Has anyone played 'The President Is Missing' (C64 and others)

[SoulBlazer]

Hi all,

 

I had a C-64 as a kid and loved it, it was my only computer from 1984 to 1989 and I still used it heavily until I went off to college in 1994. Really good games on it, and some fun memories.

 

One game I had that I bought cheap somewhere was 'The President Is Missing', by Cosmi. I'm not sure of the exact year it came out but I want to say it was the late 80's.

 

The box had some really cool materials in it -- besides the manual explaining what the game was about and how to play it, it also included a audo cassettee tape, that included hints and clues on it as well.

 

The game was basicaly a mystery game. You were a agent on a deadline to find out what had happened to the President of the US, who had been kidnapped by terroists. You had to work through the clues given to you by the tape and game. There was a main menu and you can select parts of it and follow leads, which all took up time.

 

I know it was made for other computers, but I'm not sure which ones right now.

 

It was a fun game, but I was only a kid at the time and never could make any headway in it, and finally gave it up.

 

Now, years later, I still play the C-64 heavily in emulation. I was looking around some gaming sites the other night and found the game file. I was thrilled to see it again after all this time and donwloaded it and tried it. Sad to say, I'm STILL stuck in it. The site I got it from didn't have the manual or the tape uploaded, either.

 

Since then, I've checked around online. I can find almost nothing on this game. No one seems to have played it, there's no walkthrough or hints or tips, and no manual or tape file uploaded anywhere.

 

Has anyone even heard of this game? Or played it? I can point you to where I found the game if you'd like to try it out.

 

So many other C-64 games I had problems with as a kid have walkthroughs or hints or tips now after all these years, I'd like to find something for this!

[tyranthraxus]

Havn't played it but I own an original copy of it. I picked it up because of that audio tape. One of those mixed media oddities like that PC RPG whose name escapes me, that came with the VHS tape.

 

Lemon64 has several positive comments on it I'd ask their guru's for help. Seems the game is further strange in that upon completion you had to mail the company with your solution and then they'd write you back telling you the results!

[Mirage]

Any chance of recording that audio tape to mp3 and uploading it to the lemon site (and here)? I have heard of the game but I don't recall ever playing it.

[tyranthraxus]

Any chance of recording that audio tape to mp3 and uploading it to the lemon site (and here)? I have heard of the game but I don't recall ever playing it.

 

Yeah, I'll see what I can do. I've never played the tape but I think I have a working tape deck around here...

...the other challenge is tracking down where I stored my copy of the game

[tyranthraxus]

Well I did track down my copy of the game. Sadly there is no letter from Cosmi with the answer but all the docs are there, however, before I went to the trouble of digitizing the materials I did a little looking around and found the docs and tape already online at this site: http://c64.hardwired.hu/

 

The tape is pretty interesting to listen to. The production values are a lot higher than I was expecting, kinda reminiscent of an old radio drama, even having some of the recording be of poor quality based on where the source came from. What's also interesting is that the tape references Islamic terrorists and and has a rhetoric filled recording similar to the Bin Laden tapes.

 

Its an intriguing attempt to mix in Hollywood style drama into a video game (and years before we were plagued with those poor quality video clips on early cd-roms). Anyone know of any other early games that used a recording like this?

Edited April 3, 2010 by tyranthraxus

[SoulBlazer]

Thanks for the help. I had the ROM of the game allready but was trying to find the materials online. I might try the game again.

 

You're right, I thought everything was well put together and one of the reasons I really liked the game was how unique it was.

 

I totally forgot about that 'send in your answer and we'll confirm it' thing. Doh. Still, I figured a walktrhough or something would be up now after all these years.

 

You said something about asking some people somewhere for help? Where was that?

[tyranthraxus]

You said something about asking some people somewhere for help? Where was that?

 

Try the folks at Lemon64, they have a decent forum and some serious 64 collectors reading. I looked at MobyGames and even that site had a guy wondering about the ending. Sounds like the ending could be a good treasure hunt.

[Mirage]

... Anyone know of any other early games that used a recording like this?

 

Thanks for posting the link to the audio etc for this. I'll definitely check it out. The only other C64 game I know off offhand with an audio tape is Deux Ex Machina, which is sort of half game, half demo. I did go through it once some years ago, and it's definitely an experience.

 

http://www.zzap64.co.uk/zzap10/deus.html

[SoulBlazer]

I posted something over there but no responses yet.

 

If anyone here is encourged to play the game, now that all the resources have been found, please let me know and maybe we can compare notes and finish the damn thing.

[tyranthraxus]

I was just browsing the Lemon64 forum and didn't come across your post, did you post in the games forum?

 

I did a search and came across this old post. No magic answer there but I think you could at least get some game tips from that person.