Michigan: Report from Hell

Plot

In Michigan, players take the role of a rookie cameraman for ZaKa TV, the entertainment division of the powerful ZaKa conglomerate. Accompanied by Brisco, an outspoken sound engineer, and Pamela, a reporter, the player is sent to investigate a mysterious mist that has descended over the city. The player quickly discovers that the mist is somehow transforming people into fleshy, leech-like monsters with human limbs. Pamela is attacked by the creatures, and is later found in the process of transforming into one. The player, Brisco, and a new female reporter are sent to investigate the source of the monster outbreak.

It is eventually revealed that the cause of the monsters is a mutative virus developed by a scientist, Dr. O'Conner, intended to be used as a biological weapon against the enemies of the United States. The virus was developed with the complicity of the U.S. military, the U.S. government, as well as the powerful ZaKa group for whom the protagonists work.

After unsuccessfully attempting to retrieve a vaccine for the virus, the camera crew attempt to evacuate the city by heading to an airport on the outskirts of the city where a military evacuation transport is supposed to arrive. At the airport, the group encounters a strange young man who appears to be intellectually disabled. He somewhat disjointedly reveals that he was Dr. O'Conner's original guinea pig, and begins to run around and yell immaturely in a bizarre manner. After the player commands the reporter to shoot the strange man, he transforms into a massive pile of mutated flesh before exploding messily. With the man's death, the mist clears, and Brisco theorizes he was the cause of both the mist and the monster outbreak.

In the game's epilogue, the camera crew approach a nearby lighthouse, which the military has ordered them to activate so that the transport plane can locate them and pick them up. While the tired reporter waits outside, Brisco and the cameraman ascend the lighthouse and activate the light at the top. Suddenly, Brisco begins to mutate; the cameraman flees, and the Brisco-creature laughs maniacally before escaping out a window.

The game ends with a final film clip of the cameraman, whose appearance is determined by the player's actions, speaking in front of his camera. In three of the endings, the cameraman attempts to reveal the identity of the people behind the virus, but he's killed by an unseen assassin before he gives a name. If the player has obtained a high enough amount of "Immoral" points, the cameraman claims responsibility for the outbreak.

Characters

Gameplay

Michigan is played from a first-person perspective, as viewed through the recording lens of a television news camera. Players take the role of the cameraman in a news crew, and are accompanied by a reporter and a sound engineer–boom operator as they explore the game's locations.

The main method of interacting with the environment in Michigan is to "tag" objects. This draws the attention of the reporter to them, causing her to interact with the object. In combat, players can "tag" an enemy to get the reporter to attack the creature with their weapon. Players can also attack an enemy directly by ramming it with their bodies, although this has limited effectiveness.

The purpose of the game is to film interesting footage by pointing the camera at objects and events of interest, such as documents, monster attacks, and live locational reports given by the reporter.

Players can earn three types of points in the game; "Suspense", "Erotic", or "Immoral". These points are determined by the player's camerawork and what events or objects they choose to focus on. "Suspense" points are the most standard, earned for good camerawork and the recording of interesting events. "Erotic" points are earned for filming up the reporter's skirt, and videoing pornographic magazines lying around the game's levels. "Immoral" points are earned for filming negative events, such as people being attacked by monsters, instead of trying to stop them. The type of points the player focuses on determines which of the three endings they receive (the identity of the player's character, the cameraman, differs in each ending).

The game is notable for multiple action events where the player can determine the fate of various secondary characters. Most prominently, the player's action or inaction can cause the reporter to be killed in a mission, in which case the reporter is replaced by a new character, and the player automatically skips ahead to the next level. Other than the character's death, and the inability to play the rest of the level, players are not penalized for allowing their reporters to die, and can even quickly skip to the game's ending by allowing each of their reporters to die as soon as possible.

Although the word Michigan by itself usually refers to the State of Michigan, the game takes place in Chicago, Illinois, and is named because the game's phenomena center around Lake Michigan.

Reception

Michigan: Report from Hell received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic, though it is currently no longer on the website. The game sold 31,667 copies in Japan by December 20, 2004. Famitsu also gave it a score of one seven, one eight, one seven, and one eight for a total of 30 out of 40.

Revealed in a March 15, 2008 interview with NGamer, Suda was previously unaware of the game's release in Europe.