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R?MJ: The Mystery Hospital - Opening movie (Playstation)

407 views · Published 23 January 2017 · 5:00 · Indexed 2 October 2026

Channel: Adrastia · 2017 · Gaming

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I came across this title by accident after finding a screenshot of another System Sacom game called Marchen Veil.  It's somewhat similar to Resident Evil, which came out the previous year. But it is not an action oriented game and lacks much of the survival aspect since there's no real combat and there aren't many situations where you are likely to die.

R?MJ: The Mystery Hospital was released in 1997 for the Playstation in Japan. It was never released in the west. However, it is perfectly playable even if you do not understand Japanese. There is a fair amount of English scattered throughout the game, which is very helpful when operating computer terminals. However, all the voice acting is of course in Japanese. And there are no subtitles to help you with that if you could at least read it well enough to get by. I hate voice acting without subtitles. If there's a loud noise from outside or something like that I miss what is being said.

The game is about a group of friends, a nurse and a mysterious girl who have all become trapped in a hospital after an explosion triggers the emergency shutters. With no way out and a a dangerous virus infecting the air in the hospital, they have to find a way to save themselves.

It's rather short. Especially if you have played before or are using a FAQ. But I actually really enjoyed it. 

You move in first person and I'm not really a fan of that. But most of the time when you move in a direction you are taken a certain number of steps to the next spot where you can decide where to go. So it's not too slow. You can also use your senses by pressing a button. If you do this at certain locations you can discover some important things. A character will usually alert you to when you should try this. However, characters chatter constantly, especially Aya. So it can get a little annoying. When characters talk you can't do anything until they are finished either. So after awhile it may get on your nerves. You will find an item that measures the effect of the virus. It will beep in longer succession. This can get annoying as well. Personally I hate the sound of beeping. But you can die. I did. So don't ignore the beeps. Don't dilly dally too long in high level virus zones. Other than that there's really little in the way of failure as you go along. So it's not really a challenging game. 

There are no enemies to fight along the way. But you will see some awful, infected things. As for a final boss. Well...

The game is mostly linear. Although at certain points Ryo will flip a coin to decide which way Hajime and Aya will go. Going one way instead of another will allow you to see some different cutscenes and find items that the other party would otherwise bring to you when you meet back up. So at least there is some variation. But there appears to only be one ending.

The pre-rendered graphics are kind of grainy, like in Resident Evil and the like. But that's to be expected. Plus they might look better on an actual Playstation or with setting better than what I had. The cutscenes are really nice though, with a lot of detail paid to the characters' faces.

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