Dark Earth

The Good
The atmosphere in Dark Earth is a rich experience. It is our world plunged into a new dark age (metaphorically and literally) by dust clouds created from a giant passing meteor, a world that combines medieval gothic with a little steampunk and some post-apocalypse designs.

As Arkhan, a temple guardian of Sparta -- one of the few remaining areas on earth that still receives natural light -- the player guides him in a quest that uncovers a grave threat and conspiracy. While this may seem a cliched plot, it is well-developed and intricately written.

To add further suspense, Arkhan has been contaminated with a dark disease that slowly turns him into a mutated beast (which visibly changes his look, voice, and vocabulary as the game progresses). Thus, the player is faced with a time limit, albeit it is well-paced so that the game is not too frantic.

The adventure plays in the 3rd-person perspective, with 3D character models on beautifully pre-rendered backgrounds, similar to Alone in the Dark. Arkhan explores many unique places around the city, in the slums, underground, and more. There are also a fair amount of interesting characters to meet and converse with. Most of the quests are good inventory-based or logic-based puzzles.

Combat is fundamental to the game, and is luckily well-designed. Ammunition for firearms are scarce, so the majority of the fighting takes place with melee weapons such as axes and swords. Arkhan has different moves he can execute, which adds another element to combat strategy. Best of all, the fighting can almost be skipped by adventure gamers not interested in it with the auto-combat option.

The Bad
Dark Earth has an frustrating and unbelievably hard endgame puzzle - a labyrinth with razor blades that kill Arkhan instantly. Not only does this require good timing, hand-eye coordination, and lots of trial-and-error, the game only has save points a specific locations so you are forced to start the puzzle over should you die. After spending spending numerous hours across several days on it, I finally uninstalled the game without finishing it.

I don't know how this puzzle made it past QA given that it forces the player to use platform-gaming skills that were not evident in any previous portions of the game.

I felt a ominous flashback to Bioforge (another wonderful game I could not finish because similar endgame puzzles) as soon as I encountered this.

The Bottom Line
With the exception of the last puzzle that drives a gamer with poor hand-eye coordination to crushing despair and lost hope for adventure games, Dark Earth is a marvel in the deteriorating adventure gaming genre.

The combination of excellent graphics, sound, story, and puzzle design all add to an enriching experience.

It is unfortunate that the planned sequel had been cancelled, although there is supposed to be a pen-and-paper RPG release in this gameworld.