Reviewer hypnotised in order to review game

Buena Vista Games has hypnotised Mark Robbins, Deputy Editor of the Official Xbox Magazine, and age regressed him to a ten year old boy in order to review The Chronicles of Narnia.

In a first for a videogame magazine, Robbins was hypnotised by Mark Howe, a professional hypnotist, at Future's London offices and lasted for around 45 minutes. Robbins was age-regressed to only ten years old, making him the target age for Buena Vista Game's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. A four-page spread detailing the event will appear in next month's issues of The Official Xbox Magazine, and will be accompanied by video footage on the demo disk.

"The idea of hypnotising someone into believing they're a ten year old to review a game was so unique that I simply had to get involved, even if it was just to see how it would turn out," commented Mark Robins, Official Xbox Magazine Deputy Editor. "Luckily I've come out the other end mentally unscathed and I even had my fear of flying cured to boot. I'm amazed it worked so well: I can't usually remember what I was up to last week, let alone twenty years ago."

"The Chronicles of Narnia is a computer and video game aimed at 8-12 year old boys and girls and finding anyone in that age bracket that has both the journalism experience and gaming skill to articulate a full and fair review has been impossible, until now," commented Mark Ward, on behalf of Buena Vista Games. "I had to promise that we wouldn't plant any other suggestions while Mark was 'under' and I've stood by my word. That said, he's been clucking like a chicken ever since."

It has often been a problem with adults having to review games targeted at children, but hypnotism may be a little over-the-top for most reviewers. One side effect to come from the experience is that Mark Robbins now insists on being paid in penny sweets (I made that up).