Nocturne

The Good
Nocturne has a rather interesting approach to it's layout. Rather than being put into a single, large adventure, you are given several smaller adventures which the main character, the stranger, experiences. This means you essentially get 4 different adventures within one overall story as well as a brief finale which opens up once the first 4 are all complete. This works very well and keeps the variety level high. The stranger is one of the coolest hero characters in any video game. Wearing a hat, dark glasses and a long trenchcoat he looks slightly reminisent of Caleb, the hero from 'Blood'. His dark, say what you think attitude and deadpan approach to conversation often leads to some funny lines. The graphics are utterly beautiful. Light shines realistically on walls and cloth flows wonderfully. The sound is equally impressive with some great orchestral music and beefy effects, the voice acting isn't bad either. The combat system in Nocturne is controlled with the mouse as your aiming device. This coupled with the laser slights that the stranger has equipped on his firearms make for the best and most intuitive system yet seen in a survival horror game, a genre usually plagued with poor combat.

The Bad
The action is very combat oriented so although there is a fair amount of adventuring to to aswell, you'll be firing a LOT of bullets by the end. Also the game isn't terribly scary. It has its moments but you never feel like you might be in serious trouble because you are always tooled up. There are points where you can get yourself in a lock if a group of creatures back you up against a wall and all you can do is wait 'till you die or restore a saved game. Finally, the wonderful graphics do come at a price in the system requirements. You're going to need a Pentium 3 and a decent graphics card to run this game at full speed and detail.

The Bottom Line
Nocturne is a great survival horror title that fans of the genre who like their fighting frenetic would be wise to check out.