieved 2017-07-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ↑ "X-Fools Abduct This". The X-Fools. 29 February 2000. Archived from the original on 2000-02-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  16. ↑ Stafford, Tamara (January 1998). "The X-Fools". MacHome. Archived from the original on 2000-01-06. Retrieved 2017-07-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  17. ↑ Kotas, Wojciech (December 2, 1997). "X-Fools Review". The Mac Gamer's Ledge. Archived from the original on 2000-06-06. Retrieved 2017-07-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  18. ↑ "Re-Play: 100 worst games ever". The Sydney Morning Herald. March 17, 2011. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.