These days, there are so many game designers trying desperately to be part of a perceived first-person shooter craze that any 3-D action game that actually manages to do something completely different deserves a lot of credit. Think how many games there are on the shelves which could be described as "just like Doom, except you can also do X and Y." The design similarities on most of these games even extend to the keyboard controls. Well, variations on a theme can only go so far, and I'm confident that none of the clones will be remembered like the original. I'm delighted to say that Fade To Black from Delphine Software and Electronic Arts is a completely different take on the "run down corridors and shoot" model.
As you play this fast-moving, polygon based 3-D wonder, you must keep in mind that it is the sequel to Flashback, which could be described in lots of very positive ways, but "3-D" is not one of them. The original adventure was flat as a pancake, a platform game with texture mapping. It also introduced the amnesiac hero Conrad B. Hart, a man who knows nothing about his life except that he must fight to keep it. Conrad is on the run from an alien race called the Morphs, who are like a cross between a gila monster and Deep Space Nine's Odo. At the end of Flashback, Hart prevented the Morphs from taking over the Earth and regained his memory.
As Fade To Black opens, Conrad has been in cryosleep in a space capsule for 50 years when he is discovered by a Morph ship and taken to their penal colony, New Alcatraz. Here he meets up with John O'Connor, who represents an alliance of human rebels, and who will help Hart escape if he will join up with the good guys. O'Connor supplies a gun and a communicator. Then... it's party time!
As mentioned earlier, Fade To Black avoids the now-clichΘd first person perspective with a constantly shifting camera angle that always includes our hero. Usually the perspective hangs just above and behind Conrad's head, but moves in for close-ups when you get ready to shoot, and does a little bit of well-choreographed wandering. Imagine the Alone in the Dark engine with smooth transitions and little to no possibility of getting nailed by something around the corner that you can't look at.
The interface uses all the keys on the numberpad instead of Doom's more simplistic controls, and this reflects all the neat things you can make our hero do. Conrad can walk, run, take small steps forward or back, side step, look around corners, duck, jump, and spin 180 degrees on a dime. The space bar lets you push buttons and open lockers, and you can also throw mines or, of course, fire your gun. Instead of getting bigger weapons as you explore, you find limited amounts of more powerful bullets for the same gun. You never have to leave the game to adjust the settings either. Everything except difficulty level can be toggled on the function keys, including graphics resolution!
Morphs drip down out of nowhere as blobs and then gel into their lizardy shape. Hit a key to toggle Conrad into combat mode, and he draws his gun. When you are lined up properly, crosshairs appear and you are ready to blast your enemy into its component polygons, literally. Of course, there's always the chance that you'll die instead...
Most action games of this type describe the number of times you can be hit before dying as health. But let's face it, most of us would be hard pressed to survive more than one point-blank bullet. Fade to Black gives Conrad a shield, and every time he gets hit, it loses power. Once the shield goes down, so does Conrad. Fortunately, there are devices all over enemy territory that can power Conrad's shield back to full. The shield is only effective against shots. If you step on an electric plate or are unlucky enough to encounter a Morph in his slime form, you will die immediately. And oh, those death scenes are wonderful. A few quick seconds of rendered video showing Hart buying the farm in graphic ways, and then the Game Over screen CRASHES down. It all happens so fast, it ticks you off and makes you want to play again immediately. If you were in an arcade, you'd have another quarter in the slot before you knew what hit you.
Not everything in Fade To Black is shooting and ducking, either. Each level you are supplied with a mission to accomplish, from shutting down defense screens to escorting an old scientist to the safety of the transporter. Since you can receive messages on your communicator, these tasks may even change midway. If your co-conspirator finds that the defenses are too high around a given area, he'll let you know it's time to go to plan B.
Even the controls screen is fun to watch. To save your game, whack the escape key, and your screen freezes and shrinks down to a frame attached to a spoke on a wheel. Turn the wheel to a free frame and hit enter to save it. Then the picture enlarges back to your full view and you're back in the action. All the options are animated just as creatively.
To sum up, Fade To Black is fun, addictive and innovative. It's the best new shooter on the market, and no one can accuse it of being a Doom clone. And on top of all that, it's a friggin' sequel! Get it now.
