Impossible to Define

As I mentioned previously in my list of best endings a conclusion to any game can play a key role in making or breaking it completely: It is the end result of the player investing so many hours of their life (not to mention enjoyment) so a decent payoff is crucial. Thus, it is any wonder that talk of the worst game endings inspires so much disgust?

That being said, has there been a game that left me feeling robbed of victory? Why yes there has. Now you young pups can rant about half-arsed game endings but truth be told, you don't know nothing about nothing. That being said, let me tell you about game I played on the Commmodore 64 called Impossible Mission 2.

For the uninitiated, IM2 was the sequel to a game called, funnily enough, Impossible Mission (not to be confused with the TV/movie series Mission: Impossible). Released in 1984, IM pitted an athletic secret agent, controlled by the player, running & jumping his way through a huge multi-story building and outwitting an army of intelligent robots. The ultimate goal was to search each room and find pieces of a puzzle that, when placed together, will eventually reveal a password to outsmart the game's antagonist - a mad scientist by the name of Dr. Elvin Atombender who's threatening to destroy the world (or something).
For it's day IM was something of a pioneer, doing things that were unheard of at the time - namely a) a combination of platforming action and head-scratching puzzles and b) the incorporation of speech in a computer game. The latter in particular, although primitive at the time, really made the game popular and provided such memorable phrases such as "Destroy him My Robots!"; "Another visitor, Stay awhile! Stay Forever!" and the unforgettable "AAAAaaaaAAAAAaaarrrGGHHHH!!!!" (seriously, how come these haven't been made into an Internet meme yet?!)

Which now brings us to IM2: a game, like many sequels, that seems doomed to remain in the shadow of the predecessor. On the plus side, it does what a true sequel and expands on the original concept: The secret agent now has a number of gadgets and devices at his disposal, the rooms in each tower section are now all themed and there are a number of new robots for the player to outwit. On the downside, the graphics look drab and uninspiring (unlike the first IM), the inital thrill of the voice synthesizing has significantly less impact and the puzzle element has been reduced almost completely - true there still remains a code to be cracked but now it's done through some bizarre system involving musical samples.

And then there is the ending: The agent cracks the code, finds a secret/central room to the building, locates the correct computer and...well..... see for yourself:



I remember seeing this when I was about 8-10 years old and I had no idea what the hell was going on. Some twenty years later and I STILL have no idea what this ending is trying to convey. What happened? What was the white shape jumping off the building? Was it the agent? His ghost? An astral projection?! And why is this whole scene being viewed on a computer monitor?!
Some people have complained about video games having vague/abrupt endings but this truly takes the cake - Indeed matters aren't helped with a question mark accompanying the declaration of The End.

However, reading the comments that accompanied that youtube clip, there is theory that the white shape is in fact Elvin Atombender, committing suicide rather than admitting defeat - the white shape was meant to be someone running in a white lab coat only the programmers ran out of time/memory to make it so. Such limitations may account for why the shape is a palette swap of the agent and why 'Elvin' seems to have the same death scream.

It's a plausible theory but that's what it is: A theory. It's doubtful that the ending will ever make sense - and certainly won't erase nearly twenty years of wondering what kind of ending was that.

Seriously, you kids today have it easy....