A satire of 1980s adult action films, the game “American Hero” was slated to come out in full glory from the full Motion Video games era in the 1990s, but was canceled. 25 years later, it is finally finished, and above all playable!
The oldest of you may remember with nostalgia (or not …) the early 1990s (until the middle), when the fashion was for these games in Full Motion Video, with actors. While there have been real catastrophes in this area, there have also been games that have left indelible marks, like the horror games of Sierra, Phantasmagoria I and II, or the awesome Gabriel Knight: the Beast Within, in which we plunged into the tormented history of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, with a werewolf twist. And, for good measure, we will add to the pile the excellent series of adventure games. Tex Murphy, published at the time by Access SoftwareStill it is that, very in vogue, this genre has seen famous Hollywood talents who accepted (more or less) good graces to lend themselves to the exercise.
In this idea, the case of the game American hero is interesting. Satire Over The Top adult action films from the 1980s and developed in the 1990s by the company Inter-Active Productions, American hero was supposed to be one of the flagship titles on CD-Rom support for Atari’s Jaguar console and on PC.
In this interactive film with sequences in Full Motion Video, actor Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show, Elephant) lent his features to Jack, a former spy returning to service, tasked with thwarting the plans of a man named Krueger, who planned to dump on the drinking water tanks of the city of Los Angeles a deadly virus. The actor was also supported by Daniel Roebuck (The Fugitive), and Musetta Vander (O Brother, Where Art Thou, Wild Wild West) in his (mis) adventures.
25 years after its cancellation, American hero resurfaced, in a finally finalized version; Timothy Bottoms having also recorded for the occasion additional lines of dialogue.
Here is the trailer:
A real curiosity, that those nostalgic for this type of game should test. The game is intended for the XBox, Nintendo Switch and PS4 consoles. It is also available on PC, only through the GOG (Good Old Game) platform.
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