Make My Video: INXS

I would like to know who the marketing wizard was that could sell not only Marky Mark's Make My Video, but this INXS version as well. Actually, there are four horsemen in this pitiful series (including "games" from Kriss Kross and C + C Music Factory), so whoever this was must have been in league with the devil himself. This incarnation is nearly identical to the rest, with its lack of fun and cheesy assortment of stock footage. If you've actually played any of these games, it's probably for the best that you stop reading this review right now, lest you suffer from the flashbacks.

Essentially, the Make My Video series aims to turn all you future Michael Bay's and Ed Woods into video directors by splicing footage from various video sources into one final, crappy product. You have the same assortment of stock footage at your disposal as those old MGM and Hanna Barbera cartoons that used live-action footage from time to time. It's Slim Pickens right from the beginning, with your people falling off of things, swinging from vines Tarzan-style, and vampires rising out of their coffins. These images are not what generally come to mind when I think of INXS. Unfortunately, when I think of INXS nowadays I think of that horrible reality show they just did. Michael Hutchence had damn well better be spinning in his grave after THAT.

In every "game" in this series you basically have two different modes of play; the Edit Challenge, where you must edit the video a certain way based on the information given by the "wacky" personalities that plagued every full motion video game, and the U-Direct version, which let's you go crazy with the limited amount of footage available. If you really want to play this game, I recommend the latter, as it's damn near impossible to edit a video based on anyone's expectations unless you sit and watch all the video streams repeatedly and know exactly when they switch to a specific scene. I said it last time and it still rings true, only someone who's NEVER edited audio or video for a profession would think this is the stuff of a fun game.

The three songs you have to choose from are Heaven Sent, Not Enough Time, and Baby Don't Cry. It's not that I don't like INXS; it's just that I really don't like these games. Of the other versions available, this one is either the best, or the one that will make you the saddest. Remember the good times for INXS, and forget this game even exists. I will give it a slightly higher score, though, only because it gave me the chance to use the word Tarzan-style.