Darkstar
is what everyone who grew up in the “glory days” of adventure
gaming has been clamoring for years. Despite a lot of negative press
about “interactive movies,” there is a lot of ground support
for this type of game. Just mention Gabriel
Knight 2: The Beast Within or Tex
Murphy: The Pandora Directive on a blog and there is an overwhelming
amount of positivity and goodwill expressed. However, there are more
movies in this adventure subgenre that seem to be somewhat more ill-fated.
Temujin,
Tender
Loving Care, and Voyeur
are a few examples of more poorly-received titles.

So, where does this new
title fit? Is it a contender for the throne or will it be quickly
forgotten? Or perhaps it will be a mixed bag like the Phantasmagoria
series.

One
thing that can’t be criticized is the dedication of the team
that made this game. They have been toiling on this from as early
as 1995, when it was going to be a movie without the interactivity
elements! And who exactly has been working on this you might ask?
Well, nothing less prestigious than (most of) the Mystery
Science Theater 3000 team. I’ve never seen anything
from these guys but they have a pretty amazing reputation in sci-fi
circles. This has finally come to fruition after 15 years under the
direction of Jeffery Williams, aka J. Allen Williams.

I was fortunate to receive
a special “press box” game packaged in a large flatbed
PC-size box which included a shirt, picture cards, the soundtrack,
and even some popcorn! Yep – you read right – POPCORN!!
The game is a 2-DVD affair, not surprising considering all the video
in it. Included on a fancy USB is information about the game and a
game guide/walkthrough. Don’t forget to view the sensational
“Darkstar Book” that contains promotional material and
artwork about the game.

Darkstar’s
graphics, while good, are not mind-blowing but they are the best of
their kind. The full motion stuff is pixelated at times and is probably
compressed (a lot!) considering the game was due to be released on
6 dual-layered DVDs at one point! The backgrounds are well-rendered
and look pretty up close. Sometimes, at a distance, it is unclear
that there are points of interest that warrant further attention.
There is an odd half-second delay from clicking the mouse to a change
in anything on the screen. I was really disappointed by the “screen
within a screen” approach that this game took for the videos.
I would have found it far more immersive if the video had filled my
screen. The overall graphical presentation is certainly streets ahead
of that from the golden age of FMV such as Gabriel Knight and
Phantasmagoria.

I
found the sound to be good…in theory. Despite the ability to
alter the relative levels of speech, ambient sounds, and music, I
found the dialog frustratingly difficult to understand. Especially
the main character played by Clive Robertson (i.e. you!), who mumbled
his lines at every opportunity. I would have given my left arm for
some subtitles because, to be frank, I often had no idea what was
going on because I couldn’t understand what was being said.
That said, the sounds are suitable and the music is quite atmospheric
– just what we’ve come to expect in modern science-fiction.

Many will enjoy the wonderful
tones of Peter Graves, who narrates throughout the game. Sadly, this
was his last project before passing away.

Acting
really is a mixed bag – there was some very good and some almost
hammy acting in the game. Initially, Rush
was reported to be allowing some of their music to be included in
the game – what a coup that would have been! I imagine many
sci-fi fans have musical leanings that appreciate the sounds and concepts
of Rush (many of which are sci-fi influenced). Unfortunately, licensing
issues prevented that from happening. However, the 2-CD soundtrack
is simply amazing too – all original music ranging from progressive
rock pieces to hard rock guitar hero rock to subtle classical and
ambient sounds. I heartily recommend you listen to it and see just
how professional a soundtrack can be! The music is a benchmark for
all future games.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: I
am told the Lace Mamba release will have subtitles!

Darkstar
contains many of the traditional aspects of adventure gaming: puzzles,
inventory items and, unfortunately, a very confusing maze. It’s
point-and-click all the way, which is usually the favorite gameplay
style for adventure gamers. Navigation is a little confusing –
sometimes it’s not clear how get from point A to B. Nowhere
is this more apparent than in the dreaded maze. There were numerous
times where I became disoriented because of the dizzying camerawork
and layout of the maze.It’s probably the most challenging maze I have
ever experienced.

Once at a “hub”
between movement points, there is full 360-degree panning in all four
directions. That really adds to the immersion.

Also
problematic is not including different icons to show what the protagonist
might do. Sometimes acting on an item means “pick it up”
but at other times it means “use item” which results in
instant death without warning. Finding the action points on computer
panels is particularly difficult, where there might be two hotspots
but you end up clicking on what you think is a hotspot and missing
something that seems like it’s just part of the hotspot you’ve
already found!

Essentially the game is
ten chapters, each requiring unlocking a “biolok”. This
results in a lengthy exposition of video that furthers the story –
in fact, there are 13 hours of footage in the game! As always with
FMV games, there is a limited degree of interactivity compared with
more traditional point-and-click games. Be careful in the game and
save often because you never know when one of your actions is going
to result in a grisly end. It’s a shame the creators didn’t
include an autosave just before this occurs. I became frustrated numerous
times when something seemingly harmless resulted in my death and retracing
steps. I’m definitely not a fan of dying in games without a
safety net. It lowers my enjoyment when I consider saving before every
action I take. The puzzles fit in well with the story and most experienced
gamers will find they are manageable.

Anyhow,
basically the story is thus: in 2185 A.D. the world is about to be
blown up by Martians (not what you’re thinking!). Your character,
John O’Neil, wakes from cryosleep in the year 2499 on the spaceship
Westwick, which is orbiting a strange planet known as Theta Alpha
III. Sleeping so long has caused a form of amnesia. You have no recollection
of the beautiful woman in another cryotube or of the mummified remains
of a man whose hand has been violently severed. Your quest is to find
out who you are, what happened to the crew, and what happened in the
312 years that have passed.

Thankfully, the game seems
very stable. I experienced not a single glitch. That’s pretty
amazing for a modern game. There is no patch for it, either –
something almost unheard of in this modern age. It would be awesome,
though, if somewhere down the track, there were a subtitle patch released.
The good news is that future versions of the game are anticipated
to come with subtitles.

Darkstar was released
on November 5, 2010 through the Darkstar website and as a downloadable
through Strategy
First.

Jeffery
and his merry men (and women) are to be commended for a truly ambitious
project. Despite some obvious design flaws, this is a cinematic experience
in the true sense of the word. Although I found it confusing, the
backstory and exposition are second-to-none. This has been a labor
of love for these guys, and it shows. More than ever, I am led to
wonder how professionally-made, “big studio” games can
be as mundane as they often are when a group of talented underfunded
individuals can create something of such artistic merit.

This game is exactly what
fans of FMV have been waiting for, with its depth of story and high-quality
production across the board. This game deserves a B for most
non-adventure gamers, an A- for fans of adventure games, and
a solid A for people who rue the loss of FMV.

As mentioned, the game
can be downloaded from StrategyFirst (www.strategyfirst.com/games/2538-darkstar.html)
or a hard copy can be purchased from The DarkStar store (www.darkstarstore.com).
The base price is $29.95, but there are many additional items that
are available for purchase. I’m told popcorn isn’t one of them!
Smiley

Minimum System Requirements:

PC

• Windows XP/Vista/7
• Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or
  100% compatible CPU
• 2 GB RAM
• 14 GB hard disk space
• DirectX 9.0c

Mac

• Macintosh OS 10.3.9
  or higher
• Processor: Intel 1.8
  Hz
• 2 GB RAM
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• 14 GB hard disk space