
	Platform PC Genre Adventure Developer Flashpoint Productions Publisher Electronic Arts Year released 1994
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Noctropolis

noctropolis

Anyone that has ever worked as a game critic always laments that there aren’t any good superhero games. There have been good superhero games – they just haven’t created their own genre. Noctropolis is a good superhero game, a pretty good adventure game, and often an exercise in extreme pixel hunting.

Through a bizarre turn of events, you assume the role of Darksheer – an up-to-now fictional comicbook hero whose exploits have been brought to an end by the cancellation of the comic. (The character reminds me a little of Spawn.) Your civilian name is Peter Gray but as Peter, you’re a nobody. When you’re Darksheer you’re a somebody and you have a very curvaceous sidekick, named Stiletto. Upon your arrival in Noctropolis it becomes clear that there’s a lot of trouble brewing – someone has let loose some of the worse villains Noctropolis has ever seen including the scantily clad and good-looking Succubus, Tophat (who exposes more cleavage than a character from a Leisure Suite Larry game) the insane Master Macabre, and the "go green" villain, Greenthumb. As Darksheer, you’ll eventually face off against all of them (and hopefully live through each encounter) and unravel the mystery behind the new Sunspire Tower to reach the climactic conclusion.

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The graphics are a blend of comic book sensibility and FMV scenes. All the characters have been motion-captured and for the most part are integrated fairly well into the environments. The FMV appears during character interactions and, although it’s comparatively small by todays standards, is easy to see. Plus, you get to see your sidekick topless! The scene could have done very differently, the nudity’s totally unnecessary, but who

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doesn’t like a little shock value? Audio is solid for this time period in gaming. The music is moody and the voices come through crisply. The acting ranges from sad to all right. The highlight of the acting definitely comes as the end credits role and some of the bloopers are played. It shows that the developers and actors have a sense of humor – something that games should ship with as an option. Under a Killing Moon did it, and Freddy Pharkus too, so why didn’t this little extra catch on? I don’t feel that it detracts from how "serious" the game is viewed.

Part of the problem with Noctropolis is that the interface is clunky. Pressing the right mouse button brings up the action commands imposed on a big triangle. It can take some getting used to especially if you’re used to the old-style Sierra cycling or LucasArts’ SCUMM system. Plus, there are a few pixel hunts that verge on maddening. Clicking everything with the various commands pixel-by-pixel is not fun. Thankfully, most developers have abandoned this approach. Puzzles are mainly straightforward – occasionally you’ll miss an important item and have to backtrack to find it. Unfortunately, it’s often the case that the particular item you’re hunting for is buried by a bunch of pixels. Most are typical of puzzles found early in the game – such as when you have to electrocute a flying gargoyle that bars entry to a church. There are few timed puzzles, which present a puzzle that will instantly kill you if you fail to solve it in time. There’s not much in the way of replay value though – unless you wait a few years before installing it again.

While Noctropolis doesn’t stand out as a landmark game, it’s got enough challenge and cool factor to be worth playing.

- Omni