Adventure - Nocturne

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Nocturne is much closer to a real adventure game than SS2 was, but it's best described as Action-Adventure. Yet still both follow the same theme - terrify the player. Where System Shock 2 could be considered to follow in the footsteps of the original, Nocturne went more along the route of the famed Alone in the Dark games. A 3rd person gloomfest with all sorts of supernatural horror, Alone in the Dark was one of the most critically acclaimed games in history - possibly the best rated 3rd person game until Heretic II. Nocturne had some big shoes to fill...

More examples of light and shadow

These guys aren't too bright

Oh It Was Good Baby!

What Nocturne offered more than Alone in the Dark did was variety. A variety of locations are all included and presented in stunning detail. The game featured missions in a German forest and castle, the Texas countryside, 1930's gangland Chicago, and a French chateau. How good is the detail? Why not look at the 100 screenshots that we couldn't resist taking during the review?

The sounds, however, are where horror games need to excel more than the visuals (as SS2 has proven.) Nocturne's sound is far more subtle than System Shock 2's. Each scene has a different feel to it and there is a lot of silence in the game, with only your footsteps interrupting it. You'll definitely know when something is coming, since each critter has its own specific noise or talk. In fact, the ones that do talk are the ones that tend to be scariest since they're not simply monsters, but perversions of humanity. Occassional bursts of "tension music" serve to heighten player anxiety as well.

Of course, the game can look and sound as good as it wants but it better play good, right? Right. The controls are a bit awkward at first but nothing that you can't learn - they're better than Alone in the Dark. As was often pointed out in the review, the already cool-looking protagonist ("the Stranger"), with his 30s style gangsta clothes and moves can also bust out with a sweet arsenal of weapons (including dual .45s) that just take his cool rating off the chart. Let's not forget the exqusite visuals with their real time shadow and lighting - the best ever in any game thus far, and even cloth modeling.

It's not fair to Nocturne to just try and summarize it like this, so go take a look and see why Nocturne got 4/5.