With a demo now available for The Darkness 2– exclusively on Xbox Live for the time being– we here at Rely On Horror are very pleased to offer our opinion and get our hands on such an anticipated title.

Be warned, the following article has spoilers of the contents of The Darkness 2′s Demo in its entirety. The following brief synopsis was included for those who do not have access to the demo either by XBL membership status or due to platform limitations.

“My father once told me. You can’t outrun fate. But you sure as hell gotta try.” The first words we hear from Jackie Estacado as he touches back to his tortured past and one thing that haunts him to no end: the loss of his beloved Jenny. Jackie quickly comes to find himself in trouble. Three people, as well as a whole lot of trouble, surround him.

It becomes apparent to Jackie rather quickly that a plan is in motion. A hobbling man makes it clear he wants the Darkness to be “returned” from Jackie with no regard for Jackie’s mortal well being.

We then flash back to a scene that has Jackie being escorted to his usual table by Vinnie where “the twins” are waiting for him.  No sooner could Jackie have a second thought at what’s to come before a bullet comes sailing through the window and one of the twins’ skull. Chaos fills the restaurant as fast as you could say “darkness” and soon only chaos and the title: The Darkness II.

Back into the action after the title. Vinnie drags Jackie along on the narrow road to survival. Once inside the kitchen, Vinnie and Jackie are victim to a mob style “light up” causing a fresh gas leak. “Burn in hell, Estacado!” is yelled as a molotov cocktail enters the room…

Flashing back and forth is apparent for a while with Jackie fighting for survival. Eventually he cannot contain the Darkness anymore. It is released with a very satisfying cry.

After healing Jackie’s leg, we get control of our new abilities. Jackie fights through the alleys before seeing what seems to be  Jenny through Jackie’s mind but quickly disappears. On with destruction!

It is soon, we get a glimpse of a Darkling that has Jackie’s back while humorously calling him “Monkey”. Any hero(or villain) needs a sidekick, right?

A bit of fighting with his new Darkling Friend and a lot of ammo enemies and a flashback later, Jackie finds himself once again dispatching enemies. He is faced with another Jenny appearance. He runs for her and all goes white in the headlights of a train with both him and her apparition about to be hit. Then we find Jackie back to being crucified in the basement. Jackie escapes his binds and makes quite an effort. Again on the ground with one final dialogue exchange. We are set up for the sure thriller that this game will be.

Soundtrack

The action-packed demo really only has a few moments where the soundtrack shines through. The title screen hits us with a great mix of moods. “Sadly Serious” comes to mind. Great higher toned dark music is conveyed with the faint sound of choir in some parts. I believe I even hear a harp in the background. It’s a very great mixture. Moments with Jenny are accompanied by some gentle sounding scales on a piano. It conveys a feeling of loss and really conveys the knowledge of how much Jenny meant to Jackie and how torn he is that she is gone; his one true love. I look forward to more of this game’s soundtrack.

Gameplay

Expanding on what we had before with the original title, The Darkness II demo hits home with one of the core aspects: making the player feel very powerful with special abilities. Being that force to be reckoned with is always enjoyable. They find a great balance of challenge and always keep the pace moving. One thing I liked very much is that it is very hard to stick to one tactic in terms of combat. Players are constantly required to utilize all of their powers and abilities available to them to progress. Ranged combat with guns or projectiles, close combat with the Dark Powers, and dual wielding guns can even reap great benefits in certain situations, but also have their downfall with lack of precision. From co-op with your Darkling friend, to holding car doors as shields, there are many tools to be used and rest assured, they will all be used.

The controls are simple enough and felt natural from the start, utilizing the triggers and bumpers for combat. It appears there are going to be four options when grabbing a person with the dark powers (LB). At this point in time, there was only one option available which was to press “A” to execute your enemy which was very satisfying and had three different outcomes. RB by itself or with a movement of the right joystick created a slash with the dark powers. This can rip people in half or damage them, it will also be needed to break through obstacles, etc. There is an ability to duck which was very useful, although different than most games being initiated by clicking the right joystick. Also, there’s a status sensitive mechanic where you can only grab an enemy after a they have been hit by a bullet, slash or projectile making their heart and surrounding anatomy glow a bright white.

The handling of this game is something that is almost perfectly balanced. Realistic in terms of aim difficulty, it isn’t close to the Call of Duty aim feel as I expected. It has a realism to it and especially being dragged through the restaurant, I really felt like I was being dragged while trying to shoot. Very well done as most games live or die by how they control, especially with a FPS. Sprinting is included but I never really felt the need or urge to ever use it. Having to shoot out the lights was something to be very aware of as it can cause problems very fast if you are not careful. Jackie thrives in the Darkness and they really want you to live by that requirement.

Diversity is really a goal 2kGames had when they tackled this game. One of the only criticisms the first game had from me was the impression that we could really control many things that turned out to be pre-rendered animations in intense moments during the game. This game really gives you choice. From picking up car doors to trashcan lids and ladders, to pistols,shotguns and uzis, to having skill trees to slowly upgrade all your new powers throughout the game. Speaking of which, I took the liberty of taking down all the abilities listed in general ascending order. Here they are:

Skill Trees:
========

North Branch
————
-Heart Health
-Demon Blades
-Black Hole
-Caustic Black Hole
-Ground Pound
-Air Darkling
-Dark Blast
-Dark Armor

East Branch
———–
-Gun Channeling
-Expert Channeler
-Gun Kata
-The Destroyers Channeling
-Heart of Darkness
-Swarm
-Black Swarm
-Killer Swarm
-Expert Swarm
-Swarms from Limbo

South Branch
————
-Combat Belt
-Active Pump
-Shotgun Darkness Mod
-Assault Rifle Darkness Mod
-2 Handed Weapon Explosive Round
-Weapon Handling
-Pistol Darkness Mod
-SMG Darkness Mod
-Small Arms Explosive rounds

West Branch
———–
-Health Executions
-Health Execution Upgrade
-Power Executions
-Power Execution Upgrade
-Hitman Execution Upgrade
-Hitman Executions
-Expert Grabber
-Demonic Executions
-Demonic Execution Upgrade

With all that In Jackie’s hands, does this guy really stand a chance?

Presentation

This game takes a rarely attempted approach in terms of shading and presenting their characters’ 3D models. There is a heavy animation style reminiscent to a motion comic on 3D objects. This completely fits the franchise, but they do not use this in the surrounding area which gives the game a sense of intense realism with the comic flavor on the side; a great mixture. Other Games that have used similar animation techniques with the actual characters are “XIII”, “Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2″ and “Borderlands” being the most recent. The Darkness II does a great job of keeping the player in a state of power as well as struggle. It is a story worth telling and there is always a dark vibe in this universe, even when looking at Jackie’s one true love. The Darkness itself with its wielded creatures along side Jackie’s vision are looking better than ever also, heavily interacting with everything around.

Extra Content

Relics: Items that look to be the likely hidden treasures in the game. Each Relic has a description and a bit of history. The one I found talked of the Darkness’ origin and what is now known as “North Carolina”. I misunderstood what the Darkling was saying when I first saw him. Thankfully, there was a subtitle option in the options menu that helped things along quite a bit. Nice touch.

—————————————————-

Being a person who was just made aware of the series with the first game, and enjoying that first game from start to finish, I find this demo only makes it harder to wait for the full release on February 7th. I now have the urge to go back and play through the first game. This installment clearly expands on everything we knew with the first game as well as continuing to tell a great story, not betraying the character of Jackie Estacado in the slightest, from what I can tell. It will essentially be a game that makes us feel empowered with a touch of human mortality here and there. And some clearly heartbreaking moments realizing how precious a lost love really is to somebody like Jackie. The Darkness II will have me embracing my own Darkness. The Darkness of my game room when I play this game from start to finish. It truly looks like it warrants a buy at this point.

Expect more on this title from all over as it hits on February 7th, 2012 on PS3, Xbox360 and PC. PC and PS3 owners will be able to sample this demo on Tuesday January 24th, 2012. We will also have our review for your reading and viewing pleasure so be sure to stop back in and check out all of our breaking news!

First Impressions: The Darkness II is a post from: Rely on Horror

James Casselman

Proud Canadian and seasoned Resident Evil Fan.

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During my demo, I was assigned a specific chapter to play. Loading up the level revealed a somewhat cartoony art design. Character models and the environment seemed to be a bit more stylized than past games. Seeing as how the developer of Book Of Memories, Wayforward, is known for their whimsical art styles, this was not a surprise. Regardless, I was a bit under whelmed by the game’s graphic quality. The game didn’t appear to be very sharp. Objects were jaggy and not very detailed. Perhaps this was the fault of the demo’s build date, but I was still let down after seeing what the Vita is truly capable of.

The character I was put I control of was a green haired girl. Full character customization is a part of this title, but I was not able to make my own during my demo.

My starting arsenal contained a lead pipe and a hand gun. I also had access to a few “spells”, but I wasn’t all too sure how to use them. I ended up doing one that resulted in a floating character unleashing energy around herself. The spell menu can be accessed using the touch screen, or the rear touch panel. I toyed with this method but unfortunately some of the Vita’s inputs were not working at this stage.

The level in which I was in was clearly based off of Silent Hill 4; that was immediately clear–which I liked. The level was largely gray with mold and water puddles. Toadstool were also in the environment. Killing them sometimes led to acquiring an item. At the start of the level, a returning face from Silent Hill 3 greeted me with a cryptic message. Valtiel gave me some advice and sets me forward into the first of the level’s many rooms.

Environment are laid out in a grid. Each room connects either by a simple door or walkway. Below the walkways lies an abyss. What meaning this has to the story, I’m not sure. The game looks like a haunted house maze. Even though I was not stunned by the game’s graphics, I appreciated the design of the environments. Noticing which game in the series that the level was inspired by was nice. I hope to see many returning locations. Despite being in a level inspired by Silent Hill 4, Insane Cancers from Silent Hill 3, and Nurses from both Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 were enemies.

Combat felt a bit awkward. The level in which this demonstration took place was a bit later in the game, and the difficulty was something that took time to adjust to; I was simply thrown into a challenging section of the game with no knowledge how to engage enemies effectively; this is something that should be learned over the course of playing the title from the beginning. Therefor, I did not do so well against the level’s many enemies. This problem, along with the touch control issues I experienced made my demonstration a little difficult.

 Although I was a bit disappointed with my time with the game, this was largely due to difficulty and technological issues. I can see myself enjoying Book of Memories once it’s complete and fully functional. The gameplay style is simple enough to jump into (through natural progression of course) and seems like it will be an enjoyable handheld title. But as a Silent Hill fan, the most important aspect about the game to me will be the story. Despite the gameplay being a bit more accessible and not a traditional survival horror experience, I hope it can still be fun while still having a mind-bending story worth of the series’ name. Playing with friends may turn off more die hard Silent Hill fans, but this is a spinoff title and I look forward to trying out that feature of the game once it arrives in February.

Updated Impressions of Silent Hill Downpour

At the very same event in which I played Book of Memories for the first time, there was a new demo of Silent Hill Downpour. In this demo, Devin Shatsky guided the crowd of game journalists through never before seen areas. My previous demo of the game covered areas from the start up to Devil’s Pit. This demo was a cycle of different chapters of the game.

Murphy made his way through an extremely detailed portion of the foggy town. As Devin guided Murphy through the back-end of homes, I was really pleased with the level of detail. All though this particular PS3 demo appeared to be at an earlier stage of development and lacked a lot of polish, the design of the town made me excited. The layout felt very natural and dense with detail.

Another thing worth noting in this demo was the sound. As Devin guided Murphy into a building, the sounds were hard to ignore. Like the past games in the series, Silent Hill Downpour is filled with sounds in a quiet environment. A strange noise that seemed to have no origin grew louder and louder but with no predictable encounter; it was purely to unnerve the player. This brought my mind back to scenes in Silent Hill 2 and 3 where a strange sound would play but with no result. This tension is something I extremely value and it appears that Silent Hill Downpour will do it right.

Looking at the options menu of the game, I noted that the team has added an option to remove the shine effect on objects that can be interacted with. This was a fan concern for some time now, and it appears that the delay has allowed for the team to create a setting for it.

The more I see of Silent Hill Downpour, the more I want to play it. Here’s hoping that my hopes won’t be crushed when it releases this March.

Hands-on: Silent Hill Book of Memories, Downpour is a post from: Rely on Horror

CJ Melendez

I'm a college student with a huge passion for gaming; horror being my favorite genre. I love being afraid to turn a corner or turn around in my games. The creepier the better.

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We couldn’t blame you if you haven’t heard of the horror web series Camera Obscura, so why would you know that there’s also a game for it? Usually, video games are adapted to movies and are more often than not a hit or miss affair but when a movie (or web series) is turned into a video game, the results are quite laughable. This is the case for Camera Obscura: The Game.

If you’re one who liked the series, you may want to check the game out for kicks. The premise for the game is simple: Evade the demons and make it through the maze. Controls and graphics for the Camera Obscura are pretty awful and the background music is as tasteful as the actual quality of the app itself. Still, the game can be a decent time killer –Just don’t expect any sparkly gems here.

The web series itself is a somewhat interesting, if not overdone story of a woman named Clara who finds a disturbing secret about her late grandfather and his camera. After unintentionally releasing demon ghosts from a book found in her grandfather’s belongings, the woman discovers that his camera can capture the souls of the corporeal undead and sets off to finish what her grandfather had started. In a nutshell, Camera Obscura is a mixed bag of Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, and 13 Ghosts.

The app itself will cost you $1 and the game aspect may not be worth it. In an attempt to justify the pricing, the application also gives you access to the entire web series from Daily Motion, completely free of ads. If you’ve watched the series, you’ll know there are many ads throughout, some of which are actually longer than the actual episode.

If you’ve got a buck to spare, this game may be worth it for the select few who like the series enough.

Check out the trailer for the game below

Grab the game here: Android Market link | iTunes link

Camera Obscura: The Game brings the web series to your Android and iOS devices is a post from: Rely on Horror

Blake Stimac

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While at Konami, Whitney and I did not only play Silent Hill: Downpour, the latest entry in the series, but also Silent Hill 2 and 3 HD, respectively. I played through Silent Hill 3; Whitney played Silent Hill 2. We had decided who would play which prior to getting to the studio.

Booting up the Collection took us to a main menu screen with art of Pyramid Head and the Missionary from Silent Hill 3. From there, the option to start either game was given. Clicking either brings you to the game’s menu which remains unchanged from its past counterpart. Looking at Silent Hill 3 in HD, the change in lighting and textures is immediately noticeable. Silent Hill 3 is on PC, so it technically can be played in HD with anti-aliasing and other resolution enhancements, but the textures did not improve. The Silent Hill HD Collection uses revamped textures and it shows.

The first improvement noticed was the lighting. Just like Resident Evil: Code Veronica HD, the Silent Hill HD Collection has a new lighting engine. Heather’s flashlight illuminates in the shape of a circle rather than a rough angular shape. It’s also much smoother. The enhanced lighting allowed me to see things that I had missed during my playthrough of the original. For example, when walking on the amusement park tracks early in the game—and near the end, I never noticed how much was below them. I could see the roof of several little structures; perhaps they were cotton candy stands. I also never noticed the warped walls outside of the fenced areas in the amusement park. Warped signs and a flesh-toned surface was missed by me in my playthrough of Silent Hill 3 on PS2 and PC.

In my preview of Silent Hill 3, the grain filter was off. In both Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 HD, the filter has been remade. Whether there will be an option to turn them off was not confirmed at the time.

The filter might be recreated, but it looks similar enough to the originals that I doubt anyone could possibly complain.
The lack of a filter in my preview actually enabled me to appreciate the work done to the game’s dated textures. Looking at Heather, the ground, surfaces, and objects was a visual treat that as a fan of the series, really made me excited. The character models remain the same–which stand up today–but the textures have been either replaced with their original source or recreated. Silent Hill 3′s graphics have stood up well to modern standards, especially if played on PC, but the inclusion of these tweaked textures really did wonders.

As a Silent Hill fan, I love looking for details in the environment. Documents, notes, scribbles, paintings and objects in the distance are all threatened by my curiosity. Looking at papers and pictures in the environment was one of the most fun things about previewing the Collection. Call me crazy, but that’s what a lot of Silent Hill freaks do. Due to the new team’s use of the original textures by the original developers, new details can finally be seen. Sure, some interpretation might be removed due to this, but it will provide fans with more concrete details to create a ton of new theories regarding the series’ lore.

Looking at Silent Hill 2 (Whitney and I would peek at each other’s playthroughs) we noticed that a painting later in the game revealed James. In the painting James could be seen dead on a table with a gun in his hands. In that very same room lay a body in the same pose. It had a different colored shirt than James and his painted counterpart, but a detail like this was easy to miss in the originals. It’s things like this that excite me most about this HD Collection: seeing things Team Silent created but were unable to clearly show due to technological limitations.

Disturbing details that might have been overlooked, due to the game’s standard definition origins, have been given a new lease on life. Object and creatures in the otherworld have been treated with more detailed textures. Speaking to Tomm Hulett, he told us that Team Silent had to do many little tricks to conserve space in the games. For example, some textures had to be reused on monsters. He told us of Team Silent’s reuse of a simple door texture for an enemy. The texture had been reused but stretched out to give it another purpose in the game. In the HD Collection, the new team is not confined by such memory constrictions and were able to revisit the textures in both games.

Looking at a few enemies, I immediately noticed that they looked nastier and better. The Numb Bodies in Silent Hill 3 had a cleaner looking texture. I could see veins, stains, and other imperfections on the skin of these little guys.

The Split Worm, and Leonard boss’ benefited from this re-skinning. I could see details that I had never noticed before in my previous playthroughs. The Split Work had a lot of veiny details, and Leonard’s monster form was very interesting to see redone. Nasty little details are a plenty, and I loved it. The water was remade for Leonard’s fight as well. Sure, that’s a small little detail, but it’s something that can be appreciated. I couldn’t get a good look at the details of either the Closer or the Double Heads (they’re viscous!), but I don’t doubt that they’ve been given the same treatment.

With Silent Hill 2, I noticed some really intense things due to the new textures. It’s common belief that the Abstract Daddy in Silent Hill 2 is a monstrous representation of Angela being sexually abused by her father. The creature looks like a man’s hunched over a frame. In the HD Collection, some new detail can be seen. Previously, it was hard to see both figured within the monster’s skin, but I could easily spot another separate mass beneath the larger one. Due to art and high res renders, this could be seen outside of the game, but it was now noticeable within the game. Perhaps due to the lighting and the textures, both masses within the monsters cancerous flesh was easier to spot. It certainly made me a little disturbed as I watched this creature move around the room. I’ve seen this many times before, but seeing the new detail of what might be a child within the monster felt new and immensely disturbing. It’s a wonder that these games got away with this stuff so long ago.

Both Silent Hill games now have 5.1 surround sound. Unfortunately, the build of Silent Hill 3 that I played did not have the music added in yet outside of cutscenes. Whitney on the other hand had tracks in her build of Silent Hill 2. From what little I heard from her game, the songs seemed fine. I’m no audiophile, so differences in Akira’s original score and the remastered 5.1 version will have to wait until I have much more time with the games.

Now, let’s move onto what everyone wants to know about: the new voices. Both Silent Hill games in the Collection include new voiceovers. The option to switch between the old and new ones have been confirmed for just Silent Hill 2. At the time of my visit, the new voiceovers were the only ones accessible. To ease concerns, I will tell you flat out that they’re good. Everyone can act well, and there are even some nearly identical performances.

Starting with Silent Hill 3, I was a bit worried what sort of change would come to Heather’s recasting. I was not really worried about Douglas or Leonard. Claudia and Heather were the stars of this game.

The actress who played Heather did a great job. No one should worry about the acting quality of any of these replacements. New Heather is noticeably different, and perhaps a little older sounding, but she gets the job done. Despite her performance being well up to par, I still prefer old Heather Morris, the original actress who played…Heather Morris (Silent Hill 3′s first release accidentally named Heather Mason as Heather Morris on the game’s box).

Claudia’s new performance was chilling. She sounded almost identical to Donna Burke who played the original Claudia in Silent Hill 3 (as well as Angela in Silent Hill 2). In a fun nod to the original games, the actress who plays New-Claudia also plays New-Angela. Her range is actually quite surprising. Angela’s new voice lacks that “stutter” from the originals, and flows much better now. The actress also made Angela sound her age. Angela is a teenager—whether she looks it or not– and the new performance makes that apparent.

Vincent sounds almost the same as Clifford Rippel’s original performance, but his pacing is less mysterious: less dramatic pause and inflection change. While the actors name was not given, you may recognize his voice from Atlus’s Catherine. I think it may have been the same guy who voiced Toby.

Leonard’s performance was pretty short but I think it’s worth mentioning that he has a newfound accent similar to Claudia’s. It was never explained why a woman born and raised in a New England town had such a menacing British accent, but at least her father will now match!

All in all, the new performances in Silent Hill 3 are good. The acting is not subpar. Whether they’re better than the originals is up to the player. The games’s script has not been changed if anyone has that worry. What I appreciate is the change of pacing for many of the characters. Especially in Silent Hill 2, this change makes dialogue sound more natural and less stunted. From what I listened to in Silent Hill 2, Troy Baker does a decent job as a new–but slightly gruffer–James Sunderland; Angela no longer sputters and she now sounds like a girl rather than an older woman; Eddie is still a bit too rough for my tastes: the new actor seemed to play on Eddie’s insanity when it came to the tone of his voice. Mary/Maria, played by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn adds a more seductive take on Maria, but her overall deeper voice than Monica Taylor Horgan takes some getting used to when the character Mary is talking. But her performance is good from what I had heard.

I am really excited for the Silent Hill HD Collection. Sure, I already own these games and have played them numerous times, but playing them with graphical improvements, new surround sound audio, and on my current console without emulation problems is hugely appealing. The Silent Hill series is filled with many purist fans. I’m sure some of them will already dislike the idea of this collection because it’s been touched by hands not of those of the original creators, but I am really looking forward to it. I’m not one to feel like something I already own has been damaged by the existence of something new, so I will take what I’ve wanted from this collection, and disregard what I don’t like. Right now, there’s not much I don’t like. The voices will definitely take some time to get used to, but I think this collection has the ability to bring new fans into the Silent Hill series. Doing so by re-releasing two of the best games in the series is something that I certainly appreciate. I need more friends that I can talk about Silent Hill with!

*The above screenshots were released some time ago. Konami allowed us to post our preview now, but have yet to provide new screenshots for the preview. The article will be updated with the new screens when they become available.

Broken Silence: Hands-on with the Silent Hill HD Collection is a post from: Rely on Horror

CJ Melendez

I'm a college student with a huge passion for gaming; horror being my favorite genre. I love being afraid to turn a corner or turn around in my games. The creepier the better.

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We recently had the opportunity to go hands on with a preview copy of Nicolas Games’ Afterfall: Insanity.  In our two-chapter preview, we experienced first-hand only a small percentage of what Afterfall has to offer and to put it bluntly, we liked a lot of what we saw.  And while some of it we hope gets a little bit of last-minute polish before the final release, Afterfall: Insanity is definitely a game that you should be keeping a keen eye out for.

We begin our preview in Shelter Glory, one of the last vestiges of mankind.  It’s the not-so-distant future, and the last vestiges of mankind have taken to underground shelters.  Now before you begin to wax Fallout on us, note that Shelter Glory is completely different to Vault 101.  Gone is the relatively smooth cohesion between shelter residents, and in is a very real Confinement Syndrome.  The place is dark, gritty and undeniably creepy.

Despite Afterfall being from an indie developer, the game looks pretty good.  We had a couple of frame-rate issues with the title, even while running on a higher end PC while running FRAPS in the background.  Even though these little hiccups really aren’t anything to get your panties in a bind over, we do hope that they get ironed out with a post-release patch.

Dr. Albert Tokaj is the lead psychologist/pharmacologist for the shelter.  In the intro we’re treated to one of Tokaj’s sessions with a patient.  We learned more than he did, as the good doctor is getting some good shut-eye.  When the patient finds out, she promptly lets him know exactly what she thinks of his sessions, and his therapy.  This seems to be a general theme that Tokaj has – everybody seems to hate the guy just for doing his job – helping them.

When we find our way out of Tokaj’s room and office we get a feel for the controls.  PC controls are standard fare, but there’s also 360 controller support.  Unfortunately, in our preview copy the game didn’t seem to play nice with custom key-bindings, even though the option is available through the menu.  We really hope that this gets smoothed over with a post-release patch, because some of the controls are a little on the clunky side, especially in the area of combat, and those who use a speed-pad (like the Razer n52TE) like our custom key-bindings.

The combat in Afterfall is kind of a mixed bag.  The game is melee heavy, throwing everything at you from hammers, gigantic wrenches and brooms to beat off attackers.  However, there’s a wide variety of firearms available should you choose to go that route.  Dodging, blocking and kicking add to the mix and if all else fails you can boot it to another side of the room and prepare for next attack.  After each move, a stamina bar shows up onscreen.  Run out of stamina – run out of moves.  Tokaj isn’t a soldier – he isn’t a fighter, and it shows.  Is that a bad thing?  Maybe for some, but it holds true to the feel of the game – dammit he’s a doctor, not a killer!

Oh…scratch that last comment there.

Before long, Tokaj is being sent on a mission to another level of the shelter, the second sublevel.  We’re guessing the shelter levels work like a class-level structure, but we could be wrong.  What’s clear however is that something is really wrong on the second sublevel.  Tokaj believes it’s Confinement Syndrome, something he’s studied long and hard about, perfecting his analysis and studies on the subject.  But if this is Confinement Syndrome…we fear for the future.

“IT’S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I’VE SEEN THE SUN!!”

Throughout our preview we were treated to a number of different puzzles, ranging from hacking mini games to preventing a reactor from overheating.  The puzzles were relatively simple so early in the game, but they’re a welcome addition to a genre that seems to be trending more and more towards the action route.

What’s interesting about Albert Tokaj and his Confinement Syndrome is that he’s not immune to the affects of it himself. How this affects his perspective and ultimately how you’ll play the game remains to be seen.  In one particular area, a seemingly uninteresting corridor transforms into what looks like a gothic church’s basement, complete with Virgin Mary statues, caskets, and the sounds of crying women echoing throughout.

The protagonist being seriously affected by disturbing events is something that we’ve seen in other games before, and quite frankly – we like it.  In Afterfall, it’s known as Fear Lock.  Fear Lock shows up as blurred vision, a decrease in aim, hallucinations, but an increase in physical strength.  This lends a whole new, more authentic dimension to Tokaj’s character.  Not only as someone who’s traversing dark corridors, solving puzzles and bashing heads in, but someone who is genuinely losing their mind.

Afterfall: Insanity will be receiving an official demo on PC on November 15, 2011 (hehey, that’s tomorrow!).  If you’re interested, check it out!   The game will be available for not just the PC, but the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 as well.  You can bet that Afterfall is a game we’re definitely itching to see more of.

While you’re here, take a look at our interview with Nicolas Games, where they discuss the game, the Afterfall universe, and the success of their daring Pre-order for $1 campaign.

Hands-on with Afterfall: Insanity is a post from: Rely on Horror

Janus

I love to be scared - the anxiety, the adrenaline. Whether its being enveloped by a good book, teetering on the edge of my seat in the theatre or plunging head-first into the world of survival horror, I want to be there.

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Developed by Vatra in The Czech Republic, Silent Hill: Downpour follows Murphy Pendleton. Murphy is a convict that finds himself in the grasp of the powers that be in Silent Hill after a prison transfer goes terribly wrong. The mystery behind Murphy’s imprisonment remains hidden until the game releases later this year. Silent Hill Historical Society owner / Silent Hill Experienced co-host, Whitney, and myself were invited over to Konami to finally try out the game. The team arranged for us an exclusive demonstration of Downpour.

Our demo started immediately after the bus crash. Upon first glance, I noticed that the lighting in Downpour was striking. The forest area that the demo begins in is very pleasing to the eye. Sun light that has been muted by fog passes through trees and their leaves with a nice effect. The ground textures have been noticeably improved from the bad batch of screenshots we saw a few months ago. Producers Tomm Hulett and Devin Shatsky explained that this demo was a much newer build than what has been seen in the past. Instead of taking a more linear approach in our playthrough, we consciously made an effort to examine as much as we could in the environment.

We made our way to the diner on the outskirts of Silent Hill. This section has been previewed before, but not to this detail. We made a note to touch everything, including both toilets! This being my first hands-on experience with the game, my opinion had changed on one of the aspects that I had once hoped would be altered. Objects in the environments of Downpour shimmer to help the player realize that they can be used. I had originally disliked this feature due to worries of immersion being broken, but after playing the demo, and I can confidently say that I appreciated the feature greatly.

In our playthrough, we were set at a decent level of brightness. Many rooms were draped in darkness. The only source of light being Murphy’s flashlight. Missing an object could be quite common without the shimmering effect: it assists in way that surprisingly did not come off as annoying or distracting. I found myself carefully looking around a room for useable object. Button prompts –now an optional setting—also helped get me into the groove of the game.

Optional tasks can be done to further flesh out the current environment. This can either mean finding some coins to turn on jukebox with songs from the past games, or an entirely new side-quest. I found myself confused later in the demo when I had acquired a main storyline key, and a sidequest key. A distinct marker that differentiates them—besides reading Murphy’s journal–would be quite useful. Talking with Tomm, I had suggested a font color change for objects in the inventory that are not part of the main story. Due to being worried about time, I did not read Murphy’s journal as much as I would have if I was sitting down with the game alone. So, perhaps this is a fault on my part. More time, and more objects in the inventory will show if this will effect others when the game releases.

We made our way into the diner’s kitchen fully aware of what will happen next. Someone had left the gas on in, and it was up to Murphy to turn it off. Doing this triggered the game’s first Otherworld transition. It was a little fast, and not as subtle as in past games, but it was a sight that got my adrenaline pumping. It was more in vein with the feel or break away transition started by the Silent Hill film. Whether all transitions will move at such a speed or fashion is unbeknownst to me. Hearing the room distort and crumble away was exciting.

After preventing the room from flooding, we made our way past a hallway into a room that could not possibly reside within the small diner. There we met one of the game’s first enemies: The Void. This bright light that acts like a black hole will chase Murphy relentlessly. The first hallway that we ran into continued to stretch and keep Murphy in the same position. Mind game type levels should be expected in the full game. After the hallway loop ends, Murphy is faced with running as fast as he can from The Void. Something new in the build that we were playing, was inclusion of caged creatures in the hallways. In past demos, the boxes that Murphy would drop behind him in an effort to slow The Void were just boxes. They were changed into creepy cages containing poor tortured soul. Murphy is sacrificing others for his own well being.

Unfortunately, we ran into a bug that prevented Murphy’s flashlight from showing during the chase scene. I died a few times due to the bug, but rest assured that it won’t be an annoyance in the full game. One thing that we noticed during the chase scene, was that the pathways that could be taken changed randomly. We found this out the hard way when we once again attempted to flee from The Void, but was greeted to a closed door rather than an open one. Tomm Hulett could only laugh at our expense. It seems that pathways or solutions to a problem will change often; there goes knowing what’s around the corner during a second playthrough.

Running from the void was pretty interesting. What I especially liked was the effect put on Murphy when close to it. Acting like a black whole, effects around The Void appear to pull things in. Running from it and looking over your shoulder shows Murphy’s face being distorted; The Void is trying to suck him in. When running just a few feet next to The Void, Murphy starts to have red burns across his body. The Void is disintegrating Murphy in real time. Add on top of that a slow motion effect when passing through the strongest concentration of light, and you have an intense near-death scene.

After escaping from the presence of The Void, we ended up in a descending hall that acted like a slide. In past demos, the slide portion was much shorter, but we got a look at an extended version. Murphy can be controlled so he can avoid walls or objects while in descent. At the bottom of this slide was one the game’s first environmental puzzles. This room was being shown for the very first time. We had a look around, and then was treated to the song Born Free. The old tune played through a record player that had no purpose to be in a place such as this. But this is Silent Hill after all; a perverted sense of feng shui is a series staple. The song made this area very unsettling. Born Free might be what many convicts listened to on the radio. The song became popular in 1966. It’s hard to ignore that many objects and furniture in Downpour have a distinct retro look. It’s almost as if the town’s theme is being influenced by the 60′s or earlier. The story significance of this is something I am wondering about.

The laws of gravity did not apply to our first new area. The layout has stairs, ramps and other details in the wrong orientation. The goal was to turn the room in parts so that Murphy could continue forward. The task wasn’t necessarily difficult, but we were playing on Normal difficulty for both combat and puzzles–we get to the combat soon. Tomm made it clear that puzzles will be more complex on harder difficulties. For demo purposes—and to not look like fools—we opted for Normal mode.

The rotating room was an interesting sight. Grime, rust, and water covered the area. After getting into the puzzle a bit, we noticed that water flowed and pooled on the ceiling of some rooms. The water effects seem to be fairly decent. Murphy himself can be affected by water, and noticeably becomes drenched from head to toe.

Once we left the rotating room, we were face to face with The Void again. While I’m not hoping for The Void to make an appearance every other level, having moments that break up the rhythm with a chase scene could work well for this game.

The layout of the map is meant to disorient poor Murphy. After leaving The Diner and going into the Otherworld, Murphy somehow ends up back in the kitchen. Impossible architecture or layouts is something I find personally very interesting. Stanley Kubrick did things like this in The Shinning—whether many people noticed or not–and it’s a fun thing to analyze after watching. Murphy traveled extremely deep underground in the Otherworld. An endless staircase prevented us from going any further. Only when we ran back down the stairs did we end up in The Diner. Little things like this stick with me; Downpour’s inclusion of such ideas was something I had personally hoped for.

Exploring the basement of the abandoned home leads to the game’s first creature fight. After interrupting a beating in progress, Murphy gets his fellow inmate killed. They weren’t exactly buddies, but Murphy is still visible shocked. What appeared to be a woman in distress turned out to be a Screamer. This is when I finally got my hands on the combat controls after fearing them for all this time. I heard some bad things about combat, but I left pleasantly surprised.

The Screamer was extremely brutal. Her attacks came fast and strong. While I familiarized myself with the combat, I got my ass handed to me a few times. The combat certainly has a learning curve: learning the patters and rhythm of a fight seems to be needed here. Murphy can block, and time his quick or heavy attacks accordingly. It wasn’t until I fought a Screamer outside that I had gained enough understanding to fight a little better. Holding the attack button brings about a heavy attack like in the old games. Tapping it sends a quick but weaker attack at your opponent. Holding Y or Triangle will have Murphy block.

The “anything as a weapon” weapon system causes these fights to be very frantic. I slightly worry that players will get stuck in a situation that running won’t be enough when no decent weapons are around, but I’ll have to play more with different types of weapons to judge that fully. Running through a few rooms certainly gave a few precious moments to search for a new weapon, but my worries weren’t exactly proven, I’m just thinking ahead. The Screamer’s flurry of attacks also sent me up against a wall or corner of a room. In some instances, the camera did not make this any better. I could not clearly see where Murphy was, or the angry Screamer; hopefully that will be something looked into.

The crowbar was my favorite weapon in our playthrough. For obvious reasons, it was useful. Smacking a Screamer across the face, and finally ending her life is a satisfying experience. The combat was not frustrating, but it was demanding. Like I mentioned earlier, there will be some skill needed to master the combat rhythm. This was something I also liked about Homecoming, but in that game, the pattern or rhythm didn’t really matter. The knife was the best weapon for everything.

Holding the left trigger locks onto the nearest enemy. From here, Murphy can make sure to not let the agile Screamer flank him. The lock-on was very much needed, as she was very fast. Perhaps I’m nitpicking, but the small reticule that shows that a lock on is being done is not needed. In a small way, it distracts from the HUD free visuals. The forced camera focus should be enough for everyone.

My hopes with Downpour, is that players will eventually need to memorize a distinct combat style for each type of standard enemy. That would bring the series up in quality in terms of the combat, but still have it remain distinctly survival horror, while heavily suggesting that you should call it quits and run away while you’re still alive. Right now, I can say, that the combat feels good. I can imagine myself in fear of attack because of my current weapon being sub-par, or my health being low. The survival aspect is most definitely present.

This aged structure that we were now in was a little confusing. Sadly there is no dedicated map button. Opening up the Journal allows for multiple pages to be flipped, the map being near the end. While I do enjoy seeing Murphy’s thoughts in his journal, I think there were a few things that could be tweaked with the system. When zooming in on documents or notes found in the game, the zoom is a little too close. Having to pan over the text is needed.

The inventory system is now accessible during gameplay. Pressing up on the d-pad to access it. Here you can use health, or choose an item. Don’t try and heal yourself in combat this way though, you’ll continue to be in the game, so using the menu to heal will leave you open to an attack. Instead, Vatra added a nifty heal button: hitting right on the d-pad instantly heals Murphy with what ever health items he has.

Downpour takes some heavy gameplay cues from Shattered Memories. Murphy can look over his shoulder, open doors slowly, and toss things in his way while on the run. The ability to zoom in on objects by pressing down the right analog is something that I used a lot. I like looking at signs, objects, and other small details in the environment. This mechanic remains slightly uncomfortable for me. I had asked Tomm is this could be switched to a toggle rather than hold setting, but focus testing suggested this was the better alternative. Personally, I would prefer to click it once, and enjoy looking around, rather than killing my right thumb because of holding it down for extended period of time.

After looking around the strange building for quite some time, I found an electrical wire. Soon enough, I found an elevator. Using the wire to finish the circuit—this was a fetch-and-use task, not a puzzle like the one in Homecoming—the elevator sprang to life. Murphy ascended up into a yard. Every health pack is precious, so I was sure to pick up each and every one up. I did find it a little odd that there were medical cabinets all around the town housing these medkits, even in old looking areas.

Inside of these structures was an arcade machine. Of course it wouldn’t be plugged in, so I went off to find the power source. After switching it on, we were shown one of the game’s first puzzles. Using the coin found in the the tram station, I activated the machine. I wouldn’t go ahead and call it a puzzle perse, but more like a minigame; it was an arcade machine after all. The task at hand was to move the tiny balls into their corresponding color. Water filled the machine that guided the balls up through an obstacle filled grid. Speaking to Tomm, we asked how this particular puzzle would differ. If the game were to be on Hard, the amount of balls would increase. It wasn’t difficult. Being at the very start of the game, it’s hard to demand a notebook worth puzzle. Hopefully there will be a lot of those in the full game.

Silent Hill: Downpour is living up to what I have hoped for. In our hefty chunk of playtime, we saw some amazing things. Downpour’s graphics have been fine tuned and rank up there with other Unreal Engine games. The lighting and color palette gives the game an eerie, dark, but vibrant style that is new to the series. While I do have reservations on how the inventory system handles side-quest items; how the journal’s zoom mechanic works; and finally how intense combat scenarios might get, I think Downpour will be a winner.

Hearing a new track, and listening to the ambient sounds really drew me into the experience. Dan Licht seems to be a worthy successor to Akira Yamaoka. I was floored by the new track we listened to. Just playing off of standard speakers, I could tell this game will sound fantastic in surround sound. The crushing of leaves, rain drops, creaking rooms, and the occasional background noise really worked for me. The absence of sound was also used in some areas—something that can be as unsettling as a scream or whispering when utilized properly. The gameplay of Downpour no longer worries me. I am more than satisfied with the combat mechanics, and Murphy’s overall movement. He has some weight to him, but it’s not constricting like “tank” controls.

All in all, I think I’m going to love Silent Hill: Downpour, but one of the most important things can not be judged yet is still missing: the story. While I do enjoy the gameplay and design so far, the most important part of a Silent Hill game is the story. That can’t be judged just yet. I hope many of you take solace in the fact that I found what I have played to be enjoyable and interesting. My time spent with the game put a smile on my face, and some chills down my spine. When the full game releases, I hope that this will continue to be the case.

For footage of our playthrough, check out the video below!

Broken Silence: Hands-On with Silent Hill: Downpour is a post from: Rely on Horror

CJ Melendez

I'm a college student with a huge passion for gaming; horror being my favorite genre. I love being afraid to turn a corner or turn around in my games. The creepier the better.

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After finishing all my schoolwork I updated the game to the latest version and I arrived on the title screen, I noticed that the boring menu I had gotten used to was replaced by a camera hovering over the world and showing the scenery. It was interesting to watch but when I entered the actual game I only noticed two other updates that involve making the game look prettier: There was a new type of tree and the randomly generated world could now also spawn cliffs, ravines and the likes. Aside from those two updates nothing has really changed in the graphics and presentation department. Where 1.8 shines is in the changes it made to the gameplay, the first two changes that caught my attention are the experience bar and the new meter that shows how hungry your character is. While there aren’t any bonuses linked to the experience system, it is still a sign that something interesting may come from it or that PvP servers will become more popular. Now that your character also has to eat it adds more survival to the survival mode and that is a pretty good sign, in a way it proves to me yet again that Minecraft is the only survival horror game that has the “survival” part down (of course the Endermen will make sure the horror part functions properly).

A screenshot showing one of the new landmarks and some other new features.

Version 1.8 is not in any way flawless though, at the time of writing the game is very bugged, which may just be the reason that it “leaked”. “Notch”, the man behind the popular indie game already asked players if they wanted to report any bugs they find, which leads me to believe that Mojang’s QA department called in sick. I am also rather underwhelmed by the randomly generated ravines and other landmarks that I mentioned earlier because I found only a few and they weren’t really all that impressive. The music which I have always found rather boring and the lack of things to do with rare materials such as gold haven’t changed either. still, I can’t wait for the next few updates to be released though, we already started a new server to run it on and I am wearing my Creeper t-shirt again for the first time in weeks.

First thoughts on Minecraft 1.8 is a post from: Rely on Horror

Pixelspeech

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On the surface, Black Death is a survival-horror fanatic’s wet dream.  Resources are scarce and the infected/zombies aren’t exactly pushovers.  But what really ties the game together, and is very apparent right from the start is that Darkworks has the atmosphere factor down pat.  If the devs continue to work on this, Black Death could shape up to be an epic game in terms of atmosphere.

In the opening area, thick fog envelops the player, limiting visibility and making it easy to get turned around.  Kind of in the vein of Metro 2033, you need a gas mask to get through these areas, as the gas is toxic.  It’s almost as if the Infected know this, and try to break your mask and bash it off of your face – should that happen, you’ll incur damage.  If you happen to be without a mask and fighting off said infected, things get tricky.  Running along, checking bodies for health and ammo, you can catch a glimpse of a dark cloud of energy taking a new victim, and it usually happens right in front of you.  The infected enemy jumps up and lunges at you.  We really like the up-close and personal touch.

Initially, things are pretty simple – left click to fire your weapon/melee attack and left to shove enemies back.  Generally it takes two or three shots to weaken an enemy, and then a final melee attack to put them rightfully in their place.   However things can quickly spiral out of control when two or three of the guys show up at once.  Since Smoky (the main protagonist in the beta) was only packing a handgun and an oversized wrench at the time, I was quickly put in my place…several times, as you can see from the game play clip below.

As the game progresses, you pick up more weapons, but ammo is still relatively scarce.  The shotgun truly is your best friend it would seem, until the Chemical Blower makes its appearance.  Collect different ingredients and mix them up to create different chemical weapons.  The only option available in the demo is a freezing agent, but seeing the bastards freeze and shatter was extremely satisfying, especially considering the amount of times we were done-in by them.  We wonder what different kinds of chemical-weapons we’ll be able to create and all the havoc we’ll be able to wreak when the final product releases.

There are some areas that definitely need improvement however.  The option to run away from enemies wouldn’t hurt.  Was there even a run button?  Couldn’t tell, because controls weren’t exactly elaborated on, which is another area for improvement.  Took us a little while to figure out how to access weapons we’ve picked up (it’s the scroll wheel, by the way).  Some, more experienced gamers might take this stuff for granted, but for the rest of us, it’s got to be detailed!

Some other things that weren’t as impressive as others were some of the more supernatural elements to some of the enemies.  There’s an enemy with a fog-shield, and a boss that transports itself around the battle area, and that doesn’t exactly fit in with the rest of the game.  The variation keeps you on your toes, but we can’t help but feel that there’s another way that the devs can create a shielded enemy without throwing black magic into the mix.  However we can’t help but feel that it doesn’t mesh well because there’s so little story to go on at this point.  Is this just a game?  What is the Synthetic Biology Revolution?  What are Biohackers?  Seeing something out of context kind of leaves us feeling a little confused.

Damage shown on the gas mask is cool, how it cracks and eventually falls off – we’d like to see this kind of wanton destruction on the enemies of the game.  Additionally, while the inclusion of a melee weapon is nice, the size of the weapon and the damage it deals don’t exactly add up.  From the looks of it, you’d think it’d be able to knock down an enemy with ease, but as it is, it seems more of a hindrance than being anything remotely useful (also as seen in the gameplay clip…*facepalm*).

Overall we’re really looking forward to what Black Death will become.  As previously mentioned, if you haven’t already, and your system can support it, give the game a download and see for yourself!  You can also leave some feedback for the developers on their forums.

Impressions – Black Death is a post from: Rely on Horror

Janus

I love to be scared - the anxiety, the adrenaline. Whether its being enveloped by a good book, teetering on the edge of my seat in the theatre or plunging head-first into the world of survival horror, I want to be there.

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The demo started off in true Silent Hill fashion: a dark foggy environment. Murphy starts off next to a gas station in the eerie town of Silent Hill as he’s initially tasked to find a functioning vehicle. Things aren’t that easy, though, and once the game’s creatures make their entrance you’ll be constantly kept on your toes. But don’t worry, you’ll have a suitable amount of melee weapons to get the job done.

Melee is the name of the game here, in terms of combat and Murphy could ideally pick up any object he sees to use as a weapon. While there’s no actual damage meter that appears on screen that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to infinitely use your favorite melee weapon. Eventually, you’ll wear it out and then you’ll be off looking for another weapon. You could wield a gun but we were told that firearms won’t really be the focus of the game in terms of combat. And speaking of all these weapons, just how will Murphy be carrying them all? Well, thankfully, there’s a sense of realism injected into that very notion.

In most games you have vast inventory systems in which you can sometimes carry an obscene amount of items. Ranging from different sizes, too. Rocket launchers, handguns, keys and other weapons/items can all be carried in what we visualize as being the character’s pockets (since they’re not really carrying around these huge boxes to store all this stuff in). Vatra is aiming for something different and more sensible with Downpour, they’re opting to only allow you access to a limited number of items at any given time. If you have a handgun you’ll be able to store that safely in your holster leaving your hands free to hold a melee weapon. If you want another melee weapon then you’ll need to swap out the one already in your possession. This may seem tedious to some, but I personally find it to be a much better way of handling inventory, especially since this is a survival horror game.

Murphy’s health status is handled in a way similar to the damage system for the weapons. There’s no actual meter on-screen indicating the amount of health Murphy has left, which is in my opinion yet another good move on Vatra’s part. Instead, you have to keep a close eye on Murphy himself. If you see him limping then you know he’s near death. This just serves to really enhances the overall immersion level of the game and I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, it’s a system all survival horror titles should consider adapting. And trust me, you will die in this game. No matter how fierce the weapon you’re wielding looks, you’ll still be faced with challenges going up against the game’s cast of all-new creatures. Hell, some of them can’t even die, so avoiding actual confrontations wouldn’t be unwise. If that notion doesn’t sound appealing to you then you’ll be happy to know that the game features a very neat difficulty system allowing you to alter the game’s combat and puzzles difficulties individually. Love being heavily tested by puzzles but hate having to die countless times to enemies? You can set the difficulty to apply to such preferences.

This preview couldn’t be justified without spending some time talking about the game’s transition to the otherworld. Aesthetically it’s shares similarities to Homecoming’s and the movie’s transformation of the world. It’s a neat effect, though and once these transitions happen you can expect more than just backtracking to the same areas re-skinned. One notable difference here is the notion of being chased by a powerful and for the most part unidentifiable, entity: the void. These segments where you’re being chased by the void are truly intense and a dose of variety to the otherworld.

The E3 demo was split up into two sections: a combat level and an exploration one. The former pit you directly in a battle with the game’s enemies (being a demo, this level had no place for you to escape, forcing you to stay within the predetermined “arena” to face the enemies and get a feel for the combat) and the latter letting you walk around and really take in the atmosphere of Silent Hill. I personally enjoyed the exploration level more, but that doesn’t mean the combat was in any way flawed. Breakable weapons may lead to the notion that the game’s combat may be tedious and have you worrying more about your weapons durability than actually worrying about the enemies coming at you. That’s not the case, though. Everything here all served to make the horror experience even greater and I’m sure Silent Hill fans will love every second of it once the game hits later this year.

Lastly, I did get a chance to play the 3D version of the demo. In my honest opinion the 3D effect felt extremely tacked on and unnecessary but hey, it’s not a mandatory feature or anything. Nothing really seemed to pop out at you while playing in 3D, nor was there really any sense of depth, not to mention that things looked a bit pixelated. It’s easy for me to say “you’ll want to try it out yourself to form your own opinion” but since 3D tv’s aren’t exactly cheap I know that may be hard to do. You won’t be missing out, though, if you don’t play the game in 3D. It’s a nice extra for those with the appropriate set-up to play 3D games, but not really something that is needed to enjoy the game to the fullest.

Preview: Silent Hill: Downpour is a post from: Rely on Horror

Jorge Bocanegra

The Big Cheese.

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My hands-on time with Dead Island kicked off within the confines of a church with me taking on the role of Sam B. Here I was able to interact with a lot of NPC’s. Doing so would enable individual side missions to tackle. Sadly, I wasn’t able to actually engage in any of these side-missions, due to time being limited and the actual mission being the main focus of the demo. But, we did interact with one particular NPC: the local merchant. I was able to purchase new weapons if I wanted to. I bought a pretty neat axe and then opted to upgrade it at a nearby bench. You can upgrade, mod, or fix your weapons here.

Modding works as you would imagine it, and we’ve already seen one example in the electric machete. This is where the “unique” comes into Dead Island. But as you know, it’s not entirely unique thanks to other games like Dead Rising. But hey, it’s worth slapping on to the back of the box. Even after adding electricity to my weapon I still didn’t feel like I was having fun after we left the church and embarked on our mission. The combat felt off and also delayed due to my strikes not translating into actual damage for a couple of seconds. We were promised a very detailed damage system and while it is there it’s still not as satisfying as it was initially made out to be. You can still perform neat decapitations on downed enemies by standing over their head and pressing the action button but even that wasn’t as satisfying as it sounds.

Then you have guns also in the mix but those aren’t really meant to be used as much as the melee weapons are. If you opt to select a firearm as your weapon of choice, don’t come in expecting to be running and gunning with ease. This notion is justified, though, due to the main characters in Dead Island not being your typical generic heroes. Even the actual melee weapons aren’t meant to be used non-stop over and over, this isn’t a hack-and-slash game nor is it meant to be. All weapons have a damage meter and it’s wise to keep a close eye on it. You can also throw weapons at incoming zombies but if you do so just make sure to go back to their body to pick up your weapon. Not that there’s a lack of weapons to go around anyway.

Scattered throughout the district of the island the demo’s main mission was based in were various crates that housed new weapons. And speaking of the section of the island open to the co-op demo, our intended path was conveniently marked on our on-screen map via a white line that always lets you know where to go, there’s no need to worry about getting lost during missions. But still, the entire district, which we were told made up just 10 % of this part of the island, looked bland and not pleasing. I mean, obviously it’s not meant to look pleasing but there could’ve been a bit more spice added to the visuals to actually make you want to stop for a moment and take in the atmosphere. I will admit, though, the raining effect did look nice but still, it doesn’t change the fact that Dead Island’s atmosphere is lacking.

The experience wasn’t all full of regular zombies though, you also had one agile variant of the zombie which exploded upon contact, think boomer but not as…round. Then you have the raging “ram” zombie who definitely lives up to its name. Rushing at you with full force, these guys aren’t meant to be taken lightly. During the demo, the Deep Silver representative utilized his modded throwing knives, changed to become sticky bombs, to take the beast down. These sticky bomb knives were also put to good use against the bigger zombies. These guys are just a taller and stronger variant of the typical zombies. They’re not as powerful as the ram but they’re still quite terrifying to be near. Battles with these zombie variants sparked some fun but it’s just too bad the same couldn’t be said of the whole experience.

At the end of the demo I walked away quite disappointed. I hate drawing comparisons but I just didn’t feel as much satisfaction with Dead Island’s melee combat as I did with, say, Valve’s Left 4 Dead series. It makes me even more disappointed knowing that Deep Silver has made sure the melee system in place here is one that is very robust and intuitive. I just didn’t feel any of that during the my demo play-through. The combat is slow, at times unresponsive, and quite simply dull. There’s not that many months left before the game hits store shelves, so let’s hope this remaining time gets put to good use and leads to some polishing of the overall mechanics.

Preview: Dead Island feels…off is a post from: Rely on Horror

Jorge Bocanegra

The Big Cheese.

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