Thoughts by Mr Creosote (26 00 2005) – PC (Windows)
After Mike Dawson saved the world from the ‘Ancients’ in Dark Seed, he had a nervous breakdown (somehow understandable considering what he went through). To recover, he moved back to his mother who still lives in his old home town where he spent his childhood. A year has passed, and Mike still isn’t feeling too well. One day, his ex-girlfriend Rita is murdered. Mike’s the prime suspect, and he can’t remember a thing of what happened that night…
Well – the game wouldn’t be called Dark Seed II if the Ancients and their Dark World weren’t involved. This time, they’re trying to summon a creepy monster to conquer the ‘normal’ world. The connection with the murder? Find out for yourself. Needless to say Mike not only has to prove his innocence, but he also has to travel back and forth between the worlds to stop the Ancients once more.
Like its predecessor, the game leaves a mixed impression. Again, it’s mainly the gameplay which lacks severely. Especially the linearity is very limiting. Everything has to be done exactly in the order the designers planned it – whether it makes sense or not. If you’re trying to stray from that line, you’ll find yourself in front of locked doors, items which should be there can’t be found and so on. On the positive side, there are more puzzles to solve this time, and the background clock which caused some nasty death scenes and dead ends is gone.
Presentation is very mediocre, too. The ‘normal world’ consists of cheaply rendered, dull backgrounds with bad actors copied in. ‘Bad’ as in voiceacting, especially. On the other hand, the high resolution does wonders to the Giger artwork of the Dark World which sets a really creepy contrast to the normal world this time.
On the whole, the dullness of the normal world takes the upper hand when it comes to what this game is usually remembered for. With no redeeming gameplay to speak of, nothing’s saving Dark Seed II from total mediocrity.
