Nocturne

A Techtite Review

Every once in a while, a "monsters and ghouls" thriller game is attempted. Sometimes, such games can be intriguing yet with limited challenge, such as Of Light and Darkness. Other times, like in the case of Darkseed 2, playing the game is scarier than the storyline! Very rarely does a PC title try to make an environment as intriguing as the Alone in the Dark series. Nocturne is such an attempt, and it turns out to be rather good.

The premise is simple enough; you're The Stranger, a secret agent for an even more secretive government unit, The Spookhouse, in the 1920's to 1940's. From gothic mansions to gangster speakeasy hangouts (left), you must go into the underworld of society to investigate various reports of paranormal activity and remove the problem by any means necessary. The result is a sort of a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and an episode of the X-Files. As a person who watches both shows, this game's plotline was a strike in its favor. It may be a little too grotesque than it has to be at times, though then again, so does X-Files and Buffy!

The game is divided into four "episodes", spanning eight years. Each story is a seperate mission, all completely different from one another. Fight vampires and werewolves in episode 1, fight zombies in episode 2. Aside from the occasional return visit to the Spookhouse offices, no area is repeated. While this can be unfortunate at times --I wish certain areas were longer than others-- it makes for a game that never gets redundant or dull, which is saying a lot.

Not enough can be said about the game's cutscenes, which are all performed within the 3D game engine itself. The voice acting is the best I've seen in a game in years, complete with various dialects and personalities. These people are not merely reading a script into a microphone. Svetlana the half-vampire is particularly well done, as is the Stranger's female friend, "Doc Holiday" (shown here). The Stranger is played with a sort of monotone bravado with style. Although the cutscenes can often be quite long (an option to skip them can be achieved via the "Esc" key and the menu choice "skip cutscene"), each of them is perfectly handled.

However, this is an action-adventure, so it's important to discuss the game, and its many puzzles. Well, for one, ingeniously, choosing the right weapon is a puzzle. Through old legends, a silver bullet is obviously the right choice for a werewolf (two to four of these defeat them, instead of maybe 50-60 rounds of anything else). However, what's the best weapon against vampire wives, succubi, giant insects, or zombies? That's up to you to discover. This was a cute touch that other shooter-games might want to consider...

It's obvious that the designers of Nocturne wanted to create a game engine similar to Alone in the Dark (or, for Playstation owners, Resident Evil). With such an imitation in game engine also comes a few flaws. For one, all backgrounds are static pictures which change at various "camera angles." If this camera angle is not the camera angle the gamer would want, nothing can be done about it (fortunately, an "auto-aim" option makes aiming in a bad camera angle much easier). In addition, such static background pix apparently have a maximum size of 640x480, so that is the maximum resolution of the game. In a world of AGP-port, 3D graphic accelerators, this is quite a step backwards.

However, static backgrounds means foreground 3D effects can be maxed to the hilt. Trenchcoats and other loose items blow in the wind. Shadows are fully animated and totally accurate, setting a disctinct mood within candle-lit hallways. Outside, the chill in the air can almost be felt, thanks to the visible "breath" of the characters. A subtle mist/fog effect is used perfectly. Anyone who scoffs at the 3D effects of characters in this game, just wasn't paying attention.

Then there are the gripes. For one, the camera angles are often erratic, particularly when you die by falling down a long shaft. In the final area, there's an elevator shaft you must jump, and if you miss, you have to see yourself fall little by little, floor by floor, by any of 5 different camera angles. This is irregular, since the game has already established that the character cannot survive even a one story drop (similar to King's Quest VIII).

In the end, the game was more than worth playing. You can forgive the game designers for being one of many 1999 releases with no real ending; each of the four "episodes" has its own ending. However, I hope the "epilogue" seen upon completing the four missions doesn't mean what I think it does (if so, one or two of my fave supporting cast members will not make it into Nocturne 2). At the extreme least, said epilogue implies that a Nocturne 2 is in the works. If such a sequel uses a licensed game engine like Quake's or Unreal's, I'll rush to buy it!

	Final Rating : Small Crater. It has flaws; most notable the final episode with the elevator shaft. However, I had fun...enough for a thumbs-up.
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