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Welcome to the 40th issue of the GBAtemp Recommends Revival Project! This project is a weekly feature where we share our favorite games and applications with you. The things we recommend may be "old school" titles, a Homebrew, a ROM hack, sleeper hits, an application, etc, but one thing's for certain, we think they are fantastic and deserve your attention!
Heart of Darkness
This week in GBAtemp Recommends we take a look at Heart of Darkness, a linear side scroll platformer released by Amazing Studio for the Playstation and Windows in 1998. Developed by Eric Chahi and his team, the title was nearly six years in the making because of the orchestral soundtrack, and nearly half an hour's worth of cinematic cut-scenes.
In Heart of Darkness you play as Andy, a boy who's on the search for Whiskey, his dog that's been mistakenly nabbed and taken to another world during a solar eclipse. Being an inventor, Andy hightails it back to his treehouse, grabs his ray-gun and hops into his home-made rocket, flying off to the treacherous Darklands to find his dog-napped buddy.
After wrecking his ship, Andy has to make his way through the strange and hostile environment on foot, using his gun to zap through hordes of savage, cackling shadow creatures and various other baddies while often having to complete tasks and solve puzzles in order to progress further. During his journey Andy loses his gun, but gains special powers that can obliterate shadow creatures and can also be used to manipulate plants/seeds. Along the way, he meets and rescues a winged fellow named Amigo who helps him reach the main lair, where the Master of Darkness and his shadowy minions await.
Timing is essential when playing Heart of Darkness, so movements must be planned just right, or its certain death. Be assured you will die, and die a lot in this game. But, your repeated graphic deaths are quite fun to watch, and with an unlimited amount of continues your constant demise shouldn't hinder your progress too much. Interestingly, the game received an E(Everyone) rating by the ESRB, despite the amount of disturbing ways that Andy can be killed.
Personally speaking, I love the graphics of this game, the shadow critters are really creepy, and the pre-rendered background art is nicely detailed. The cinematic cut-scenes keep the story moving along and also help make this all-too-short of a classic last a bit longer. So if you haven't played this one yet, don't delay, dust off that old Playstation, or give the Windows version a try. Now go save Whiskey!
Genre: Cinematic Platformer
Type: Commercial Release
Developer: Eric Chahi and co.
Release Date: July/August, 1998
System: PS1, Windows
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