For five
years, the vaporware Heart of Darkness has been touted first as an adventure
game and lately as an (buzzword warning) action/adventure game. The vapor has
finally solidified, and HOD is now available for the PC and the Playstation.
Is Heart of Darkness an adventure game? Quite simply, no. There are some
adventure elements incorporated into the framework of the game, but HOD is
more about having an adventure than it is solving an adventure. There have been
numerous inquiries as to whether the average adventure fan would find HOD enjoyable.
If you have played Out of This World or Flashback, then you are
already familiar with the play mechanics of HOD. The difference this time
is that HOD unfolds in a world that is populated by the shadowy bogeymen
and grotesque exaggerations of a child’s imagination. If you have not played these
two classics, then maybe this review can serve as your guide.

Andy
and his dog Whisky (why a kid would name his dog Whisky is beyond me–maybe the
dog’s name explains Andy’s vivid imagination) are kicking back on a hillside catching
some rays when a mysterious light descends from the sky and Whisky is sucked into
the vortex by the Forces of Darkness. Andy alertly runs home, climbs into his
treehouse and, being the resourceful twelve-year-old, red-haired, all-American
boy that he is, climbs into his homemade teleporter and sets off to face his deepest
fears in a shadow kingdom replete with giant worms, winged nightshades and soul-eating
phantoms. That’s it–the entire plot. Now if this were truly an adventure game,
then I would have given the plot a grade of F. But seeing as how HOD is
basically a 2D side-scrolling platform game with a few adventure elements thrown
in, then it already has more of a plotline than probably any side-scroller ever
released. Taking this into consideration, let’s give the plot a grade of C-.

Heart
of Darkness has without a doubt the most beautiful animation I have ever seen
in any video or PC game. The recreation of a small town atmosphere in the opening
sequence is like watching an animated version of Steven Spielberg’s Back to
the Future. There are over 2000 frames of animation used just for Andy, so
his movements are always fluid, whether he is swinging across a chasm or swimming
through piranha infested waters. The transition between the cinematics and gameplay
are seamless. More than once, was I staring at the screen waiting for a cinematic
sequence to end, not realizing that it was over and I now had control of Andy.
But it is the use of shadows in HOD that elevate to the peak of graphic
excellence. Shadows have been calculated based on their surroundings. They distort
accordingly when cast upon rocky cavern walls or across barren landscapes. These
spectral figures are menacing and important figures in the game and will often
attack without warning. The game screens are hand-painted and reminded me very
much of the backgrounds from The Neverhood and Skullmonkeys. The
backgrounds in HOD are never static though; you’ll notice rippling water
and swaying trees. There are colorful images in HOD that truly live on
in your mind’s eye long after you have quit playing for the evening. For all of
the above reasons, and what is a first for me, the graphics for Heart of Darkness
receive a grade of A+.

What
puzzles there are in Heart of Darkness are a treat to solve. They are never
inventory-based, nor are they twiddleware puzzles. Instead, they are situational
puzzles. A seemingly simple problem becomes a sometimes complicated scenario arising
from a singular situation. You may, for instance, need to get to that stone to
your right, but it is not going to be as easy as just jumping on it. Rather, there
may be a ten-step or more procedure that you will to figure out just to be able
to reach that moss-covered stone that is so close yet so far. Other problems are
as elementary as figuring out how to lure a shadowy adversary to the ray of sunlight
that will burn him to a crisp. Now having praised the puzzles, let me say that
for all the thought that is evident, there just is not enough of them. While the
first half of the game is thoughtful and well-paced, it seems that the second
half of the game pits you in one deadly situation after another, barely ever letting
you pause for a breath. What had been an invigorating experience turned into a
jumping, shooting, climbing smorgasbord that becomes not only increasingly difficult,
but also stale and repetitive … and deadly. For death lurks around every ledge,
and you will fall off of every ledge and die, many, many times. Fortunately, you
are always restored back at the spot of your demise and you do have unlimited
lives, but this does become increasingly frustrating. The game is at its best
when Andy has to rely on his wits to escape a situation and not on his ray gun
or Lifeforce beam. It is almost as if the developers decided to forego the thoughtfulness
that is so evident in the first half of the game and concentrate more on the action
and platform (i.e., video game) element in the second half. This category gets
a grade of C for not following through on the cerebral aspect of the game.

The
musical score for HOD was composed by Bruce Broughton (Silverado, Miracle
on 34th Street) and recorded by a full symphony orchestra. The only time it
is heard is during the cinematic sequences. There is nothing memorable or even
toe-tapping about the score. It does not intrude on the game, but it also does
not add anything to the cinematics. The same can be said for the ambient sound
effects. They are most in effect during the gameplay and, as there is no music
during gameplay, the sound effects really stand out. Sometimes like a sore thumb.
There are scenes where you are scaling the sides of rocky cliffs and you can hear
monkeys chattering and birds cawing. But these sound effects seem totally inappropriate
and out of place. It is like someone taped all of the sounds at a zoo and then
transposed it to the game without regard for what actually appears in the scene.
The music and the sound effects receive a grade of C.

The controls
for HOD are very simple to master. On the computer, the arrow keys are
used to move, crawl, etc. Control, Alt and Shift function as the run, jump and
use your weapon keys. On the Playstation, it is a simple matter of pressing left,
right, etc. for movement and using your X button for other features. The simplicity
of the controls make gameplay intuitive. You never feel like you are not in total
control of Andy’s movements. The controls for HOD receive a grade of
A.

Heart of Darkness is for children, teenagers and those who,
like myself, are young at heart. Unfortunately, it turns into too much of an arcade
game after the first CD and becomes increasingly frustrating for those who do
not have sharply honed joystick skills. The game options menu does offer degrees
of difficulty to compensate for the problems nonaction gamers might encounter.
A fair word of warning, if you must play this game and do not have money to burn,
then do as I did and rent the Playstation version for a few days. I completed
Heart of Darkness over a period of two days; probably a total playing time
of seven or eight hours.

Maybe I’m being too harsh on HOD. After
all, it is just a platform game that is supposed to be fun, but for years a lot
was promised by the developers. Taking into account the mediocre music, the scarcity
of puzzles and the short playing time, balanced against the drop dead graphics
and the fun factor, Heart of Darkness receives a final grade of C.

Final
Grade: C