now playing: "99Rooms"

99Rooms (Rostlaub, 2004) is definitely one of those quirky Internet memes that falls more under the "interactive media" umbrella than the "addictive Flash game" one. Unless you're absolutely into art, or a photography fanatic, there's a good chance you won't even stomach your way through this, er, adventure, much less actually walk away liking it.

It only so happens that I stumbled upon this title some time ago because I am by nature a very odd person. I do not know how to name this oddity, other than possibly describe it as a case of multiple personalities. One example of this oddity is how among my offline peers, I tend to have the social reputation of a high school teenage boy purely fascinated by Watchmen's bloody pages, when in reality the graphics do somewhat disturb me and I am actually much more interested in Watchmen for the sake of Alan Moore's tantalizing poetry--something that although my fellow, online writers could appreciate, I doubt that few of my offline acquaintances would even remotely tolerate.

Similarly, when I recommend you to play 99Rooms, I do not recommend it from the perspective of someone who takes genuine delight in the grotesque and occasionally controversial images that will pass across your screen, and who is not in the slightest bit unnerved by the deathly mood hanging over each room of the "exhibit." I recommend 99Rooms for the narrative beauty that I believe exists within the visual landscape of dread and fear you will travel.

[The source of its juxtaposed gloom and loveliness? East Berlin, abandoned industrial sector.]

When you are given the option of full-screen mode, accept it and turn your speakers up. At least half of 99Rooms's appeal is contained in its auditory atmosphere, and the remainder left solely in its (essentially) still-image gallery. Each image is considered a "room," through which you may advance sometimes by a simple mouse-click, and sometimes by manipulating buttons, switches, and the actual artwork itself before you are allowed to progress.

Again, 99Rooms is not a game, but to classify its rooms as a stale "art exhibit" slideshow is in my opinion contrary to the intent of the small puzzles inserted along the way, and undoubtedly it goes against the arrangement of the images in the particular order they are laid in to reveal a strong narrative theme.

And what, exactly, is that narrative theme? It took me several attempts and one completed success (having made my way through all 99 rooms without the use of the image index) to understand what was at the heart of the experience. Whoever said "the journey is more important than the destination" must have played 99Rooms at some point or another, because that proverb applies perfectly to this little Internet gem. If you race through 99Rooms to see the end, you will be sorely disappointed--likewise if you experience it for the sole sake of its grotesque horror, as that particular aspect alone cannot satisfy all your wants for a true horror game. But pay attention to the rise and fall of moods the experience endows you with its captivating pictures.

Notice the strangeness. Notice the beauty. Notice the story. It is there if you want to find it.