Tender Loving Care (video game)
| Tender Loving Care | |
|---|---|
 Tender Loving Care DVD Box | |
| Directed by | David Wheeler |
| Produced by | Rob Landeros (also designer) |
| Written by | David Wheeler |
| Starring |
Michael Esposito Beth Tegarden John Hurt Marie Caldare |
| Music by | John Welsman |
| Cinematography | Calvin Kennedy |
| Edited by | Marie Walling Thompson |
| Distributed by | Aftermath Media |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 117 minutes |
| Language | English |
Tender Loving Care is an interactive movie originally released in 1998 by Aftermath Media.[1] It is a psychological thriller starring Michael Esposito, Beth Tegarden, and John Hurt as Dr. Turner.[2] It was written and directed by David Wheeler and produced by Rob Landeros, who also designed the interactive features.[3] The game was originally produced with the intention of releasing the game under the Trilobyte label, but Landeros was fired from the company before it was released.[4] Tender Loving Care was later released under Landeros's new company, Aftermath Media, on CD-ROM, with the option for users to watch the movie as a feature-length film as opposed to interacting with the game.[5] In October 2012 the game was re-released under the Trilobyte Games label on the Apple iOS platform.[6] the game is based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Andrew Neiderman [7]
Plot
Michael Overton (Michael Esposito) and his wife Allison (Marie Caldare) are a couple who have been traumatized by the death of their daughter in a car accident. Allison has been especially affected, as she has been unable to even acknowledge that her daughter has died. She lives in a trance-like state and is unable to perform normal adult functions. Dr. Turner (John Hurt) recommends the Overtons hire a live-in nurse to assist with Allison's psychological healing. They hire a nurse recommended by Dr. Turner, Katherine Randolph (Beth Tegarden), whose unorthodox methods cause tensions to arise in the Overton home.
Interactivity
The movie is divided into a number of story episodes, between which the user interacts with the story in various ways.[8] After viewing a story episode, users are asked a series of questions by Dr. Turner to test their perception of what they have seen. Users are then allowed to navigate through a graphic reconstruction of the Overton house, where they may gather additional details of the story. Before returning to the movie or Apple device, users must take a short Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), which profiles the user's psyche. The movie includes alternate scenes and multiple endings which can be influenced by the user's involvement.[9]
Reception
In his book All Your Base Are Belong to Us, Harold Goldberg criticized Tender Loving Care as being the "wrong direction to take" with Trilobyte.[4]
References
- ↑ "From Game to Movie". Billboard. Jun 1, 1996. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
- ↑ "Hollywood Hard Drive". Entertainment Weekly. Aug 9, 1996. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
- ↑ "IS IT A COMPUTER GAME, OR A MOVIE? VIDEO DISC `TENDER LOVING CARE' MINES VOYEURISM INSTEAD OF COMPETITIVENESS". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 2, 1997. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
- 1 2 Goldberg, Harold (2011). All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture. Three Rivers Press. p. 127. ISBN 0307463559.
- ↑ "Aftermath, Brilliant Digital debut DVD interactive videos". Billboard. Aug 30, 1997. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
- ↑ "Medford software company creates mobile device game". Mail Tribune. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
- ↑ http://www.trilobytegames.com/tlc.html
- ↑ Wolf, Mark (2007). The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to PlayStation and Beyond. Greenwood. p. 130. ISBN 031333868X.
- ↑ review of Tender Loving Care, at Allgame.