I've been immersed in the world of Southpeak Interactive's Dark Side of the Moon now for weeks. After finally finishing the game, I can now say that I am speechless--it's that good. If you've played Southpeak's first Video Reality game, Temujin, and found it to be disappointing, you will be happy to hear that Southpeak has learned its lesson and showed us how such an engine can make an excellent game. Move over, Mask of Eternity and Grim Fandango, because Dark Side of the Moon is here to take over the spotlight.
As the game opens, you (Jake Wright) find yourself aboard a space shuttle on its way to Luna Crysta. You've received work that your Uncle Jacob has died under mysterious circumstances and has left you his mining claim in his will. Praying for great riches and success, you decide to check out his stake. Aboard the shuttle, you meet two main characters in the story: Kit Ferris and Oliver Whistler, who play a large role in this game. In addition to these characters, the game includes a selection of 13 main characters who may not be exactly who you think they are. As the game progresses, more things are revealed and people turn against you. The game gives a constant rush of what will happen next, but at the same time does not rush the player into reaching a certain part more quickly. While I was playing, the game I was not worried about how I could do something wrong or what if this happens. The game was made to be played at a leisurely pace, allowing the player to enjoy the atmosphere and the wonderful story written by industry veteran Lee Sheldon. The plot has many twists and does not seem to get boring at all. It can be said that the game is split up into several mini-quests that are combined brilliantly into a magnificent experience. I need not think twice about awarding the plot an A+.
Thankfully, Southpeak managed to iron out some of the problems with the Video Reality engine that ticked off gamers with Temujin. But if you complained about the small playing area before, you may be disappointed to hear that this has not changed. As seen in the screenshots above, the actual "interaction" area of the game takes up a fraction of the screen. The rest of the screen is filled with the inventory (which is almost unlimited), the speech area (where the player selects which text the character will speak), the VDA (receive video messages and mail), and a full body image of your character for you to wear things (i.e., thermal gloves, lava boots). The graphics abilities of Southpeak have improved since Temujin; they seem to be more crisp and clean and pleasant to look at. The environment has an overall dark look to it, which fits great with the sci-fi theme. The graphics receive a grade of B+.
The puzzles of DSOM fit in well with the plot and are challenging but don't require a degree in brain surgery. Quoting the press release, this game provides you the opportunity to "survive a wild and deadly roller-coaster" and "traverse a tunnel that seems to have no end." While there is not a whole lot of new material here, the choice of puzzles is certainly not bad. Gameplay is entirely nonlinear, making the game somewhat replayable. There are two endings, but both are basically the same with a slight difference. Seeing that the puzzle/gameplay is not entirely original or bad, they receive a grade of B.
Since the game is FMV (remember the good old days?), acting is a major area of the game. Thankfully, Southpeak did not opt for actors who "will act for food." All actors in the game played their parts well and put some effort into doing the job right. While you won't find the next Tom Cruise here, most should be happy with the results. Sound effects were all well-done, not too loud or too soon/late. The music of the game all fit in well and rounded off the atmosphere. Music, sound effects and acting receive a grade of A-.
An annoying fact about the game is that it requires an enormous amount of disk swapping. Played over six CDs, there has never been a game that cried out for a DVD version more than Dark Side of the Moon. Game designer Lee Sheldon comments: "For the record, the game is designed so that when it becomes necessary to return to another disk, there is a lot to do on that disk, but only if you want to. For example, you can play the game and only need to return to the upper levels via the 'secret method' a single time. And we specifically duplicated assets so that the end sequences all play from the same disk."
Despite the annoying disk swapping, I found the game to be extremely enjoyable. While I am not a huge sci-fi fan, the story drew me in and kept me on the edge of my seat. The game is creepy and will make you jump up in the air at least once, and then you'll look over your shoulder to make sure no one saw you. Such a deep game as Dark Side of the Moon gives you the feeling that you truly got your money's worth. If you thought Grim Fandango was a classic, wait 'til you set your eyes on Dark Side of the Moon.
Final Grade: A-
Quandary, January 1999 by Gordon Applin
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Luna Crysta, the moon at the heart of this game, is a dangerous place. It's a 'frontier' mining colony controlled by the Brave Hope Corporation; a place where hard won fortunes in the mines are easily lost in the Brave Hope casino. A place where greed, power, corruption and exploitation rule; this is Luna Crysta's dark side. And you are on board a space shuttle that is about to land there.
Claim your inheritance
In this first-person perspective adventure from SouthPeak you are Jake Wright, named after your uncle Jacob who died on Luna Crysta, leaving you his mining claim and a mystery to solve. How and why did he die? Suicide is the official line from the Brave Hope authorities, but knowing your uncle as you do that doesn't seem plausible. The mystery deepens as you investigate. Why are some people interested in your claim if it is worthless, as the authorities insist? Why do the Cepheids, the indigenous inhabitants of the moon, docilely work themselves to death to extract the valuable minerals for someone else's profit? What is the secret of Luna Crysta that your uncle discovered? To answer these questions you will need all of your wit and resourcefulness. You may also need some help ... but who can you trust?
The story is intriguing, thoughtful and intelligent (written by Lee Sheldon who also wrote the excellent The Riddle of Master Lu) and the whole game is well-designed in terms of the obstacles to your progress and the solutions to overcome them. It is possible to die, but you are immediately restored to a point just before you made a mistake so that you can try a different tactic. The puzzles are pure adventuring where you must explore your surroundings thoroughly, converse with other characters, and find and use items in appropriate locations. There are a few sequences where you have limited time to act, mainly involving alien creatures that prevent your progress in the caverns. Don't worry, reflexes aren't needed here. If you have what you need (though you may die a lot determining this) it's easy to get past them, if not, then you can turn around and run away until later. I should also mention one other timed sequence in the ore processing plant, but once you work out what you must do there is plenty of time to do it and I never felt under too much pressure here.
Video Reality
The game uses SouthPeak's Video Reality technology as in their earlier game, Temüjin, which means that the full motion video sequences are incredibly clear, but are played out in a relatively small action window. The rest of the screen is taken up with your backpack and scrolling inventory bar; a Video Digital Assistant which allows you to receive messages, playback conversations, automatically map your location and read scanned documents; a figure representing yourself so that you can 'wear' items of equipment such as boots and goggles; an options menu for saving and restoring, etc.; and finally, the space beneath the action window is used to list your selection of conversational responses at appropriate times. Unfortunately, apart from your responses there is no text to accompany the conversations and although you can replay them in your VDA I would still prefer a text option as I had to play back a couple of scenes several times to be sure I understood what was said.
Navigation around the game world is easy with none of the difficulties that were encountered in Temüjin. Your cursor changes to an arrow in the action window to indicate when you can move in a particular direction and you can generally halt the flowing movement at any point to look around, or you can pan around even as you are moving. The whole process is seamless and has none of that 'tacked on' transition look. You can pan 360 degrees by moving your cursor over the 'lightbars' at the sides of the screen and in some locations you may be able to look up and down. The cursor usually highlights when you can interact with something in the game world, although you shouldn't rely on this totally. I was stuck for ages in one area as the particular object I needed to interact with didn't cause the cursor to highlight, yet I was able to use an inventory item on it.
There is a fair amount of disk swapping at times as the game is contained on six CDs and you can pretty much explore where you like, particularly towards the end of the game when you have opened up most locations. Fortunately, you can cancel a request to insert a new CD if you decide to change your mind, and the game will start with any disk in the drive.
Food for thought
Despite its deep-space and dark mining colony setting, and despite Pink Floyd's claim to the contrary, Dark Side of the Moon is not all dark. (Argh! I promised myself I wouldn't make a reference to Pink Floyd and there I've gone and done it!) It has none of the 'remoteness' or alienating aspects that are often a characteristic of many science-fiction games, this one is closer to 'home' than we might care to admit. The story is engrossing, serious, yet with a lighter side. The characters are interesting and not everyone you meet is unremittingly evil, but all have their own agendas. Even your character, Jake, has to make a few moral choices. The acting in the conversation sequences is generally pretty good and the music is suitably appropriate to the particular location you are currently in ... even the deliberately horrible muzak in the outfitters and the administration reception area.
The small game world window and the disk swapping are my only complaints with this game. On the whole, though, I thoroughly enjoyed Dark Side of the Moon. The puzzles are quite challenging and well-integrated into the story and the game's underlying themes won't be lost on thoughtful players.
Gamespot, January 1999 by Stephen Poole
When SouthPeak Interactive released its first adventure game, Temujin, back in 1997, it achieved only a few of the lofty goals it had set for the project. Utilizing a proprietary game engine called Video Reality, Temujin was designed to combine the high level of interaction of traditional graphic adventures with the realistic look of digitized video sequences.
But instead of giving gamers the best of both worlds, Temujin wound up giving them very little of either: Movement and character interaction were limited, the digitized backgrounds blurry and hazy. And while the story was undeniably a gripping affair, the puzzles were of the boilerplate variety - the kind designers tend to ladle on top of a product when the lion's share of the budget has gone toward film shoots and developing new technologies (can you say The 7th Guest?).
Now, after a year of tweaking, the Video Reality engine is back in Dark Side of the Moon - a game that proves not only that phrases in the public domain can't be copyrighted no matter how popular a rock album is, but also that SouthPeak learned some valuable lessons from Temujin. Unfortunately, SouthPeak will also learn a lesson from this game: The Video Reality engine, at least as it stands now, is woefully inadequate in handling exploration and movement, two of the most critical components in an adventure game.
Part sci-fi thriller and part murder mystery, Dark Side of the Moon casts you as Jake Wright, a young man whose uncle supposedly committed suicide on a moon called Luna Crysta in the Cepheus-6 star system. A megacompany called Brave Hope Corporation has set up shop on Luna Crysta to reap the bounty of minerals and ores residing in the multitude of underground caves; besides company employees, the moon's also home to a collection of fortune hunters looking to strike it rich. And then there are the Cepheids, the natives that Brave Hope hires because of their tireless work ethic and knowledge of the moon.
Your uncle's left you his mining claim on Luna Crysta, but even before you arrive on the moon to settle the inheritance, you receive a scathing vidmail from your sister wherein she says the claim should have passed to her. And things only get more suspicious when you disembark the space shuttle: The president of Brave Hope wants to buy your claim, and a PI hired by your sister finally admits he's there to make an offer on her behalf as well. Hmm... that's a lot of interest in a claim that, to the best of your knowledge, never brought your uncle anything but long hours and hard work. Eventually, you'll meet up with that PI to talk things over - and when you do, the plot begins to take some wicked twists that I can't reveal here.
Like Temujin, the acting in Dark Side of the Moon is generally good, and the video clips used during conversations are crisp and clear; unlike Temujin, nearly all Dark Side of the Moon's puzzles are integrated solidly into the plot and gameplay. Many involve finding ways to surreptitiously enter offices, where you can locate clues about your uncle, the Brave Hope Corporation, and the Cepheids working in the mines. But there are also lots of object-based puzzles in which you have to figure out creative combinations of inventory objects - and while the clues are definitely there, keeping track of everything can be daunting. Nearly everything you see, hear, or read contains at least a kernel of useful information - especially when it comes to the item descriptions at the General Outfitters, the only place you can acquire a couple of very necessary pieces of equipment. And because there's no type of description displayed when you access inventory items, you'll need to keep notes of what each device is and what it can do.
But there are a few instances where Dark Side of the Moon doesn't exactly play fair and square. When you pass your cursor over an object in the environment that you can manipulate - a door, for instance - it usually turns green to let you know you can interact with it. But for some reason this doesn't happen in a couple of very sticky spots; instead, you have to have an inventory object selected and then pass the cursor over the thing in the environment you want to act upon. The net effect? When you get stuck, you wind up looking around and wondering if you've exhausted all the options at a locale, or if instead you need to start dragging out inventory items to see what might work in conjunction with something you're trying to use. Believe me, this game would still be plenty tough even if it gave adventurers a little nudge in the right direction.
Still, it's probably better to make the puzzles more rather than less difficult, especially given the easy availability of hints and tips on the Net to get you through rough spots. And the plot has enough surprising developments to make you want to keep playing to find out the whole story. But Dark Side of the Moon falls short of being great for one simple reason: The Video Reality engine isn't up to the task of handling a gameworld as large as this one, particularly when success often depends on walking around until you find the right object or clue needed to keep advancing.
Digitized video takes up a lot of space, so it's no surprise that the game comes on six CDs. But what is surprising is how much disc swapping is required just to move around Luna Crysta. As you get deeper in the game and discover a warren of secret passages that give you access to every location, you'll be amazed at how frequently you've got to switch discs to traverse the facility. Near the end of the game, you'll have to move from a secret underground area to the shuttle terminal and back again - and that means swapping discs around ten times! Because the game is to a large degree nonlinear, I'm not sure how this problem can be addressed. But considering just how much exploration you've got to do to acquire objects and the impact the constant disc swapping has on the game's pacing, it's definitely a major problem.
Actual character movement is a lot faster than in Temujin, but it still takes painfully long just to turn around and survey your environment, and your ability to look up and down is still confined to only places where key objects or new directional paths are located. Background scenery is little improved over the blurry and hazy images of Temujin, making it difficult to pinpoint landmarks and spot important objects. And should you encounter the technical anomalies I ran into on my rather standard system - digitized speech crackling and dropping in and out, video speeding up and slowing down - you might have real trouble gathering important information.
Dark Side of the Moon's interface has a few other glitches - lots of scrolling to find inventory objects, awkward methods of reading scanned documents in your digital assistant, disc swapping when viewing stored video clips (also in the digital assistant), and a paltry number of characters for a "boomtown" like Luna Crysta - but these are minor blemishes compared with the problems of navigation and exploration. If SouthPeak corrects those for its next game - or creates a new engine more along the lines of the ones used in Black Dahlia or Atlantis: The Lost Tales - it could easily move into the elite class of adventure-game developers.
GameBoomers, December 2004 by gsd
Dark Side of the Moon (DSOM) is by the same group that produced Wild Wild West: Steel Assassin and the "not so memorable" Temujin (I'm one of the three people who actually liked that game). For those who may be put off by a repeat of the problems associated with Temujin, rest assured they were resolved. While not entirely pain free, DOSM is an infinitely better play.
The game is a first person sci-fi adventure with a very intriguing story. It was written by Lee Sheldon, a professional TV writer. So if story is your thing, you will have a much higher tolerance level for the aggravations associated with this game. Just telling you up front, so that if you care little about story and a lot about feasting on eye candy in an expansive game world, you might as well bail out now.
To The Moon, Jake
You play Jake Wright and the game opens with you aboard a flight to Luna Crysta where you intend to establish title to the claim your uncle Jacob left you in his will. You meet a couple of other Luna Crysta passengers on board, and after some brief conversation you get the feeling that there's a whole lot to learn about this side of the moon.
Soon after landing, you notice a half-human, half-Cepheid boy (the natural inhabitants of Luna Crysta) hiding from a Security Guard who is chasing him. Questioned by the surly guard, you instinctively deny having seen the boy. This is your first clue that the Cepheids are likely to be the underclass of Luna Crysta and subject to rules that do not apply to those of full human status.
The first thing on your agenda is to meet with the head of Brave Hope Mining Company to discuss your uncle's claim and his death. You are led to believe that your uncle committed suicide and that his claim is worthless; however you are definitely skeptical. Undaunted, you explore the Brave Hope complex and go through the process of trying to file your inherited claim. As you nose about, you become aware that a very stringent Brave Hope Security System is the law enforcement agency on Luna Crysta, subject to no higher authority. As you might imagine, this gives the company a free hand to use excessive force and whatever means necessary to exploit and control the workers.
The more Brave Hope employees you meet, the more questions you have. You push on, trying to unravel the mystery surrounding your uncle's death and his claim, as well as how the Cepheids are so easily controlled in the mines where they work themselves to exhaustion. The Cepheid boy (Lonnie) whom you previously protected from the guard becomes your ally, assisting you in traveling the complex without being seen (as they must) and becoming a source of information that you can trust.
As information trickles in, new chapters open about the mysteries surrounding Luna Crysta and the Brave Hope Mining Company.
The story is the thing. Now to the rest.
Interface
This deserves a separate category.
The game world is played out in a claustrophobic game window that only utilizes about 30% of the screen. That, along with the idea of actively swapping six CDs, first motivated me to immediately uninstall and relegate DSOM to "game limbo," a place on my shelf where flawed games go to rest indefinitely. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the memory dims and I played it through about a year later. This time fortunately, because despite the annoyances I really enjoyed the game.
The game window has light bands on the top, bottom and both sides that turn green when you can turn in either side direction or look up or down. But you really have to be alert to notice the subtle change from drab gray to drab green – it’s especially easy to miss the places where you can look up or down. Actual movement is directed by a forward arrow in the game window.
Since the game world is less than a third of the screen, there's a lot of room left for other things, and indeed we have them. There is a figure at the lower left that represents your character. You dress it in appropriate gear as needed. At the upper left is your VDA, which receives phone messages and e-mail, and stores scanned documents, etc. At the upper right is a dropdown satchel which stores your considerable inventory. The middle/bottom of the screen is used for conversation trees. The very bottom is your entry to the options menu.
Gameplay
The puzzles are fairly easy and very pertinent to the story and also quite original. Clues abound and if you pay any attention at all you should have no difficulty. The one problem I had was finding myself without a piece of equipment I should have purchased earlier. This was toward the end of the game and I couldn't progress without it. There was still a way to purchase it, but it was a whole lot more difficult and time-consuming. So make sure you buy everything you will need early.
I was at times a little frustrated with the inventory because -- after collecting a number of similar items -- some begin to look alike and there were no name tags. And it's not like these are household tools we're talking about. Maybe a small thing, but I don't think the inventory needs to be a puzzle in itself.
There is a fair amount of interacting with other characters using a conversation tree, which really involves asking questions until they run out. It's a main source of gathering information. Unfortunately, there's no option for responder text and at times I had to replay the conversation because I missed something the first time.
You can die in the game with little or no warning, but the game is kind enough to restore you to the beginning of the event that wiped you out. The dying is rather appropriate and not overdone.
The one positive about everything crammed on the screen is that it is all very accessible. You can easily move in and out of your inventory, VDA and save/restore games. Everything is very intuitive.
And finally, the mega irritant. The CD swapping. DSOM comes on 6 CDs and there are times late in the game when the swapping is excessive. This detracts so much from the game experience, for it is at its worst during critical times when continuity is necessary to maintain the anticipation level the writer has worked so hard to create. Fortunately, this game has since come out in a deluxe issue which includes both the CD and DVD version. Just wish it had been sooner.
The game is nonlinear in the sense that although it has a single ultimate solution, the path to the solution can vary.
Graphics, Acting and Script
The game uses the same Video Reality engine as Temujin, but with better overall results because of an improved interface and much stronger story. The full-motion video (FMV) part is crystal clear. However, some of the backdrop graphics have a blurred grainy quality to them, especially in transition.
I thought the acting was excellent. Since we get to see real people up close in video, their facial expressions play a large part. I thought their expressions were appropriate and convincing, even though a few tended ever so slightly to "ham it." The voice acting was also excellent. Probably the least talented was your own, Jake's voice, but it was still pretty good.
The script and writing, in my opinion, are outstanding. There is a real story with teeth in it at the core of the game, which developed in a timely fashion and with purpose. The writer slowly leads the gamer down a trail of mysteries that become ever more complex as we delve deeper into the game. It's definitely a page turner and I found myself playing into the night just to see what happened next.
The music is well chosen and quite good. When the game ends, even the credits are worth watching (really clever) with excellent music.
The larger problems in DSOM are not a result of developer inattention, for it's obvious a tremendous amount of effort went into this game. The game window and the multiple CDs are because of the FMV. (I remember looking forward to Southpeak's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea on DVD; but alas, the game was scrubbed and Southpeak is no more.)
Technical Stuff
Except for an annoying flicker that would come and go (I never found the source) the game played fine for me on Windows 98SE, PIII. While researching for reported bugs, etc., I did read that people had problems playing DSOM on Windows 2000 and Windows ME. I wasn't able to get the game to run properly on Windows XP (the text would not install) so the conversation trees were nonexistent. I don't know if there is a solution to this.
I know there is a DVD version that was released, but I couldn't find any information on how compatible it is with various systems. However, I strongly urge anyone considering playing this game to check out the possibility of using the DVD. It surely would eliminate a major headache.
If Only....
DSOM is one of those games. Games we play through because they have so many good points, yet all the while we are thinking: If only I didn't have to look at the game world through a microscope. If only I didn't have to swap a CD right in the middle of a critical event. If only I had more freedom of movement. If only the inventory had name tags and the conversation had a text option. If only….
But play it anyway. If only...for the story.
Final Grade: B-
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The screen is notable for vast regions of unclaimed real estate. The actual game is stuffed into a tiny screen in the upper-middle portion; the periphery contains the inventory and other items Wright carries, and the expansive lower portion contains empty space reserved for the extensive conversations. As stated earlier, the core environment is, in places, stunningly detailed; however, the presentation is so inadequate the images have absolutely no impact. The graphics are blurred, sometimes to such a degree that certain locations are visually indecipherable, and the transitional sequences are sluggish. The non-rendered video, though, is impressively clean – it should be given the diminutive game screen -- and the actors are well-integrated into the CGI sets.
The interface does something I have not seen another title do as well, and that is structure the entire program so it is accessible from a single screen. Game options, inventory items, saving and loading, and the in-game window are all located on a single screen. Navigation, selecting options and choosing conversational avenues is all done with the mouse. Since the cursor, which changes according to the action, is sluggish and prone to leaping across the screen, this is both the strength and downfall of the interface. The last thing the game needed was one more obstacle between the player and a pleasant experience. The promise of a fully explorable environment became suspect when I turned to the right and the camera moved 90 degrees without letting me stop and explore my surroundings. Light bars are located on the sides of the video window, and pressing one causes Wright to turn in that direction. Glancing up and down is nothing special, though, because the camera immediately returns to the straight-ahead view. So much for letting the player control what he or she sees. 
Adventure games have truly evolved beyond the sliding tile and switch puzzles that plagued the genre in the past. The puzzles here arise logically out of the plot. At times they involve conversing with the right person or getting to a place where something moon-shattering is going to happen, though mostly the player must gather and use items and locate information about the people and events on the moon. There are numerous dramatic sequences, which is good because the game encourages endless wandering and tends to get tedious. Listening with care to the people who populate the game limits this. It is interesting that the game allows players to explore numerous paths to the conclusion, yet maintains the same dramatic sense. The entire experience, though, is negatively impacted by the graphics and mouse problems.
The 3D sounds excel at expanding the game and indicating that Wright is exploring a vast, dangerous environment. This is a case where the audio transcend the visuals, and I had a sad sense regarding what the game could have been had each component been executed on the same level. Here is something that immersed me and held me captive, from the up close sounds of a guard traipsing a circle around Wright to the vast ambience of the caverns. The voice acting, though, is not so hot, especially Wright, who is too "gee-whiz" to be convincing.Universal Hint System by Frank Nicodem
Dark Side of the Moon is one of the best graphical adventures I've played. It's the kind of game that you will either love or hate -- for various reasons. The scenery compares to Riven, the plot is more complex than Grand Inquisitor, and the characters are done exceptionally well.
As Jake Wright, you have just received notification that your uncle, a miner on Luna Crysta -- the sixth moon of the planet Cepheus -- has died, leaving his mining claim to you. Right from the start, there is some mystery as to your uncle's death, and you are as interested in solving that issue as you are in finding out about his mining claim, and its worth.
The game begins as you arrive on Luna Crysta, and things immediately start heating up. There's a mysterious stranger, who seems to be hiding something from you; a friendly woman who runs the blackjack table in the local casino; the head of security, who starts making veiled threats almost before you have a chance to settle in; a questionably competent CEO of the mining corporation; a native Cepheid who befriends you; and much more.
You must travel around the complex, learning as much as you can, talking with everyone who will talk with you, and doing a bit of "detective work" on your own. As the game progresses, the danger to you increases rapidly. And finally you begin to realize the forces you are up against, and what it was your uncle was trying to tell you.
In reviewing the game, let's start with the "bad news" first, and get that out of the way. DSOM comes on 6 CD-ROMs. And in any game of this size, there's bound to be a lot of disc swapping. But SouthPeak has even packaged the 6 CD-ROMs so that they are quick to switch. Early in the game, you'll spend a lot of time in each individual location, so the swapping is minimal; however, as you get later in the game, you'll need to be moving back and forth throughout the game, which increases this swapping. A "perfect" game (i.e., one in which the minimal number of moves are made to complete the game) can require 30+ disc swaps.
Also, as in any similar game (especially one that has taken the time to develop good video) there's a lot of video to watch. But I found that if I sat back and relaxed, and enjoyed the details of the graphics, it enhanced the experience, not detracted from it.
The requirements are stringent; this is not a game to play on an underconfigured machine. Without the appropriate "horsepower", the videos could get jerky, or the sound may break up. Every aspect of hardware -- CPU, memory, disk space, etc. -- is taxed. I played DSOM on a 266Mhz Pentium with 64Mb of RAM, using the "minimum" install of 140Mb of hard disk space, and it ran flawlessly. (DSOM does, however, almost demand to be the only program running, as it does a free-memory check when it starts up.)
Similarly, the sound and video of DSOM are excellent -- but only if you have the equipment to appreciate it. I played DSOM on three separate machines; one was a laptop, and two were systems with 17" CRTs. The graphics on the laptop were marginal; and even on one of the CRTs, the images occasionally seemed blurry. At first, I thought it was the game itself, until I played it on a high-quality 17" screen, at which point I realized that the graphics were actually quite good, and it was my other systems that were short-changing the experience.
I had a similar experience with the sound. On one system, I had trouble hearing much of the dialogues, until I realized that I had my Surround Sound turned to the maximum. Since the game takes place primarily in a mine, there are already extensive "echo" effects in much of the sound. When processed by my Surround Sound system, these "echoes on top of echoes" made conversation almost unintelligible. Only after turning off my Surround Sound effects did I realize that the game itself has tremendous sound without the need for any enhancement.
Now for the "good news". What starts out as a seemingly easy game becomes incredibly complex, due to an almost total non-linearity. About the only thing that's "linear" is dialoguing with the other characters. As in any such adventure game, the best option is typically to click on every response you can give, which presents a brief appearance of linearity. But movement throughout the game contradicts that, as there is almost no direction as to what to do next, where to go, whom to talk with, etc. It's totally left up to the player. If you like a game where you can just "wander", and do a lot of investigating without feeling as though you are being "pushed" in a certain direction, you'll like DSOM.
Unlike games like Myst or Riven, movement throughout DSOM is totally smooth. You have complete 360-degree movement at all points throughout the game, and some up-down movement as well, where appropriate. You're not walking through a "slide show"; you're actually immersed in the environment! Also, unlike these games, or others such as TimeLapse, Lighthouse, Beyond Time, etc., you're not traveling to multiple, totally-independent locations; every piece of DSOM is closely related to the others, as the entire game takes place in a fairly localized environment, much like the Zork games.
Of course, there are many places where, if you do something wrong, you can die! But in the most graceful of ways, you will always be revived at a point right before your suicidal decision point, leaving you to continue along another path. This was one of the features I liked the most in the game, especially as it progressed at a much more complex pace late in the game, since I didn't always remember to Save my game before trying something dangerous.
Your have an almost limitless inventory, and this may initially appear cumbersome, particularly since there are many, many items to pick up, purchase, or in some other way acquire. The inventory is implemented, however, in a way that makes it easy to use items within the game, use objects with other objects, or even apply objects to yourself.
One of the most useful features is your Video Digital Assistant (VDA), which is an electronic device that stores your E-mail (both text and video), saves notes that you add to it, and -- perhaps most importantly -- provides maps of all areas of the game that you have already visited. This latter is crucial as you work to learn the layout of this complex environment.
All in all, I rate DSOM very highly. My top scores would go to the graphics and sound of the game. If possible, this is a great game to play using headphones. Next highest would be the non-linearity that allows the player to go at their own pace, wander around, and learn where they are, without being forced into a fixed pattern. Ease of learning is also fairly high, although there are a few things that take some time getting used to. (Navigation is a little different, for example, as the only "arrow" cursor is the one that tells you that you can move forward. All other movement -- e.g., right, left, up, down -- is done with 4 "hot spots" at the four sides of the scene window.)
Also high would be my rating for "story" -- that is, how all of the pieces of the game fit together into a believable whole (that is, assuming you can believe that you are going to another planet to investigate a mining claim, and that you're talking with aliens from that planet...) The puzzles are well integrated into the game; there is nothing that is just a "hurdle" thrown in as an afterthought.
DSOM is a very immersive game. The closest game I can compare it to would be Riven, based on similar non-linearity, top-notch graphics, extended play, integrated puzzles, etc. If you liked Riven, you should certainly enjoy DSOM. And with the addition of features such as smooth-scrolling, 360-degree movement, I may even put DSOM a notch or two above Riven.
Computer Games Strategy Plus, December 1998 by Benjamin E. Sones
What do you get when you put a rough-and-tumble mining colony, an oppressed population of indigenous aliens, and an ample dose of casino gambling all together in the same game? Good science fiction tales are rare in the gaming world, and original ones are even rarer, but the latest adventure offering from SouthPeak Interactive hits both of those marks dead on… even if it does miss on a few others.
After discarding the vestigial game manual, the player steps into the shoes of protagonist Jake Wright, a wet-behind-the-ears hero type who has inherited his uncle's mining claim on Luna Crysta. The fact that everyone seems to believe that the claim is worthless doesn't quite jibe with the mysterious circumstances surrounding his uncle's death, and Jake soon discovers that there is more to Luna Crysta than meets the eye. Why is the CEO of the Brave Hope Mining Company so nervous to see you poking around? Who is the mysterious man who has been following you since you boarded the shuttle to Luna Crysta? Why does the attractive blackjack dealer at the casino seem to like you so much? Why did your uncle commit suicide?
Some twists and a few surprises litter the path that leads to the answers to these questions, and while the story is largely predetermined, exploration and gameplay are not overtly linear. Luna Crysta is an expansive setting that offers largely open-ended exploration and plenty of interactive distractions (some relevant, some not). The obstacles that do exist are logical and believable—security passes are needed to access certain areas, and dangerous animals block extensive exploration of the mines until you learn how to deal with them. At a time when "mysterious gadget" and slider puzzles have pushed adventure games to the brink of extinction, it is refreshing to see a title that refuses to resort to cheap tricks to slow player progress. Most of the puzzles are inventory-based and fit logically into the story and the setting, and a few have multiple solutions. Failure can sometimes result in the death of your character, but the option to restore to a point immediately prior to the fatal faux pas is always available.
The acting is mostly good, with a few mediocre performances (unfortunately the actor voicing your character gives one of them), and the characters themselves are very solid. Conversation generally follows the "exhaust every option" structure, with a few deviant "either-or" situations that have little effect on the overall plot. It serves well enough to push the story along, even if your character does say some goofy things at times.
The game is powered by SouthPeak's Video Reality engine, and tragically it is the engine itself that is the game's biggest failing. The concept sounds great in theory, and the engine does allow the player to move freely and rotate the in-game view 360 degrees at any point in the environment (even while moving), but that is where the glamour ends. "Experience the wonders of Tunnel Vision!" you can imagine the barker proclaiming as you peer through the postcard-sized porthole that serves as your window to the world. And what a blurry world it is—while the visuals are aesthetically excellent, they are also heavily anti-aliased, giving everything an out-of-focus look guaranteed to induce headaches. It is a bit like looking at a beautiful painting through the wrong end of a pocket telescope with a dirty lens. Strangely enough, the video overlays for the characters are crisp and clear, making them look a little bit out of place against the muddy backdrops.
Navigation tends to be jerky and slow, fostering a good deal of frustration in a setting that is large and often requires backtracking. It is possible to speed up forward movement, but rotation is painfully slow and can not be adjusted. Rotation is controlled by positioning the cursor over wafer-thin bars on the edges of the view window; in practice this tends to be clumsy and imprecise. Keyboard shortcuts would have been a welcome addition, and an option to set rotation speed even more so.
It is a shame that simple technical foibles should hamper a great story and engaging puzzles as much as they do. Patient players with a strong resistance to eyestrain will be rewarded for their persistence, but they would be well advised to avoid operating heavy machinery immediately after playing.
Game Genie by StormDaemon
Since the rise of the First Person Shooter, role-playing games seem to have taken a back seat to all the heated action in games like Quake and Quake 2. RPG's using live action videos looked like they were thrown into the trunk, however, Dark Side Of The Moon does a great job of using live action videos to immerse a player into the story and provide for an interesting experience. This game allows the player to rotate 360 degrees and choose their path as well as whatever they say from a good list of available options. Though picking a path or word may seem limiting, it still allows a number of avenues to take while playing and thinking.
Storyline: In the story, you portray Jake Wright, a man who's uncle died mysteriously on a moon called Luna Crysta. The uncle has left you a claim on the moon and you journey to Luna Crysta to stake that claim and discover the truth behind all of the mystery. The story begins with you on the shuttle to the moon and continues on to reveal several plots and mysteries behind every turn. The storyline was well written and acts just like a big mystery while providing a lot of suspense and action.
Features: Dark Side Of The Moon offers several gameplay features while having almost no menu options other than save and load. The game uses a live action video game system called Video Reality which allows the player to rotate their view 360 degrees, which is a nice step up for filmed games. Although you can't manipulate everything you see, the cursor will change to show what can be done and what can't. Included in the interactive story is the ability to choose a phrase to say to a person when in conversation. Even though this may seem limiting, it ultimately is not, because in every conversation there are at least 2 paths to take and things said at different times can affect the outcome.
Gameplay: The gameplay, as said before, is slightly limiting but in the end it's just right for the game because it helps to focus the player on the story. Of course there are little things you can do that do not necessarily affect anything, but there are not enough to truly make for a distraction. The ability to rotate the view really helps immerse you in the game and give you a belief that you are stuck right in the middle of everything. Another good point of the game is the VDA, which is a little hand held computer that holds maps, emails, video messages, clips, and more. The VDA supports the interactive view and allows for more belief in the story presented.
Graphics: The use of actually filmed footage in a game is usually limited to introductions and intervals, but when it is used as an environment for playing the game, it is something to be noticed. The entire footage looks futuristic and had to have been computer generated, with actors using bluescreens. Usually that method does not look good, but this time whoever did it, did a really good job. Unless you really look, you'd believe that the people were actually there and interacting with the environment, which is very applaudable. The bad side to the footage is that it is a little blurry at times, but it is not bad enough to really detract from the whole of the game.
All of the other graphics, such as the screen around the view and usuable items were very well designed with a futuristic theme. The movies that were not part of the game interaction looked just like what the player was going through and both were usually inter-connected. Everything was believable even though you could tell that it was a mix of computer generated graphics and live actors.
Sound FX: The sound effects were about as good as one could expect from filmed footage which a few effects here and there when there was not sound coming from the film. Nothing was really bad, but nothing really stood out either.
Overall: This an above average game with its Video Reality system and interactive storyline. The ability to go through the story and decide which path to take really made the game fun and interesting, while the film quality brought out the desire to go further into the story to find out what happens in the end. The story was well-developed with its twists and turns and enough suspense and action to keep a person interested for a good while.
Gambling Magazine
They play a strange game of blackjack on the lunar mining colony of Luna Crysta, the setting for the new CD-ROM game "Dark Side of the Moon.''
For my first hand at the casino, my cards totaled 23. But the pretty dealer, instead of declaring that I was busted because I had gotten over 21, announced, "Player wins'' and doubled my money.
I got 18 points on my next hand, but the dealer got 20 points from a pair of jacks. "Player wins,'' the dealer announced again.
Was she crazy? Was she dazzled by my good looks? Or did she have a hidden agenda that gave her an excuse to slip me the maximum amount of cash in a minimum amount of time?
That's just one of the mysteries you will have to unravel if you assume the role of Jack Wright, the young man who has traveled to Luna Crysta after inheriting his uncle's mining claim.
It seems that Uncle Jake died under mysterious circumstances. The mining colony's security cameras caught him running along the catwalks of the administrative level, then trying to tinker with the oxygen generator before finally coming face-to-face with one of the human-like inhabitants of the moon. Seconds later, he took an explosive from his belt and proceeded to blow himself up.
The security people listed his death as a suicide. But Uncle Jake had recently boasted of being close to a big strike, and it would be an odd time to off himself.
Like most good adventure games, "Dark Side'' has plenty of intrigue, lots of objects to scavenge so you can use them later, and plenty of interesting places to explore. Luna Crysta is the sci-fi equivalent of a Wild West gold rush town. Miners get their own little section of tunnel to prospect for the odd metals and crystals scattered through the moon. Most prospectors end up losing what little they earn at the blackjack or gravity dice table.
The aliens on the moon, the passive Cepheids, love to help the workers with their mining at least that's the story you get from the Brave Hope Mining Corp., which has the overall mining rights to the moon. But if you poke around long enough, you'll discover that the corporation has found an insidious way to turn the not-so-docile Cepheids into slave laborers. And the intrigue gets deeper from there.
The game has an interesting cast of characters, including a greedy sister who seems overly confident that you are not going to make it off the moon alive, a cherub-faced miner who is less interested in digging than cutting a deal for your uncle's claim, and members of a security team whose quick-to-kill attitude will force you to use several unconventional routes to get around.
I found a few annoyances in the game, however. "Dark Side'' gives you a 360-degree view of your surroundings but the system for turning placing your cursor in small areas of the screen requires unnecessary precision. The panoramic movement can be jerky and distracting. Ditto for the forward movement.
All of the action plays out on a screen that takes up only a quarter of your monitor space. And there's so much stuff to pick up and store in your inventory, it would be nice if the game labeled it so you could keep everything straight.
On the other hand, there are plenty of challenges to keep you occupied. After breaking into a security computer, I went crazy trying to figure out how to heat a pair of gloves and get them to mimic someone's handprint. The puzzles work well with the plot and have not been added to simply bedevil players. Unfortunately, the on-line hint system (where you click on the head of the human figure to get a clue) isn't much help.
The dialogue is more literate and less frivolous than most adventure games. So is the story, where the unconventional twists reveal that the designers were not going to settle for a pat "everybody gets what they deserve" finale.
"Dark Side of the Moon'' isn't the golden mother lode that role-playing gamers are seeking. But it is rich enough to make it worth staking a claim.