Nocturne is a third-person
adventure set in a past where vampires, ghosts
and monsters exist and fight the humans.
To install this hefty game, you need nearly
1.5gb, so obviously I couldn't install the whole
game. Fortunetly you get four missions (which
for the average player should take 2-4 hours
each) and I installed the first three. I got
used to the controls and movement pretty soon,
except the jumping took a bit longer. Movement
is probably one of the weaker points of the
game though. It can be quite touchy. Those with
a slow computer and little bit of lag could
find themselves turning around in circles all
the time!
The first mission takes place in a dark and
creepy setting, starting with the village then
the forest, castle and dungeons. Level design
is quite impressive, apart from the layout.
I found myself lost or not knowing where to
go next a few times, especially in the castle.
The atmosphere is excellent, especially in places
such as the graveyard with fog around you.
The second mission was even better, starting
in a small town of zombies before going underground
to the mines and the tomb. The underground had
great atmosphere, with brilliant lighting in
the mines against the spider webs and rotted
wood.
Gameplay was good most of the
time. Although Nocturne is not an action game,
I was kept entertained by the many monsters
of the night. Nevertheless, there are some parts
which can piss you off, such as the werewolves'
constant attacks in the forest level. Most of
the time you have enough ammunition to get the
job done, although using the axe is quite effective
against most enemies. There is just enough health
which you carry around and automatically use
it in battle when you are nearing death.
The gameplay in the second
mission, however, is not so fun. For the first
level in the town I was reminded of Neil Manke's
They Hunger as you repeatedly chop through zombies.
It can get boring after a while. What was fun,
however, was saving the village people who are
hiding throughout the town. You need to escort
them back to the church where zombies will not
go. And if one of them gets killed it's game
over - but not before a short cinematic sequence
where you get fired from the spookhouse!
Down in the mines it is exactly the same, zombie
after zombie, until you reach the secret underground
tombs where you'll meet these great looking
dinosaur type creatures that run at you. But
with only them to fight it is no great challenge.
Overall, it is quite a good game, but is full
of many small problems. Some that come to mind
would be the times when monsters would suddenly
come at you in all directions and you can't
help but get hurt, or when you need to use the
'use' key, but cannot have your weapons out
at the same time. The problem there is sometimes
as soon as you do something (such as place a
stone/rune) a bunch of monsters will jump out
at you and you won't even have the chance to
pull your guns out.
Usually in puzzle games I get
stuck and need a walkthrough, but if you don't
run into any small glitches (such as trying
to place a rune somewhere for about five minutes,
repeatedly pressing the 'use' key and moving
slightly each time, before the idiot character
actually does it) then you should have no problems.
The puzzles aren't very hard, and the gameplay
is usually fun. Along with a superb atmosphere,
if your sick of FPS' then give Nocturne a go.
Note: I never bothered to finish the game as
I got sick of it.
