Heart of Darkness (video game)
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- For the Joseph Conrad novel, see Heart of Darkness. For other uses, see Heart of Darkness (disambiguation).
| Heart of Darkness | |
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| Developer(s) | Amazing Studio |
| Publisher(s) | Interplay |
| Designer(s) | Eric Chahi |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation |
| Release date | July 31, 1998 (PS1) August 31, 1998 (WIN) |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) USK: 12+ OFLC: G8+ |
| Media | 2 CD-ROMs (PS1) 1 CD-ROM (WIN) |
Heart of Darkness is a 1998 video game by Amazing Studio and released by Interplay for Microsoft Windows-based PCs and the PlayStation. A Game Boy Advance port was announced in 2001 but never released. It is the first game to have its score recorded by an orchestra (though, because of delays, it was not the first to be released with a full orchestral soundtrack). Despite its target audience being children the game has several grisly death scenes and is regarded as very difficult.
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[edit] Plot
The game follows Andy, a regular child who hates his teacher, loves his dog, and is afraid of the dark. One day, Andy and his dog, Whiskey, head for the park to watch a solar eclipse. During the eclipse, Whiskey disappears. In a flurry of childhood imagination, Andy heads for his treehouse, where he keeps his "inventions", and jumps inside a spaceship to find his dog. He takes off, and finds himself in another world, called the Darklands. Inhabited by creatures of the night and ruled over by an evil sorcerer known as The Master of Darkness, the Darklands are extremely dangerous. Andy must find it in himself to rescue his dog, find a way home, face his fears, and enter the Heart of Darkness itself.
Upon crashing Andy finds himself in a canyon on the outskirts of the Darklands. Here his gun is eaten by a giant minion of the Master of Darkness. Andy manages to escape into the swamps only to run into more danger while unarmed. Meanwhile in the Master of Darkness's lair the Master is abusing his pink servant when a winged shadow arrives with the sack containing Whiskey. Angered by the mistake (the shadow was supposed to capture Andy) the Master kills the shadow and takes his anger out on his servant by throwing him at a spiked wall. However the minion that swallowed Andy's gun appears (accidentally saving the servant)and tells the Master of Andy being in the Darklands. The Master then orders his minions to search the Darklands for him. Deep in the swamp Andy saves a winged creature named Amigo who starts to carry him to his home island but is dazed by a fireball thrown from a winged shadow and drops Andy into a lake. At the bottom of the lake Andy comes across a magic rock that grants him the power to manipulate plants and destroy enemies. After resurfacing Andy is rescued once again by Amigo who takes Andy back to his home and introduces Andy to his people. Andy wins their approval by creating an apple tree for them. The Amigos then agree to hide Andy in their village but later that night the shadows attack and destroy the village but Andy manages to slip away. After reuniting with the Amigos, Andy witnesses an Amigo fall to the "evil" ground, and in coming into contact with it, becomes a winged shadow. Andy convinces the Amigos to obtain the magic rock's power and wage war on the Master of Darkness. With their newfound powers the Amigos help Andy slip into the Master's lair. While in there Andy is captured and thrown into a cell with Whiskey however Andy manages to escape and free Whiskey from the cell. Meanwhile the Masters minions have found the magic rock and bring to the Master who destroys it thus draining Andy and the Amigos powers. Unarmed once again Andy can only run from the shadows. While fleeing Andy accidentally falls into a hole and lands on top of the giant minion who promptly swallows Andy whole. However Andy is able to escape by obtaining his gun from the minion's stomach and blasting the minion in half from within. Andy then encounters the servant who agrees to help defeat the Master by telling Andy the only way to kill the Master is to drop the completed magic rock into the dark portal. Andy then searches for the fragments of the rock in order to reform it. He manages to obtain all but one piece which is laying on the bridge near the portal. While Andy is fighting his way to the bridge the servant betrays Andy by kicking Whiskey into the portal. After fighting countless shadows and dodging several fire blasts thrown by the Master, Andy makes it to the bridge and obtains the final piece. The Amigos then tie up the servant and lower the rock onto the bridge (accidentally crushing the servant). Ignoring the Master's plea not to do so Andy puts the final piece of the rock on it thus completing it. It then falls into the portal which begins destroying the Master's castle and the platform that the master floats on. The Master then falls into the portal taking Andy with him. He then pulls Andy into a world called The Heart of Darkness for the final battle. Andy battles the Master and then heres the sound of a door opening and sees to red eyes approaching. Andy prepares to strike but the lights come on revealing that it is Whiskey and that they are in Andy's tree house and that the whole thing was in Andy's imagination. Andy's mother then calls him to dinner. Later that night after being kissed goodnight by his mother Andy starts to sleep with his nightlight on but then turns it off revealing that he has conquered his fear of the dark thanks to his make-believe journey. It then shows the Amigos finding the wreckage of Andy's ship. So was it make-believe or not?
[edit] Enemies
Shadows: these creatures are the most common enemy in the game appearing in almost every level in very large numbers. They can grab hold of Andy rendering him unable to move, or eat him outright.
Winged Shadows: The Master of Darkness's main force. In the swamp level they will swoop down and grab Andy and carry him off if he doesn't duck into the water. In later levels they will throw fireballs to incinerate him.
Shadow Spiders: These spider-like creatures are found on cliffs. They can secrete a slippery slime that will cause Andy to lose his grip and fall if he makes contact with it. They can also eat him if they are close enough.
Carnivorous Plants: They are common in the swamps and underground areas of the Darklands and resemble venus flytraps. They lie in wait for Andy to come close to their mouths to devour him.
Aquatic Carnivorous plants: They populate the underwater caverns in the Darklands. There are two distinct types. One resembles a rock and uses several tentacles to pull its victims into its mouth and if it manages to catch Andy it will pull him in with a sickening sucking sound. The other is more plant like and uses a powerful suction to capture its prey. If it manages to suck Andy in it will spit out his sneaker.
Giant Worms: They burrow through the underground and cliff areas of the Darklands. They can pop out at anytime to grab Andy. If they grab him they will pull him into the hole Andy will struggle but a sickening crunch will be heard and Andy's legs go limp then the rest of him is pulled in.
Dark Elites: The most dangerous monsters of The Master Of Darkness's army. They resemble reptiles. They can throw fireballs and if they are defeated they can split into two grubs that spawn new elites.
The Master of Darkness: An evil cloaked sorcerer who rules over the Darklands. He will cast huge fiery blasts at Andy while floating on his platform. In his final showdown with Andy he pulls him into the Heart of Darkness where he becomes darkness itself and will attempt to swallow Andy.
[edit] Levels
The Canyon: Andy's crash site. The main enemy encountered here are shadows. And Andy loses his plasma gun to a hungry giant dark elite. Aside from enemies Andy can be killed by falling off the canyon into the abyss below, or by being caught and eaten by the giant dark elite
The Swamps: The marshy wetlands in the Darklands. The swamp is home to several carnivorous plants and is also crawling with shadows on orders from the Master of Darkness to kill Andy. Additional dangers here include getting pulled underwater by a giant snake, and being devoured by the giant swamp monster.
The Lake: After being accidentally drop by Amigo Andy lands here and stumbles upon the Magic Rock. Even with his newfound powers Andy must be cautious not to fall prey to the hungry aquatic plants and fish.
The Amigo Village: While hiding here the village is attacked by the dark forces. Andy must escape while at the same time taking care not fall to his doom or be devoured by the worms and spiders prowling the cliffs.
The Volcano: After falling from the Amigo Island Andy lands here. Here Andy must time his moves carefully or he will end up fried or dinner for the enemies here.
The Cavern: Andy comes here in order to raise the Magic Rock above the lake in order for the Amigos to obtain its power so they can wage battle on the Master of Darkness. In order to do this Andy must dodge the rock columns or he will end up squashed.
The Master of Darkness's Lair: Here Andy comes to save Whiskey and defeat the Master of Darkness. However death awaits around every corner here. And with the Magic Rock destroyed Andy must reform it in order to have any hope of defeating the Master of Darkness.
[edit] Gameplay
Heart of Darkness is a platform game in the vein of Another World, a game also created by Eric Chahi. The player controls Andy, who has the ability to run, jump, walk, climb and somersault. In addition to this, Andy can attack or defend himself by using either a plasma gun or by throwing magic energy, depending on which section of the game is being played. The magic energy can be used to grow or destroy trees, and either weapon can be used in a variety of poses.
Although classified as jump-n-run, Andy can climb up rocks, swim under water and generally can perform a lot of actions. The game also sometime requires three keys to be pressed simultaneously that can be in some cases a problem for low-end keyboards.
The game is linear and straightforward. The player spends the game completing puzzles, timing movements, or simply moving in order to get to the next screen. Backtracking to previous screens is rarely required, except near the end of the game while Andy is reassembling the Magic Rock.
The game is noteworthy for the number of disturbing ways the young hero can be killed, whereas most modern games remove children as NPCs altogether to avoid situations where terrible fates may be brought upon them. It's typical for games in the sub-genre of realistic 2d platformers (such as Another World, Flashback, their sequels and the first Prince of Persia games) to extend this realism to death sequences, some of them (including Heart) occasionally using cutscenes. This is in contrast to more cartoonish platformers, such as Super Mario Bros., the Sonic the Hedgehog series and the Commander Keen series, where the character simply falls off the screen. Andy can be crushed, eaten, incinerated, drowned and even have his neck snapped in a variety of ways, not graphically but neither discreetly.
[edit] Creation and reception
Heart of Darkness took four years to develop. These four years were spent creating the game's musical score, the graphics, and the FMV sequences. There was a bidding war to distribute the game which Interplay won.
The game was released to generally good reviews. The most common complaint was the short length of the piece; most of the game's two CDs were made up of the FMVs. However, the public did not take much of an interest.
