Games

As police detective Howard E. Loreid, players are tasked to solve the murder of Clark Field, a wealthy man involved in the occult. At the top of your list of suspects is Loath Nolder, a highly respected private investigator who mysteriously abandoned his last case for reasons unknown. Rumor had it that he ventured to several exotic places around the world. It remains a great mystery as to why Loath Nolder disappeared so suddenly, resurfacing five years later and resuming his investigations just as abruptly as he had left them. Why does this venerated P.I. now sit on the other side of the law? This seemingly routine investigation takes a dramatic twist as strange and terrifying happenings begin to plague your psyche. You experience lucid horrifying dreams and are tormented by paranormal happenings. Why do days pass instead of hours when you sleep? What’s real and what’s not? As you pursue fugitive murder suspect Loath Nolder, you must face dire truths hidden deep within a haunting darkness and the recesses of your mind.

Darkman was developed by Twilight and published by Ocean Software in 1991. It was released for the ZX Spectrum, NES, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64. It was also ported to the Game Boy and Atari ST. The game's plot is loosely based on the film of the same name. In this side-scrolling platformer, the player controls Darkman, a superhero who can jump, kick and punch, as well as swing from a rope during action sequences between levels. In each level, Darkman disguises himself as the boss of the level, whom he must defeat before the time limit elapses. Tying into the plot of the film, Darkman wears masks of various gangsters who are responsible for his disfigurement, but his disguise dissolves after being exposed to sunlight for too long. The character changes into a different member of the evil gang in each level, taking on their attack moves as well as their face. In-between levels, Darkman must photograph his quarry before he can make a mask of them. These scenes involve moving the cursor to take a picture of the gangster. The better the photo accuracy, the more time Darkman is granted to complete the subsequent level. The final level is the most faithful to the film and takes place on a skyscraper under construction. After the player defeats their mirror image five times and wipes out the mob cartel that scarred Darkman, the final boss is inexplicably a clone of Darkman himself.

Darklands is a low-fantasy role playing adventure game. The player takes on the role of a group of adventurers in the Holy Roman Empire in the 15th century. Much of the game is historically accurate, although there are supernatural elements.

Developed by a team of experienced modders from the Paradox forum, Darkest Hour is a stand-alone Hearts of Iron game. The game features a mixture of short and in-depth campaigns set across the darkest chapters of the 20th century. Play from the outbreak of the Great War up until the onset of the Cold War. Darkest Hour will introduce a new artificial intelligence that is now able to react to hundreds of different situations simultaneously. It implements a dynamic diplomatic system that will allow the player to have a real impact on the course of history.

In the action-oriented 3D role-playing game Darkened Skye, the player takes the role of the title character and embarks on a quest to collect four prisms that may help bring the light of goodness back to the world. Skye of Lynlora was just a restless shepherd when she first came across the strange item that would change her life forever. Now she has opened a portal to another place and chaos has come forth. Only Skye can set things right once again. She will face an assortment of fantasy characters and creatures in her journeys as she makes her way through 30 missions set across five different game worlds. It is notable that, like some other releases from publisher Simon and Schuster (including the Boston Animation-developed M&M's: The Lost Formulas), this game features prominent product placement in the form of Skittles brand fruit-flavored candies. Indeed, it is the mystic power of Skittles that moves Skye through more than one threatening game situation. In spite of any potential incongruities of featuring a familiar consumer item in a fantasy world, Darkened Skye strives to provide the graphical competence, engrossing story, and state-of-the-art play that gamers expect from a major 2002 release. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide