Customer Reviews

Nocturne

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Picture "Film Noir" meets "Night of the Living Dead" and you'll have a pretty good idea about this game. What is the Spookhouse, and who or what is the mysterious Stranger? Not just a "shoot-em-up" although there's plenty of that as well. Kill a wide assortment of evil creatures, undead and otherwise. Graphics and sound are phenomenal but, be warned, it takes a real high-end system to make this game run. Pretty graphic violence. Mildly diabolical voice acting.

Nocturne has recieved some rather harsh criticisms, such as its control interface and screen camera angles. However, I believe that these elements enhance the game significantly. Everyone's already used to the Doom/Quake/Half-Life/Unreal controls. Nocturne uses the same controls, but the perspective is entirely 3rd person, rather than 1st. The "akward" camera shots contributes to the spookiness of the game. I'm a little tired of hearing people complain about the monsters ambushing the hero just as he's leaving screen's field of view. Personally, I thought that was a great idea on the part of the deigners. We're all well versed in dealing with baddies from a certain perspective (again, Doom/Quake/etc.) The difficulty of the controls and the unusual perspectives changes this from another shoot-em-up to something much more eeire and spooky. Wasn't that the point of the game to begin with?

The graphics are phenomenal, the story lines solid, and the voices are okay. My biggest complaint is that the ending for each chapter seemed abridged. There wasn't enough closure (action, dialog, video, whatever). Aside from that, Nocturne is a great game, that definately delivers the chills. And, unlike most 1st person shoot-em-ups, Nocturne takes more than two days to complete.

So if you're looking for the next Quake or Unreal, don't buy this. If you're looking for a game with substance and story (in addition to a belly full of killing), then I highly recommend Nocturne.

This game is a little known gem, and I mean that in a relative way. Compared to say some of the other 'survival' games it is indeed a lesser known game. This is one of those cases though where its a pleasant treasure waiting to be discovered. When I bought it in 2000 I just wanted a game for my new PC. I paid out the rear for it b/c it looked cool, and I was not let down. My understanding of what this game truly is/was at the time didn't come until recently.

I played this game for a bit when I first got it 4 years ago, but put it down for other titles within a few months. I then forgot about it although I revisited it now and then. It wasn't until a few months ago though(new year of 2004) that I truly saw the beauty of this game. Even 4 years later the graphics, mood, and lighting all come together for a very impressive atmosphere. Thats just an added bonus though, let me get to the best parts of this game:

-First, its blended well. Like another reviewer stated the puzzles make sense, and aren't ludicrous. Series like say oh, RESIDENT EVIL suffer from a rediculousness factor when it comes to puzzles. Show me one actual police station like one in RE2, its stupid. In Nocturne the puzzles and tasks are not overdone, and make sense in a supernatural sort of way. They are FUN tasks, not laborous back tracking BORING ones like in a certain game I have mentioned a few lines back.

-Switch it onto 'mature' mode and watch the blood fly everywhere. Case in point: Take the shovel at the beginning of the Zombie Town just outside the church and proceed to bash the next 120 zombies upside the head. Heads will roll and hilarity will ensue, especially when you beat the Zombie Cows with that shovel....or the fire axe. Flies gather around corpses, burning bodies smolder, and monsters do a good job in screaming in agony when you dispatch them.

-There is a certain element of dark humor which is nice, which brings me to my next point. The voice acting is some of the best I have EVER witnessed, and I have played some games with great voice acting(IE; The Thing, Metal Gear Solid, Medal of Honor, ect).

-There is something for everyone. Everything from Vampires to imps to reanimated gangsters belonging to Al Capone are in this game. Chances are you will fall in love with one of the acts over the others.

-It runs on a crappy system. I have a moderate system and I can run this game with everything maxed out and in 3d mode with no issues(I have a P3 550, an old one).

About the only bad thing I can say about it, is that sometimes if you get your fingers tied up while you are in a serious fight, Stranger can go bonkers and seem to n00b out on ya. Not so much after you master the controls, but at first. Overall though if you configure the keys to your liking it will be minimal. I have played games with MUCH worse control issues though.

I give this game 10/10 for sure, if not an 11. Get it if you like Horror based games. Don't expect Resident Evil though, instead expect a game that rips Resident evil to shreds. :)

Nocturne is an instant classic. The kind of game you would like to play over and over. Amazing graphics if you have a good computer(the main character's trench coat actually "moves" while you walk). Amazing voice acting. The only complaint I have for this game is that it's not really a full "game". It's mostly 4 entirely different stories, each with their own story, characters, and places. I would have loved this game alot more if they made it one whole game instead of just different stories.

I'm fairly new to the computer gaming world, but I definately have a love/hate relationship with this game. The graphics are excellent, the sound is very good as well are the voices...I love the idea of 4 different stories on one game, and there are plenty of different monsters to kill. Thats a few reasons why I like the game. The reasons why I don't are as follows: If you don't have the cheat sheet (which you can get off the Nocturne fan site...Nocturne.com) this game is practically impossible to figure out. Also, the monsters come up on you so fast in many situations that you don't have time to react and therefore are constantly saving the game and going back trying to figure out how to get away without being killed. I found myself cursing at the game many times, but I kept going back wanting to figure it out somehow. If you're a pro at these kind of games, you'll probably love this one; if your a beginner like me; be prepared for some long frustrating nights.

I got Nocturne when it came out over 3 years ago and it was my favorite 3rd person game, and is still tied with Max Payne. But three years ago I was a little disappointed with it. I loved how dark and scary the game was but it would slow down so much at the really exciting parts, but now that I have a system that can play Morowind with all its graphic splendor it is absolutely amazing. With the res jacked up to 1280x1024x32, and the flashlight halo set at full it is absolutely brilliant. The camera angles make it all the more scary now as I shown my light down the extemely dark tunnels of the mine in part 2 and to have the bright halo flashing at me and all I can make out is the dark shadows of 2 zombies lumbering towards my character...is fantastic. And then there is the best part of all, the puzzles that are actually realistic. None of the usuall puzzles you see in these types of games. Half way through Resident Evil I just stopped playing as I kept getting flashbacks to The 7th Guest. But this one I couldnt stop playing. It does have some find the jewel or find the key puzzles but at least they make sense to the context, unlike my least favorite of puzzles from RE which was to play a tune correctly on a piano to open a hidden room. Zombies brought back to life through some kind of Virus? Ok. A goverment mansion with oddball puzzles guarding pieces to other oddball puzzles? Honestly? So if you now have the power to play this game, get it. It doesnt take much. I have a AMD duron 1100, 256mb ram, Asus A7V333, and GF4 TI4200 64mb and the load times are allmost non-existent, and it runs like it was meant to.And most gamers now-adays have a setup like this one or more.

Don't let all the whining in other reviews fool you. This is an awesome game. It features a compelling film-noir type story set in the 1930's (think "The Untouchables" meets "The X-files". You play as "The Stranger", a mysterious character similar to "The Shadow" who conceals his identity and hunts down monsters with a pair of .45's. The graphics and sounds are amazing, and even though the game came out four years ago, they are still better than a lot of graphics I've seen in newer games. In this respect, it was ahead of its time. Yes, it has high system reqs, but squeezing all the performance out of this game that you can will make the experience that much more enjoyable. Also, the story is engrossing, and the characters are great because the voice acting is phenomenal - certainly better than anything you'll find in most other games.

Yes, the controls can feel a bit clunky until you get used to them, but they are never a serious hinderance to gameplay, and you can switch to a first-person "nightvision" mode if you get in a tight spot and need to see directly in front of you. Also, the Stranger is the coolest hero you'll ever play. The only thing more fun than rescuing people from monsters is insulting them with Stranger's biting sarcasm afterwards!

If you are a fan of survival-horror gaming, old school horror movies, film noir, or the pulp fiction stories of the 30's and 40's (or, like me, a fan of all of the above), then you must check this out. Also, be sure to get "Blair Witch 1: Rustin Parr", as it is a companion game to Nocturne and features characters from that game.

I played Nocturne when it first came out a few years ago, and was stunned by a perfect game. It was simply amazing. The cutting-edge graphics (even by today's standards), the sound, the atmosphere, the story (like the X-files in the 40's) the characters (mmmm... Svetlana...) the unbelievable amounts of stunning art work, and generally well thought out adventures in the creepiest places imaginable. It is ABSOLUTELY the scariest game I have ever played, bar none - I actually yelled and fell off my chair from fright more than once (which was a first)! Then, after recommending it to everyone I knew, the reviews began to hit the gaming magazines, and they were horrid!!! Bunch of wussies! Did you even play the game? The view is constantly changing throughout the game (like scenes in a movie where you might be looking down upon the character, and then abruptly the angle switches as you move around) which can make it tricky to aim your weapon at the plentiful and deadly creatures, but it certainly didn't ruin the game, like so many over-paid critics complained... It actually won "Coaster of the year" from a major PC Game magazine, meaning it is only fit to set your drink on the CD ROM... Whatever! Whoever decided that should be fired - that is irresponsible journalism, and possibly caused many people to not buy the rare gem of a game. I would have paid the money for just the first vampire story, but they give you 4 long complete adventures. If you are a fan of horror adventure, or want to be put into an atmosphere creepiness beyond imagination, do yourself a favor and buy this most wonderful game. And remember - Svetlana......

This is the most fun and addictive game I have played in ages. But first, the bad...

The most common complaint about this game is over its controls. I assume that this is somewhat exaggerated, however. My system falls well below the minimum requirements listed on the box, but it still played well enough. The only frustration I experienced was that the Stranger would sometimes turn too quickly or too slowly, and that would render the more precision-based puzzles very difficult. However, I still made it through and enjoyed the effort despite my weak computer system. Some also complain that the camera angles at times interfere with gameplay, but I found that they helped create mood and suspense, and at times when it mad fighting difficult I would just move to a point where I got better visibility (this is less of a problem with auto-aim, but it does sometimes get annoying).

The storylines are quite enthralling, and you will find yourself running off to the computer at every moment to find out what happens next or to further explore the amazing scenery. The fully rendered graphics and sounds are amazing, and the gameplay is both full of action and brain-teasers.

Each act focuses to a different extent on action vs. adventure gaming and can be played in any order (I recommend doing them in order unless you get stuck and can't get help immediately). Act 1 and Act 2 are an excellent balance, Act 3 is mainly action, and Act 4 is mainly puzzle solving. Each Act is also wildly different in its villians and settings, so you never grow bored, and the characters are very well realized and leave you wanting to experience more adventures with them (there are rumours that this will be made into a TV series!).

The basic storyline is that it is the 1930s and you are a mysterious figure with a top secret government agency that hunts monsters. In Act 1, you team up with Svetlana, a sexy half-human/half-vampire, on a mission through European castles and forests involving vampires and werewolves. In Act 2, you are on your way to a small western town to clear it of its problems with the walking dead, but the werewolves from Act 1 first try to exact their revenge. Eventually, you wind up solving a Lovecraftian mystery deep underground with the aid of a voodoo god. In Act 3, a Chicago gang is bringing its dead members back as Frankenstein monsters and you have to destroy their monster factory, but they are in control of the city. In Act 4, you must confront a former member of the organization who wants to destroy it for its new politically correct willingness to work with good supernatural creatures and escape all the deadly, devious traps in his house of horrors. There is a bonus act (basically, a short film), but you can only view it with the editor which you can download from the Nocturne website.

There are many instances of dark humour (you can attack zombies with their own body parts)and pleasant surprises I don't want to spoil as well (including funny but gross little scenes and interesting variations on the creatures (specifically in the zombie town)). The opening title film is also great (although it unfortunately often just plays the music while you stare at a black screen -- just start the game enough times and you'll see it). Playing this game is better than watching the X-Files (and it is much more gory and "adult").

Stunning graphics coupled with very clumsy controls make this game a feast for the eyes but a major bust when it comes to engrossing game play. In a world dominated by such near master works as Lucas Arts' Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, different is not necessarily better and the third person perspective Nocturne offers is as creepy as the games beautifully dark images and spine tingling story line. I suppose the object was to give Nocturne a cinematic edge offered by some of Hollywood's best horror/thrillers, but cutting from place to place using numerous movie angels as our gruff but hardly lovable anti-hero "Stranger" runs through each scene (ground level, over-head, etc) trying to mow down swooping and snarling creatures of the night, simply doesn't work here and would likely earn any film student a solid D for effort! With one additional option, first person perspective (or even second person), this might have been a great game, without it, Nocturne swiftly becomes little more than a tedious test of your 20/20 vision and manual dexterity. Bottom line, if you can get it cheap (one major home electronics store recently had it on sale for $9.99), or can borrow it from a friend, check it out for it's amazing cutting edge eye candy. But just like any fine work of art hanging in some posh museum, you'll pause to consider Nocturne's brilliant textures, along with it's use of light and shadow but eventually you'll move on to something much more stimulating and rewarding, like an amusement park.