Darkness Within

[Mara]

What scares you? I mean, the kind of scare that gives you the heebie jeebies? The kind of scare that will make your eyes start to involuntarily dart towards the shadows, just to assure you that something isn't about to jump out and grab you? The kind that leaves you just knowing that you're going to have nightmares as soon as you fall asleep? Authors, scriptwriters, movie makers, and game developers have been trying to find the answer to those questions seemingly forever. Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is the latest attempt by game developer Zoetrope Interactive (Barrow Hill, and the Delaware St. John series) and publisher Lighthouse Interactive to achieve that most difficult of tasks: scaring the consumer.

http://www.hookedgamers.com/articles/preview/339/darkness_within

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[Adventure Man]

!!

[King of the Grand Guignol]

http://www.hookedgamers.com/articles/preview/339/darkness_within

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Glad to see someone that takes and interest in Adventure games :D:
I enjoy the horror genre of games Fear and doom 3 by far my favs.
Played Call of Cthulhu and was extremely disappointed :(:
I'll look into this one, but have a feeling that it will not scare but rather intrigue. Adventure games tend to need a good story to keep you locked in there and solving puzzles (syberia, broken sword 3).

[Mara]

Ah, another Adventure gamer! Very good, we need more of you on this board! :): Welcome to 3D Gamers!

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[Adventure Man]

Ah, another Adventure gamer! Very good, we need more of you on this board! :): Welcome to 3D Gamers!

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http://www.lighthouse-interactive.com/index.php?main=game&gid=19&chk=gHFqIDy1G1

thanks mara.
I highly doubt this game will be anything approaching scary...it will probably just be run of the mill, point,click,put two items together....browse walkthrough during times of frustration...pull lever...talk to guy until he has nothing left to say, then door opens...etc. I don't want to sound overly pessimistic, but this genre needs innovative games, or at least ones with beautiful landscapes (syberia), fun storylines (broken sword 3)....dropping more mediocre titles on the market will only hurt adventure games. From what I read in this article the author is also as pessimistic as I am...especially since it appears this title will be released as a "budget' game.... :rolleyes:

on the bright side though, the graphics look decent (wow! adventure games have finally reached 2003 level graphics!!!). Some of the pics look....uh...scary I guess. I also like the pointer...something about that Michaelangelo hand that just reels me in every time.

[Rob]

Unfortunately the adventure genre is dwindling. However, the new Sam and Max series is fantastic and seems to be a popular games so maybe someone else will take notice. I still have to play Syberia and Broken Sword. To this day, I still go back and play old Lucas Arts adventure games. If you can find the games, you can use a program called ScummVM to play them on a current OS.

[Adventure Man]

Unfortunately the adventure genre is dwindling. However, the new Sam and Max series is fantastic and seems to be a popular games so maybe someone else will take notice. I still have to play Syberia and Broken Sword. To this day, I still go back and play old Lucas Arts adventure games. If you can find the games, you can use a program called ScummVM to play them on a current OS.


I had a killer time with indiana jones and the emperors tomb, what a great game that was! I looked into sam and max, looks very interesting. Is it more for children though, any clue on the gameplay, fun factor etc?

[Rob]

Oh heck no. Although it has the cartoon look and feel, the humor is definitely above children level. We are not talking R rated or anything, but a PG-PG 13 feel. I found the game genuinely funny and quite entertaining, mostly through the dialog of Sam and Max:

Sam: Hello.
Max: He's not a real guy, Sam! Can I keep his head for a souvenir? Why do you suppose its ticking?
Sam: That's no head, Max! It's one damned ugly timebomb! Let's leave this criminal cesspool pronto!
Max: Good idea, Sam. Maybe we can ditch the head somewhere while the credits are running. Mind if I drive?
Sam: Not if you don't mind me clawing at the dash and shrieking like a cheerleader.
Max: Sam, is "pronto" a real word?

Sam: It doesn't look much like a frog.
Max: My innocence has been shattered by this blatant tourist trap. I want my money back.
Sam: We didn't pay anything.
Max: Well, somebody better give me some damn money.

[Adventure Man]

Oh heck no. Although it has the cartoon look and feel, the humor is definitely above children level. We are not talking R rated or anything, but a PG-PG 13 feel. I found the game genuinely funny and quite entertaining, mostly through the dialog of Sam and Max:

Sam: Hello.
Max: He's not a real guy, Sam! Can I keep his head for a souvenir? Why do you suppose its ticking?
Sam: That's no head, Max! It's one damned ugly timebomb! Let's leave this criminal cesspool pronto!
Max: Good idea, Sam. Maybe we can ditch the head somewhere while the credits are running. Mind if I drive?
Sam: Not if you don't mind me clawing at the dash and shrieking like a cheerleader.
Max: Sam, is "pronto" a real word?

Sam: It doesn't look much like a frog.
Max: My innocence has been shattered by this blatant tourist trap. I want my money back.
Sam: We didn't pay anything.
Max: Well, somebody better give me some damn money.

I was gonna buy it lol...got tricked in Rayman 10 year anniversary on ebay. Next month though it's a definite buy.

[Stiler]

You can play the whole series for 99cents if you subscribe to gametap. I'm on my 2nd month with them and I'm finding it quite worth it. Playing through the whole season of Sam and Max, Hitman blood money, the legacy of kain series, and a ton of other games after those.

Speaking on topic though. What worries me about this game is the viewpoint. I love adventure games, but I am much more a fan of the ones where you have free movement or it's third person. The ones where your view is fixed on like a plane gets so disorienting sometimes, if they simply allowed you to move around yourself or had it third person it would work so much better imo.

As far as being scary, I'm a fan of the more mental scary/creepy atmosphere and less "Boo-jump out at you" things. One of my favorite adventure games was Santiarium which just had an awesome and very very creepy atmosphere throughout the whole game.

[Adventure Man]

You can play the whole series for 99cents if you subscribe to gametap. I'm on my 2nd month with them and I'm finding it quite worth it. Playing through the whole season of Sam and Max, Hitman blood money, the legacy of kain series, and a ton of other games after those.

Speaking on topic though. What worries me about this game is the viewpoint. I love adventure games, but I am much more a fan of the ones where you have free movement or it's third person. The ones where your view is fixed on like a plane gets so disorienting sometimes, if they simply allowed you to move around yourself or had it third person it would work so much better imo.

As far as being scary, I'm a fan of the more mental scary/creepy atmosphere and less "Boo-jump out at you" things. One of my favorite adventure games was Santiarium which just had an awesome and very very creepy atmosphere throughout the whole game.
Sanatarium was awesome. I agree with the third person thing too. I like the first person view also. But in the end it all comes down to how well the game was programmed as far as fov imho. How does gametap work? Do you have to play all the games in like a little screen or emulator thingie?? DO they actually let you download the whole game and install it?? And it's 99 cents for THE FIRST MONTH....9.95$ afterwards...

[Stiler]

If you use their "lite" player it's in a window, but this is mainly for people who don't subscribe (you can simply d/l the player and play some games, or register for free and you get access to more, then subscribing gets you access to all the games) or for people who use it at work or other places they want to minialize it.

The deluxe player on the other hand, lets you play at full screen. The pc games basically run the same as they normally would. The only real difference between them and the original's is how they are installed. The game files are kept in gametap's encrypted directory, you can't use normal gamepatches, etc. However the actual game playing experiecne is the same as you'd normally have. Full screen, options to change/select, etc.

Older games and console games run fine for the most part. You can easily change the controls before you launch the game and it will automatically detect a gamepad if you have one and use it.

The main plus is that console games and older pc games (IE made for DOS/older windows) work fine and there's no need to have to fiddle with anything like you might normally have had to.

Though yes, it is 9.95 a month, but I'm on my second month for free, if you chat/call to cancel your account then they will offer you a free month to try it out longer (It's a normal tactic they do for basically everyone). Cancelling your acct is about the only negative thing I've heard about them, as you can't simply select to cancel it on their website, but either have to do it through their tech-chat via the website or call in, and of course they'll try to talk you out of it.

[Terry Penrod]

.

Sanitarium is also one of my all-time favorite classic-style PC adventures along with Jane Jensen's Gabriel Knight series, Tim Schafer's Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango plus a handful of others.

To name a few - the Monkey Island games were just plain fun, the Journeyman series was terrific, Blade Runner is IMO the best film-to-game adaption to date, Syberia 1 & 2 are works of art, and The Longest Journey is flat-out great. For first-person puzzlers, Riven is still tops in my book and Schizm gets my vote for the hardest ever. For funky action-hybrids, The Little Big Adventure and Twinsen's Odyssey were a hoot but I also loved Rayman 2 and American McGee's Alice.

Cheers, Terry

[Adventure Man]

Cancelling your acct is about the only negative thing I've heard about them, as you can't simply select to cancel it on their website, but either have to do it through their tech-chat via the website or call in, and of course they'll try to talk you out of it.


the idea sounds good and thanks for bringing it to the table. When I see a company playing "games" (no pun intended) like this though...it just make me :mad: I mean seriously..who wants to be put on hold on the phone just so they can cancel their account, who has time for that crap?

reminds me, well sort of, of mail in rebates. The companies know that a certain percentage of people won't mail it in (no time, forget etc.). They also know that some of the mail in's will get lost in the mail. They also know that some will come in late, be written wrong, not include the right stuff..etc.

Run the business right...don't have shady stuff, just ruins everything. Keep policies up front, not hidden or hard to find. Be honest and fair with me and you'll get my dollar. And in fact I'll keep going to your business even if you charge a few bucks more just out of trust. :thumbup:

but anywayz sorry to go off topic...back to Darkness Within.