Will adults, even very stoned adults, really find a thrill in turning on and off David Bowie's lamp, listening to phony messages on his answering machine, or opening and closing his file cabinets? The Jump CD-ROM does not allow us to lick Bowie's boots, though we may click on an assortment of women's shoes. Our reward is giggling noises meant to suggest how much we are missing by not being a rock legend.
Those who thought the best part of Hell Cab was wandering the empty halls of the Empire State Building may feel like they've wandered into its basement, listening to exactly the same elevator music while pacing institutional gray halls. It was Anton Chekhov who said that if you hang a rifle on the wall in the first chapter of a book, you have to make it go off by the second. Here's an update: if you put an elevator in an interactive work, what happens when you go up should differ from what happens when you go down.
In a way, this disc represents a maturing of the CD-ROM tradition: there's enough history now that we're beginning to see slickly produced titles whose every working concept is already a cliché.
Jump for Mac: US$49.95. ION: +1 (310) 312 8060.
STREET CRED
How Buildings LearnCinemania '94
The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 2
A Silly Noisy David Bowie
