Darkened Skye

by Vivendi Universal

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005NHD8
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: January 28, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,810 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Darkened Skye is a real-time, third-person, 3-D action and adventure game where you are the only hope to rid the land of the evil lord Necroth. He rules the world, armed with powerful stolen magic, and only the five ancient prisms bound in an amulet can destroy him. As Skye of Lynlora, armed with a battle-staff, book of spells, and wit, you must quest through the Troubled Lands to find the prisms. Travel through five different lands following dangerous paths and defeating hordes of evil minions. Solve ancient mysteries and answer the hidden questions about Skye's past on your way to saving the world.

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This game got on my nerves more and more..., September 1, 2002

By 

D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Darkened Skye (CD-ROM)

When the opening cinematic and first scene of Darkened Skye played, I was really impressed. It's a good-looking game, and from the first scene on the game appears to be made by people who know how to write a script and tell a story through its cinematic sequences, rather than arrays of camera trickery (eg. Max Payne). The voice work is especially terrific, delivering the script's zingy one-liners with aplomb.

Unfortunately, after playing a reasonably enjoyable first level, my experience began more and more to resemble trudging through a rain-soaked construction site.

Seems like they got the visuals so right but the mechanics so wrong. Many players have complained about the bugs, and I don't think I've ever encountered a game with so many loopholes as this one. Literally. You can be running through solid ground, then all of a sudden you'd slip *through* the ground and fall to your death. Or, a patch of black in front of you is actually not the path you've been walking, but a puddle you can drown in. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault's little visual flaws are nothing compared to the number of times I've died here because of poor design. And the lighting...most of the levels are so dark your eyes will gel up trying to navigate through them, yet the game doesn't provide the crucial option of adjusting brightness levels. Hello? When I play a game, I'd like to actually *see* what's going on!

The combat system is passable; while Skye's response to your commands is not great, it's not terrible either. However, the enemy design was certainly ill-fitted to the limited control you have over your character. As early as Level 1, you will encounter fluttery enemies that move three times as fast as you while spitting fireballs onto your behind all the way. In subsequent levels this problem escalates, with lightning-fast enemies knocking you off rocks into the water, three tentacled monsters attacking you from all sides and chewing up 75% of your life in a matter of seconds, and so on. No good game should force the player to consciously quicksave every couple of seconds, but this one definitely does.

Finally, the "puzzles" of this game are really not puzzles; they're an array of objects requiring that you run around in the level trying out every item until you hit upon a solution. In Level 3, for example, you're supposed to collect some kind of fish, a seashell, and a singing bug. Too bad the game never bothers to tell you what they're for, so you're not using your brain to figure out a "puzzle", but using your fingers ad nauseam in hope that you'll stumble upon the right place at the right time with the right equipment.

I progressively lost patience with this game to the point where even the spunky voice work and colourful visuals were totally moot for me. To say nothing of the blatant product placement, bordering on overkill. Allied Assault may have pitted you against 50 snipers in one level, and Syphon Filter may have you fighting enemies that can kill you with one shot, but none of them had me quite so lost as Darkened Skye. And considering the expectations raised by the great visuals and aesthetics of the game, the poor gameplay is especially disappointing.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taste the Rainbow - A game about Skittles?, February 9, 2002

By 

"dabreb" (Odenton, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darkened Skye (CD-ROM)

Who would have thought game based on commercials for a candy would actually be any good? Well trust me it is. I've had my eye on this game for about a year, and am very pleased with the final product. I could rave about the graphics...Beautiful. I could rave about the gameplay...Kings Quest meets Tomb Raider. I could rave about the stability...Never Crashed Once. I could kinda rave about the controls...Never REALLY a problem. But I give three cheers to the story...RAH RAH RAH.
The story has both a quirky sense of humor and a meaningfulness that doesn't come very often, and to be honest surprised me. Some of the one liners had me on the floor, and Skye's search for her mother touched my heart. All of this wrapped up with some decent fighting and magic, and some real braintwisting puzzles. It's as good as a Buffy episode.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Skittles Game? They could have warned us ..., March 27, 2002

By 

Lisa Shea "medieval swordfighting enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Darkened Skye (CD-ROM)

It's not often that I burst out laughing in the middle of a game because of a magic item. This game definitely deserved it.

I got this game because it had a young woman on its cover, and talked about roleplaying, magic, puzzles and witty humor. I thought this was definitely the kind of game to review for a woman's site! The beginning of the game was encouraging - nice graphics, great humor, sort of a Longest Journey explore-and-learn game.

Then, you run across a strange item. It's a small oval colored object with a S on it. "Jeez, it looks like a Skittle" I said to myself, laughing. You go further, fighting monsters, doing some hop-hop-hop arcade sorts of things. Then you reach the Old Woman. And she gasps when she sees what you have. "What you have there," she says in astonishment, "is ... a Skittle!"

That was just too much for me, I was rolling on the floor. A game whose purpose it is to sell you candy? As if most game players need any enticement! They definitely don't mention this anywhere on the box.

There are some annoying aspects to the game (besides the blatant pushing of small colorful candies). The movement is a little flaky. The video playing is also flaky - you can go through the same scene twice and one time it'll show you a video and the next time you play that scene (with a new character) it won't. But the humor is great, and the graphics are nice. You might even call it ... eye candy.

Recommended if you enjoy RPGs with a sense of humor.