Impressive and disappointing at the same time
This X Files game came on between 4 and 7 disks. That alone was amazing to an 8 year old who was sitting down to play this game for the first time. It is a full-motion video game, which can be perceived as better looking than all other games, since the people you see on screen are real and the 3D models suddenly look bad by comparison. But most importantly, it is X-Files, a show that in retrospect was not as good as we may remember it due to a few badly written plot points and the eventual sinking into the alien conspiracy drag, but back in 1998 it was still THE F***ING X-FILES!
And the initial experience was magical. The video quality was good as you navigated the FBI office. Everything looked photo-realistic...because it was. You carried a number of items, including a cool PDA with which you could seemingly call anyone, and you could go into the character's computer that was inside your computer. And most importantly...it was THE F***ING X-FILES!
However, the reality started to sunk eventually. The first worrying question that was to be raised: "So when do I start playing as Mulder?". You don't. You start out as this rather dweeby looking guy and you do not stop being him for the rest of the game. Well, ok, so do Mulder and Scully show up at all? Yes, for about a minute or two towards the end of the game. Wait, so is this really the f***ing X-Files?
Then there is the game length. It is only long enough if you take your time breathing in every camera shot and then struggle to figure out what you forgot or missed in order to make the game move on (because this is still a point and click adventure game). If played by an adult at a cruising speed, the game comes to an end rather soon.
There are several endings to the game, which is cool, but in the end it feels like an episode of a lower budget spin-off of X-Files. Still, it looked ok and felt cool enough not to be a complete disappointment.