Techtite's PC Game Reviews!

"I think the funniest scene is when Skye resurrects an enemy warrior to obtain an item you can only get while he's alive. The paradox of saving the life of a villain is not lost in the retort by the warrior: 'Hey, I like you. You helped me! I want to beat you up now, okay?' "

---from the review

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An ode to those cool "strength meters"... While tougher enemies have "strength meters" to show how your shots effect them, I would've preferred it on all enemies, so I know even quicker if that fire spell is more damaging than the ice spell, or if an archer is immune to the "Dispel evil" spell that worked on a vampire one room earlier. MDK 2 had this cool feature; I wish other shooter games adopted it...

Ever since Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation effectively took the life from Lara Croft --both figuratively, and literally-- I've felt that the shoes of "best action game heroine" were up for grabs. After playing Tomb Raider Chronicles, I was even more certain of this. So it was only a matter of time --say, the time it takes to design, program, and distribute a game-- that a new 3D action adventure would offer us a new 3D heroine to enjoy. What I did not expect, however, was how inspired and FUN that game would be. Such is the case with Simon & Schuster's latest game release, Darkened Skye.

Some people have had reservations about the game's background story, which is an inside joke best summarized in one word: Skittles. You see, this is a magical realm whose rainbow powers, via five colored prisms, were taken by an evil wizard named Necroth. Sometime during production, someone must've seen the similarity between this rainbow-magic story and those "Taste the Rainbow" Skittles candy commercials. They got the rights to use these candies' likeness in the game, and a running gag was born. What harm does this have to the game? None; after all, it matters little whether the magic power-ups you seek have an "S" on them or not. Let's just say, I'll take collecting fruity candy over magic mushrooms, any day of the week!

Of course, the core to any story is an effective lead character; the one you will be hearing and seeing for the whole game. In this case, that heroine is Skye, a "Dwendil farmer" whose true destiny has, of course, been foretold. Skye is a likeable character from the start, whose voice is adorably supplied by Linda Larkin (best known as Princess Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin). Making her even more expressive, however, is an extremely well designed character model. Few game engines --yes, even those supplied via the Unreal and Quake sagas-- make characters so realistic, that even their eyeballs move in the direction they're looking. This one-two punch, of a talented voice actress and a well-animated heroine, makes for a very important plus for this game. Lara Croft, look out!

What really enhances this game is its humor. Skye is joined by a friendly, cynical Gargoyle named Draak, who I guess is the Costello to Skye's Abbott. While he is on hand as a travel guide (i.e., to offer puzzle hints), "comic sidekick" would be a more accurate job description. His moments with Skye lead to many funny tête-à-têtes , and enhances the fun of the game. This and other game elements provide humor that is used more than even Giants: Citizen Kabuto or Anachronox, so you can imagine how often a joke is attempted. I think the funniest scene is when Skye resurrects an enemy warrior to obtain an item you can only get while he's alive. The paradox of saving the life of a villain is not lost in the retort by the warrior: "Hey, I like you. You helped me! I want to beat you up now, okay?"

As for the game itself, it plays not unlike a typical 3D action/adventure, where the key is to explore, defeat a few baddies, solve a few puzzles...and collect new Skittles for more magic powers. Both Skye and her game's designers are a tad new at action-adventuring, however, so Skye cannot swim, nor can she duck, nor make climb a simple rope (aside from two in-game cutscenes that imply otherwise). There are a sizeable number of jumping puzzles --particularly in the air and water worlds-- though they are mostly offered as adventure puzzles more than any arcade challenge (finding all the switches to raise all platforms in the water, for example). For me, these jumping puzzles were a piece of cake, compared to Lara Croft's spring-bean gymnastic mind-benders.

Not that a no-swimming, no-crawling interface doesn't have its limitations. Sure, it enhances many puzzles (you must find a shrinking spell for narrow spaces; find a floating spell, to jump farther), though it takes some getting used to for fans of a Lara Croft interface. This isn't the only action puzzle that is more challanging, however. I found it harder to fight the enemies themselves, since this game has a very "realistic" aiming mechanism (not all enemies shots hit you head-on, and vice versa). On the bright side, with both magic and health that replenishes in time (the health a little slower, though it does), there's no harm in a game that rewards patience. After all, isn't it about time an action-adventure wasn't solvable in a mere day?

Of course, it's the little touches that really impressed me. The expressiveness of Skye was cool enough, though this is even cooler: a "Quicksave" feature that actually saves and restores quickly! The shock is too intense for most action-adventurers, who often are given an F-key that merely saves and loads a game in the same slow pace as the regular save game function. Not in this game; press F2 before a puzzle solution is attempted, and if Skye dies as a result, a simple F4 click puts her back where she was, in little more than a split second. This is a must for adventures of this type, and I'm surprised how little it's offered elsewhere. This means you can explore at will, without worry! Add to that "unlimited" game saves (no "save game slots" to choose from), and no save game "checkpoints" (you can save anywhere, at any time!), and you have a game that is far and above the usual mere console game rip-off.

The truth is, I refrain from mentioning the gripes of this game, since they are so minimal compared to the fun of the game itself. For one thing, the realistic aim is a mistake; it's fun to see enemies shoot like Star Wars Stormtroopers, though when you're trying to shoot at them it's not as enjoyable. Of course, much like Lara Croft, the trick is to keep moving, strafing and using nearby walls as shields, though that's not as easy with a character who can't swim, duck, or crawl. This is particularly annoying in the water world, where you jump on small platforms on the ocean, and a tentacle appears right in front of you, ready to knock you off the platform...into water that kills you instantly. The trick is to jump back to the prior, larger platform and attack the tentacle from there, though it's a puzzle I would've preferred to leave unsolved. Regardless, I again must say my hesitation to mention these as "gripes," since they did not truly keep me from enjoying the rest of the game. After all, challenges are the purpose of playing a game in the first place.

If I were to mention the biggest mistake of this game, it would be marketing. I stumbled across this game by sheer luck when first released, on a shelf in the back of a local software store. It seems the manager felt it had little chance of selling next to the much more advertised (i.e., more hyped) games on the "New Release" shelf. I'd say the buzz this game has received, in as little as two months, has proved him wrong; I looked in that same store, two days before posting this review, and saw this game on a front-of-store shelf where it belongs. If that;s not a sure sign of how this game should be noticed, I don't know what is.