The Critical Frog: Mr.Payback

The idea of choice in an interactive media is quite high-hanging fruit. Giving a person complete freedom to choose the fates of others, and though you will have a chance of seeing the best in people, there's also the chance of seeing their worst. Any form of media that can show the effects of personal choice, especially when it's the viewer making the choices. But, to the credit of those few that attempt it, they manage to do it well. Good choices can be rewarded, and bad choices can be punished- leading to consequences no matter what the case. And sometimes, those choices can stick in your head and affect you later- whether good or bad. The first 'Interactive Movie', Mr. Payback, was not an example of this. I don't know what I did to make things different, I don't remember my decisions, and most of all, I don't care how they affected the story. It felt like less of a choice-based film with optional alternate takes. Like one of those interactive DVD menus you skim through before you decide to check out the real entertainment.

Mr. Payback toted itself as the first 'interactive movie' to hit specially-designed theaters, and as far as I know it's still the only one of it's kind. Due to not being near a specially-made theater, I was able to recreate the experience with the use of a handy-dandy remote control. The experience is similar to that of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book for those who don't feel up to skimming pages but want their fill of main character torture.

From what I've heard, the decisions of the entire crowd motivated the choices of the film. I'm not sure that would be the best idea to put a film in the hands of people who all have their own freedom of decision. People who will get mad when their decision isn't chosen. This means that through the power of math, we can estimate that 2/3 of the population will be disappointed with the choices at any given moment- which definitely isn't something you want in your theater. It's especially worrying when said people are irritated that a man was not hit with a paddle. (Personally, in that choice, I went with the cattle prod- if a person has to suffer in your comedy film, at least make it entertaining.)

The choices offered by Mr. Payback seem to have no guaranteed effect on the film as a whole- characters don't have differing ideals and plans, and the choices only add up to the same thing in different ways. I don't quite see the point of open decision if it ends up closed anyways. Call me crazy, but I want my choices to have meaning. I never thought I'd say it, but give me some sort of punishment for being cruel. My advice to you, Mr. Payback, or anyone involved with interactive films? Don't keep this trend going. Otherwise, you're going to have a bad time.

Overall Rating: 3/10

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