There’s an old, old theory called the collective unconscious, which in part says human beings share a sort of group mind without knowing it. That, the theory’s proponents say, explains why Hollywood can make volcano movies or writers can cover similar topics, all at the same time without foreknowledge on either side.

The collective unconscious is undoubtedly Majestic’s biggest problem, thanks to a group of Microsoft engineers and a writer named Sean Stewart, whose online A.I. Artificial Intelligence murder mystery (nicknamed "The Beast") was the talk of the summer. That game, which blindsided players and then made them group together to solve incredibly challenging puzzles — all for free, has spoiled online gamers. That sucks, because Majestic has a whole lot of potential.

As its name implies, Majestic is centered around the sort of shadow government conspiracies that made The X-Files so fun. In a nice meta move, players really are supposed to be playing an EA game called Majestic at the outset, but soon the software company in charge is destroyed in a mysterious fire. That’s because an anonymous contributor leaked real shadow-government secrets to the game’s creators. Now said shadow government is after a handful of survivors and, of course, everyone playing. The game is part of Electronic Arts’ online gaming package, so Majestic’s $9.99 monthly fee also covers the ability to play some of EA’s other online games.

The game is easy to play: Each player downloads the Majestic Alliance software, a window that displays clues and allies. The game can contact each player by telephone, fax, AOL Instant Messenger and e-mail. That means lots of interaction with both friend and foe. The game is split into episodes that make up seasons, like a television show. Because each episode must last roughly a month, there’s really only 15 minutes to an hour of gameplay total each day.

So why is it unfair to compare Majestic and The Beast? For one thing, The Beast was free. Players would surely have complained about its difficulty otherwise. Also, The Beast updated every week, and anyone who started late or missed a week had to catch up by reading any of the several fan sites. Because Majestic players are paying for it, EA can’t in good conscience let anyone get left behind.

The biggest problem is that Majestic’s creators had no idea their core audience would have already played The Beast. Majestic’s pilot and first episode are intended as a sort of tutorial. But most of us already had a very intensive tutorial in The Beast, so these levels in comparison are far too easy. Again, no fault of EA’s — blame the collective unconscious.

That said, there’s no doubt Majestic is flawed as it is. Some characters don’t act as they would in real life — who ever heard of a hacker who didn’t know how to use WhoIs? The phone calls are just prerecorded messages, which allow no player interaction. The "bots" that initiate contact via AIM are only barely more interactive — they spout predetermined scripts, and only occasionally respond to player messages.

The most complaints come from the standby period (which is usually 24 hours). Majestic should have been released in the fall, when most online gamers are in school. But summer — at least for U.S. students, who get three months off — means lots of free time, and 15 minutes per day is no longer a fun break between classes.

So why do I think Majestic will take off? The game is flexible. The folks at EA have the luxury of being able to read player comments and tailor future episodes. I expect puzzles to become harder, bots to become more interactive and the amount of daily gameplay to go up. It’s obvious that a lot of work went into the pilot and first episode, so we know the game is a labor of love. If EA can beef up gameplay and give players what they crave, Majestic will be a runaway success.