DARK Review

Tales of vampires have been around for centuries in literature, myths, films, television and games. The mystical beings around which these stories exist are represented in so many different ways that asking a group of people to define one would likely end in serious arguments. Realmforge Studios decided to tackle the vampiric community and have developed a mysterious, stealth action RPG calledDARK. Think Assassin's Creed, but with a lot more blood sucking.

DARK throws you right in at the deep end with no real introduction or video to set the scene and this works well for drawing the gamer into the plot. The lost and confused protagonist Eric Bane is easy to identify with as you are as clueless as he is. Subtle instructions guide you around a hazy nightclub with the sound of bassy industrial, gothic metal.

Of course the inevitable discovery is that you are a vampire but due to a serious case of amnesia, unaware of who turned you. The twist in this case is that the vampires in DARK must feed from their creator's blood in order to become a fully-fledged vampire, the alternative being a transformation into a ghoul; an animalistic vampire with no control of his mind.

Not knowing who made you leaves only one option, to find an old and powerful vampire whose blood will suffice. However, you now have little time in which to do so and thus your adventure begins.

DARK has a real emphasis on stealth and, because of this focus, there is a lack of a real combat system. Taking out your foes is a case of killing them in one fell swoop before they notice you. Naturally this makes sense when considering the focus of the story, vampires must remain a secret so jumping into a group of enemies and racking up chain kills is much too showy and completely out of the question.

It does mean that the gameplay can become somewhat monotonous and, very often, it is just a case of working out how to get from A to B unnoticed, so there is very little action and it slips into the realms of slow pacing. Being seen by anyone, in fact, is a big problem as every enemy in the area will be notified of your presence and you will be dead before you can say Dracula. This does get very frustrating and you should be prepared to die, a lot.

There are a number of bugs with the AI, sometimes enemies would notice you whilst still in cover, or even disappear altogether. Add on to this unrealistic reaction times and foes with ridiculous lines of sight and you'll probably find yourself needing to step away from the screen for a while, you know, before you hulk smash.

There is an option to turn the difficulty level up or down but this doesn't actually affect the missions at all. The only difference that they make is the number of times you are allowed to save your game per section. So 'Easy' doesn't actually create an easier situation for you to master, it just lets you save whenever you like, which is a rather different way of doing things, although it does make every level more challenging and offers a greater sense of accomplishment upon completion.

The problem with DARK though is that there isn't much more than this. It does a great job of intriguing you with the plot, but not such a good one of holding your interest. The puzzles of getting to different places are so complicated and time consuming that it hampers the progression of the story, leaving you feeling bored and indifferent to what is actually happening.

This blow could have been lessened by compelling characters but due to the lack of backstory there is no relationship built between player and them, so you don't really care about who they are, or their importance to Eric. The voice acting does nothing to help although the script, I'm sure, was a major contributor to this. Lines are cheesy and uncomfortable to listen to, their delivery apathetic and characterless.

Other audio is a different story, with the music doing a fantastic job of capturing the heart of DARK. It is haunting and memorable, and reminded me of the sort of thing you might expect in Queen of the Damned.

The graphical style is pleasant too, the bold outlines around people and objects are not dissimilar to Borderlands and looks striking. The animation when talking to others is not on the same par and looks clunky and outdated.

It really is a shame because the premise of the game is a great one but its potential is squandered by a severe lack of polish, quite often it feels unfinished and like it was rushed during development. If you are a huge stealth connoisseur, with a penchant for vampires then you might really enjoy this if you can ignore the flaws.

DARK doesn't really go anywhere or do anything that is beyond average. It's not a terrible game but it's not very good either. Unless you have the patience of a saint you'll probably want to give this one a miss.