Is That a Lighthouse
In Your Pocket, Or . . .

In
the summer of 2003 Jonathan Boakes scared the willies out of us
with his excellent Darkfall.
Though necessarily modest in scale, it was a creepy, well-built
horror adventure. Considering it was pretty much a one-man project,
it was the best garage game since Cracking
the Conspiracy.

The excellence of Darkfall got
Boakes a contract with DreamCatcher and a chance to make another
game. Darkfall 2: Lights Out is the result.

The first thing I have
to say is I’m so grateful to play a horror-themed game that’s
actually an adventure. Not an action/adventure, not an action game,
not survival horror. There’s nothing wrong with Eternal
Darkness, Clive
Barker’s Undying, or Silent
Hill, but it’s become achingly unusual
to play a good creepy game that’s not about combat.

With its animated lighthouse,
right off the bat the game shows a lot of class with evocative
sound effects and the loveliest interface screen since Arxel Tribe’s Faust (remember
that carousel?).

The
game begins in 1912 Cornwall, England. You play a character of
a young cartographer dispatched to a remote village to work on
some coastline maps. Almost immediately you notice something extremely
odd: A lighthouse that’s conspicuously missing from any maps
you’ve ever seen of the region!

And, uh, yep, that’s
all of the plot I’m going to tell you. Four sentences. No
way am I going to spoil any of the cool surprises in this game.
Surprises abound in the world of Lights Out,
and if I tell you any more I’ll start giving them away. Wouldn’t
be prudent. However, there’s plenty more to say that doesn’t involve
plot spoilers…

Okay, That Sure
Sounded Like a Footstep . . .

There’s
quite a lot of exposition delivered in the opening environment – the
cartographer’s hotel room – and from this very first
scene the player learns that very methodical and observant exploration
of the game world is vital to success in the game. It’s actually
quite easy to miss an entire (important!) scene in this first room
if you are careless.

But that’s okay,
because this is not a game to rush through. It’s not long,
and the environments are not particularly large (though you do
get to see several of them in various, shall we say, versions).

But the game has quite
a lot up its sleeve. It’s reminiscent of several of my favorite
adventures: The
Dark Eye, the original The
Journeyman Project, Riven¸ and Dracula
Resurrection. For the record, this is not a bad
thing!

The game is full of puzzles
that are really part of one, huge, uber-puzzle. So don’t
even attempt this game without having your pen and notepad at the
ready. Without careful observation and note-taking, the game will
be very reluctant to give up its secrets. Most of the puzzles are
of the informational variety. Keep your eyes open at all times!

Mommy!!

Fright
wise, the game isn’t quite as scary as Darkfall,
but it’s no less intriguing. It’s more creepy than
scary – but creepy is a good thing,
right?

The graphics of the game
aren’t high-tech by any means, but they show a lot of taste
and artistry. Details abound, and in many cases the details are
interactive. In many games it would get tedious reaching over and
taking a close-up look at an old family photo on the mantle, but
in Lights Out it’s a pleasure, as these optional bits really
add up to create a wonderful sense of place.

The different sections
of the game all have different color palettes, and this further
serves the drama of the story in an effective way.

I have one, tiny graphics
gripe, however. I’m really, really, really over the artificial “handwriting
font” that virtually all adventure games use for journal
and diary entries. Trust me, artists, there is no font that really
looks like human handwriting, because all fonts are too regular
and consistent. The only way you can really make a journal really
look like a journal is to create the language in them with actual
handwriting. Have an intern do it.

My
other tiny gripe has to do with something on the game box. A blurb
on the box promises “numerous characters to interact with,” and
this is simply not true. You do meet a lot of characters, but only
indirectly – through diaries, recorded messages, notes, etc…
Your actual interaction with characters is extremely limited, and
it’s unfortunate that the box blurb writers got a little
overzealous in making such an unnecessarily misleading claim.

The story, however, is
a dandy one, and both the narrative and the puzzle design serve
to create a series of increasingly intense interconnections between
the game’s various environments.

The first part of the
game is fairly linear, but about halfway through your journey you
obtain a tool that really opens up the game world. You’re
now free to travel between the game’s different areas and
attempt to finish solving the many puzzles that confront you.

The
sound design of the game is particularly good, from the very opening
credits sequence with the evocative sounds of the surf, to the
quiet but well-placed ambient noises all through the game. The
sounds of Lights Out serve to very effectively
raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

Considering what a good
story Boakes has to tell, it’s disappointing that the ending
isn’t more satisfying. However, this feels like a limitation
of budget, not imagination, so it’s forgivable.

The big news is that Jonathan
Boakes has done it again. Lights Out is
a creepy, engaging, tastefully built adventure that no aficionado
of the genre should miss. Who knows what this talented guy could
come up with next if someone would throw a slightly more deluxe
budget his way?

Final Grade: A

System Requirements:

• Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
• Pentium III 450 MHz
  or Better Processor
• 128 MB RAM (256 MB
  Recommended)
• 24xCD-ROM Drive (or
  PC DVD Drive)
• SVGA Graphics Card
  or better with 32-Bit Color (32-Bit Color at 800×600)
• DirectX9 Compatible
  Sound Card
• Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers

This
review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and
may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent
of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link
back to Just Adventure.