The Act (video game)

Lore & Background

The Act tells the story of Edgar, a window washer at a large hospital who falls in love with nurse Sylvia. His lazy brother Wally is mistakenly taken for a brain transplant, forcing Edgar to disguise himself as a doctor, impress Sylvia, and save his brother. The game's plot involves a series of interactive scenes where the player uses a single control knob to guide Edgar's actions, such as flirting, performing the Heimlich maneuver, or dodging obstacles. Failure rewinds the scene; the player has three attempts per credit.

Reader's Guide

The Act is significant as a late-era arcade game that blended interactive movie storytelling with hand-drawn animation from former Disney artists. Its cancellation and the subsequent closure of Cecropia in 2008 highlight the challenges of the arcade market in the late 2000s. The game's later port to iOS and OS X in 2012 by React Entertainment gave it a second life on digital platforms, though it has since been delisted. GamesRadar listed it first in their 'Top 7 Most Beautifully Animated 2D Games,' underscoring its artistic merit. The game's unique single-knob control scheme and its test-market history in New England make it a notable artifact of arcade game development.

Creative Vision and Development

Fox Hunt emerged from the intersection of film and gaming in the mid-1990s, developed by 3Vision Games with publishing support from Capcom. The project became the first title greenlit by Greg Ballard, who had recently assumed the Capcom USA presidency after departing Digital Pictures, where he had observed the production of Resident Evil in Japan. The development team was a compact trio: writer and producer Matt Pyken, producer and attorney Adam Berns, and director Michael Berns, Adam's brother. The group had previously collaborated on the 1994 PC title National Lampoon's Blind Date. Michael Berns and designer Peter Marx shared a singular cinematic ambition, structuring the experience like a three-act feature film. Berns was critical of earlier full-motion-video titles, arguing they prioritized technological spectacle over genuine gameplay. Marx built the gameplay engine on foundations he had established for Johnny Mnemonic, yet he deliberately sought a more dynamic, time-driven narrative flow rather than the choppy, limited action of that earlier work. To achieve sharper visual quality, the production was shot on 16 mm film rather than standard video, a choice that elevated the resolution well beyond typical interactive movie fare.

Production and Filming

Casting for Fox Hunt took place during the second quarter of 1995, assembling a roster that blended newcomers with established names. Andrew Bowen, then relatively unknown, was selected to portray the protagonist, while veteran actor George Lazenby—best remembered for his turn as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service—joined the cast alongside Timothy Bottoms, known for his role in The Last Picture Show. Principal photography spanned 35 days, with the bulk of shooting taking place at the former Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Four additional days were allocated to capturing skiing sequences in Aspen, Colorado. Lazenby reflected on the compressed schedule, noting that actors required considerable flexibility because scenes were filmed rapidly, with performers shifting instantly between sympathetic and antagonistic roles. He contrasted the pace with his Bond experience, where the crew had spent three days preparing a single scene, whereas on Fox Hunt a new scene was completed roughly every hour. The final production yielded approximately 2,200 camera setups, around 20,000 edits, more than three hours of live-action material, 735 distinct shots, and nine different possible endings for the player to discover.

Music and Soundtrack

The sonic landscape of Fox Hunt was a collaborative effort spanning original composition and licensed music. Mark Mothersbaugh handled the background score, composing and co-writing the instrumental tracks. For the remainder of the soundtrack, 3Vision partnered with Rhino Records and Tri-Tone Music to secure licensed songs from various artists. Jennifer Pyken, sister of producer Matt Pyken, was appointed by Capcom as music supervisor and worked alongside Tri-Tone to negotiate licensing deals and sell the soundtrack to Rhino. The musical selections were not merely decorative; they served as narrative clues embedded within the game. Pyken deliberately chose a mix of old-school hip hop, surf music, and modern rock to appeal to a young but musically diverse audience. The released soundtrack, issued by Rhino on January 23, 1996, included additional clues hidden in its liner notes. The roster of licensed artists featured Violent Femmes, Butthole Surfers, Dick Dale, The Sugar Hill Gang, Faith No More, and Poster Children. Pyken described the approach as akin to scoring a film while remaining mindful of the player base's wide-ranging musical tastes.

Commercial Performance and Film Adaptation

Fox Hunt launched exclusively in North America, arriving on Microsoft Windows on January 31, 1996, and on PlayStation on September 30, 1996. Although versions for Sega Saturn and Mac OS were advertised, neither ever reached consumers. The Windows edition moved 25,000 copies in its first six months, and by mid-1997 both platforms had collectively sold roughly 50,000 units. Ballard later expressed regret over the project, recalling a substantially higher production budget of $5 million and making exaggerated claims about its commercial failure. Following its gaming debut, the Berns brothers reworked the material into a feature-length film for television and home video. A foreign distributor's interest after a 1996 Cannes Film Festival screening prompted 3Vision to produce a trailer. Backed by Redwood Communications, the company sold the film rights to several foreign distributors and raised several hundred thousand dollars to hire additional talent and shoot new footage. The team had to negotiate with the Screen Actors Guild to repurpose game footage created under an interactive contract. Three quarters of the final film drew from existing cutscenes, while new scenes featuring Gary Coleman were shot over eight days and required about 900 additional edits. As of mid-1997, no US distributor had been secured.

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