You don’t need me to tell you how awful most FMV games from the 1990s were. But amidst the wreckage of bad racing games and even worse adventure games, I have a soft spot for Fox Hunt.
Mostly because, over 15 years later, I can only now appreciate how batshit crazy the whole thing was.
The facts: Fox Hunt was a full-motion-video comedy adventure game developed by Capcom and starring an eclectic mix of no-names and fallen Hollywood stars. It was released on the PC and PlayStation in 1996, in the dying days of video gaming’s fascination with CD-ROM drives and FMV.
The madness: one of those was Rob Lowe, who to be fair had been in Wayne’s World and Austin Powers semi-recently. Another was Timothy Bottoms, who I will always remember fondly for his portrayal of George W. Bush in That’s My Bush!. As if the cast wasn’t weird enough, another actor involved was George Lazenby, who you may know as the guy who only played James Bond for one movie, and who I know as that guy from the next town over.
Fox Hunt was an attempt by Capcom – yes, Capcom – to not only cash in on the whole FMV thing, but also make a parody of spy movies (hence Lazenby’s involvement). Neither worked. The writing was woefully unfunny, the acting atrocious, the 70s gags irrelevant to an audience that had grown up in the 80s and, worst of all, the game was just terrible.
Unless you’re this guy. Then it’s awesome.
A rubbish game and a footnote on the obituary of the FMV genre, then, but one worth remembering if only for the fact it’s just about the most un-Capcom game Capcom ever put its name to.
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