Reviews / previews
They say everything old becomes new again, and the
gaming industry seems intent on proving the adage
true at every possible turn. In the case of Heart of
Darkness, the venerable saying is appropriate simply
due to the length of time this game was in
development. Not to put too fine a point on it, kids
who were newborns when HOD began development
are now starting school.
This isn't exactly a slam, since what HOD sets out to
do, it does remarkably well. While the most recent
game you could compare it to would be Oddworld, to
really get a perspective on it, you have to reach back
to Amazing Games' previous creations-Out of this
World and Flashback, two of my all-time favorite
games. Heart of Darkness is essentially a 2D,
side-scrolling action-puzzle game, and at times it
seems to have been designed by absolute sadists.
It's a rare combination-frustrating yet endearing.
Bizarre, dark, and violent, yet cute, childish, and
saccharine, it has a sort of Fraggle Rock-in-Hell
quality to it.
You play Andy, a
frolicking, frivolous
youngster prone to
falling asleep to the
monotonous
droning of his evil
science teacher.
Upon escaping her
villainous wrath one
day, Andy
witnesses a solar
eclipse, at which
point his faithful
best friend, his dog Whiskey, gets spirited away to a
dark land of shadows. Andy, just as any other boy
would, immediately tears off to his tree house,
jump-starts his dimension-crossing spaceship, and
sets off to bring Whiskey back alive.
The opening setup and conclusion are two of the game's biggest flaws: With
five years' development time, a more insightful story would've been nice.
Regardless, it's told in a beautifully cinematic way, with a wonderful score by
composer Bruce Broughton. And the combination of childish whimsy and dark
nightmares makes for a compelling brew.
The game itself is even more engaging, provided it isn't driving you to
distraction due to the sheer difficulty of some of the scenes. Its gameplay
feels exactly like Flashback's, and many of the scenes actually seem ripped
from the aging classic.
The screen is oddly and annoyingly
window-boxed (the screenshots shown here
are cropped), and while the graphics are
generally lush and attractive, they seem a
bit muddy-especially the characters.
Animation is superb and pinpoint-precise.
When Andy is climbing a wall, his every
step is perfectly choreographed; nothing is
left out of place. Unfortunately, control
seems so tied to the exacting animation
that it often feels delayed and imprecise.
Also, the game autosaves only at certain
(albeit frequent) checkpoints, so you'll end
up replaying parts.
These frustrations aside, it's obvious that a lot of work went into HOD, and
there's much to like here. The game isn't very long (less than 10 hours of play
time), but the cinematic qualities and graphical detail make it worth coming
back to from time to time. And its design is far less obtuse than Oddworld's:
the path is laid out for you here, even if the solutions aren't, so you're not
always wondering whether you missed something important.
It's not for everyone, and its age is beginning to show, but Heart of Darkness
still offers superb animation, music, graphics, and atmosphere.-- Jason D'Aprile / GamePro
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