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     Nocturne Games like Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil gave survival horror games the push they needed. They also proved that games could scare you. These sort of games also had particularly intriguing graphics that no one had seen before. Nocturne is a big, creepy mixture of the Alone in the Dark series, horror films, and that weird feeling you get in your stomach when you're left alone in a dark street and a gust of wind comes by and blows at the trees.
     
     In this game you play as The Stranger, a sort of Clint Eastwood of the supernatural world. Working for an organization called Spookhouse, it's your job to investigate and obliterate the darker forces of the world in the late 20's and 30's. The game takes place in a set of four Volumes, which can be played in any order (even though the story makes more sense when you play them in order). The volumes are each generally long and have completely different stories from each other but they do cover a chronological set of events. In the course of your adventure, you'll be taking on everything from Vampires in a small European town to undead Gangsters in Chicago, all using a series of weapons, both supernatural and man made. Most of the time you'll be using your pistols, but you'll use everything from a stake-firing crossbow to holy relics throughout the game.
     
      The storyline is a shadow-filled mix of the X-Files and any number of scary movies, with acts that work out like episodes, telling unique and sometimes surprising stories. I'm not going to ruin anything for you, only to say that this is one of the few times that the punchlines are much catchier than you expect. Characters that you see introduced in earlier acts will appear later in the game, and relationships will form years later from events that happen earlier in the game. Spookhouse makes the game last years (from 1929 to 1941), which is a nice change for once.

     The gameplay is well…there isn't really a word bad enough to describe it. You can control Stranger with a keyboard/mouse or just the keyboard, although if you plan to use just the keyboard only, you're asking for an early grave. I tried it and I couldn't even turn 180 degrees without being bitten or slashed in the back at least 5 times. You'll be a lot happier with the mouse and keyboard together. Stranger can auto aim on enemies that are close enough to him, and a set of laser-sights help you keep your target on enemies farther away.

     Nocturne pushes videogame lighting to new heights, with shadows that are so lifelike and interactive that you'll swear you're actually watching a movie at times. There were moments when I brought out a flashlight to shed some light on a room only to gasp at the shadows that were actually being cast against the wall from the objects in the room. The game gives you specific instructions on how to set your lighting for the game, and when played in a dark room, the pre-rendered scenes and unique lighting truly shine.

      The characters are all rendered with a pretty nice amount of detail and texture, especially the faces. Even though they don't express emotion, they give you a great impression of personality. Combined with some particularly good voice-acting, the characters take on a life of their own. The animation of the enemies is even more stunning. The gore factor is pretty high in the game, especially when it involves body parts you carry leaving extensive blood trails and little imps doing back flips even though you've just blown off their head. This game has the most realistic blood effects I've seen. An example of this is when you blow a ghoul away with a shotgun and some of the blood flings onto the wall and other random objects leaving the blood to drip down in little rivulets. Then after you would finish disposing of this demon you could step on it's mutilated body and leave footprints of blood that fade as you walk away. Another unique feature that adds to the realism of the game is the one that let's Stranger's coat turn with him then settling back down after a few moments. The wind conditions also make the coat move in the directions it should. And that's not even mentioning the music and sound effects that can scare the hell out of you or set the mood perfectly. The voice acting is spectacular, which reminds me a little of the voice acting in Medal Gear Solid. Definitely not as good, but it's up there. The soundtrack tends to pop in and out at random during certain parts of the game. It is composed of a number of classical instruments.

     This game has it all, awesome graphics, great sound, moody music, and a nice story. Almost too good to be true, right? Well that's because it is. Nocturne does have another good-sized flaw that also has to do with gameplay. Games like Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil (who started this survival horror genre) tended to keep the camera angles either high or low in places with a lot of monsters to provide you with a clear view of everything, but Nocturne attempts to add more angles and freedom than the average pre-rendered survival horror. It's a thoughtful goal, but it fails miserably. Not only is the camera clumsily too close or too far at important moments, but because the camera is more dynamic, it will often change in mid-movement within a room, or sometimes with little or no movement at all. Either you're getting killed by a pack of werewolves because they are blocking your view as they kill you, or you're one inch tall and trying to figure out where to go. The camera also makes some levels seem like endless mazes with loops and dead ends. The camera angles are creative, yes but they are also very frustrating and sometimes confusing.

      I really enjoyed playing almost every level in Nocturne. Each of the volumes had fun levels that you'd like to replay, although some levels were extremely annoying with the glitchy camera angles and maze-like atmospheres. This game is good if you don't really mind some camera angles that are a little less than adequate. This game has awesome graphics and fun voice acting. This game would be revolutionary if it modified the controls and made the camera angles less extravagant. Nocturne also has a very, very, creative storyline. If you like a creepy, realistic, and one of a kind survival horror, Nocturne should definitely be the next game installed in your computer.

-Chris Arias

The Game

Title: Nocturne Producers: Terminal Reality
Genre: Survival Horror/Action
Console: PC
Players: 1

Rating (0-10)

Gameplay: 4.5 Graphics: 9.8
Sound: 9.6
Control: 2.9
Replay Value: 5.7 (you'll probably only play the whole thing once but you might play just a few levels alone while your bored)
Overall: 6.5    

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