Lead Heroes out of Harm's Way in Interactive 'Murder'

One of the first assignments I received upon entering the hallowed tubes of Tilzy.TV was to watch an interactive adventure about a time machine. Lovable little scamp that I was, I got a little overexcited. Luckily, nobody much minded, least of all the video’s makers, Chad, Matt & Rob (and Jonah).

A few weeks ago, Rob Polonsky had a minor lapse in judgment and told me that he and the fellas just finished a new interactive adventure, The Murder. He assumed, since I gushed over his previous project, I was disposed to loving his particular blend of comedic storytelling and I would follow-up with another highly positive review. His assumption was correct.

I suppose it would be possible to concoct some blather about how choose-your-own-ending online stories are a perfect medium for our ADD-addled populace. Short clips with multiple options of consequence-free errors in judgment seem like an ultimate American combination. That may be well and good, but that’s hardly the point here. What’s actually important is that Chad, Matt & Rob are funny.

The format for both CM&R adventures is fairly similar. The Time Machine utilized the trope of, well, a time machine. In order to evade the g-men hunting them down, the guys could jump into their machine and transport to a new location. The Murder

relies on a more traditional approach to spacetime with a straightforward story. The term “straightforward,” however, is very relative with these guys. Clearly there is a murder involved, but to give you the setup would ruin most of the initial jokes. You just have to watch:

Chad Matt & Rob’s interactive adventures are the only interactive web adventures that I have ever enjoyed. I feel very fortunate to be privvy to such precious online entertainment and I can only imagine the catastrophes that this format will achieve in lesser hands.

CM&R could rightly be considered the polar opposite of M. Night Shyamalan since they tend to throw their plot twists in at the beginning and said twists actually work. Perfectly. They’re also not millionaires. Which is unfortunate, because we could be seeing way more of these if someone, you know, gave them money to do it. That’s right, I’m calling on someone to make these guys professional interactive adventurers.

Even if you’re not into these choose-your-own series (which puts your clearly undeveloped taste under scrutiny), I highly recommend checking out Chad, Matt & Rob’s sketch work and their web series, The Alibuys. It’s all great stuff and these guys definitely deserve more attention.