Discworld Noir Review

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Discworld Noir

Review by Jen

I am a pretty true-blue adventure gamer. I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself because of the current dearth of new games, and it came to my notice that Discworld Noir had been released in Europe but would not enjoy U.S. distribution, so I bit the bullet and ordered it from the U.K. Imagine my excitement when it actually arrived here a couple of weeks later! I quickly ripped off the wrapper and loaded it up. First off, there were three installation choices, small, medium, and large, with medium being the default. Since I got me this nice big 20 GB hard drive when my old one died not long ago, I went ahead and did the large install, which basically caused the whole game (close to 1.3 GB) to run from my hard drive. I figured I was in the gravy now and rubbed my palms together with glee.

DWN starts off quite promising—you play as Lewton, “the Discworld’s first, and maybe last, private investigator.”  After a kind of a prologue that involves you dying but somehow still being around to tell your story, a bossy woman named Carlotta is in your office hiring you to locate her lover, Mundy, and then she leaves, conveniently forgetting to pay you. You decide to take the case anyway, perhaps swayed by Carlotta’s high, perfectly spherical boobs, but more likely by the sorry state of your finances, “private investigator” being a fairly novel concept on the Discworld. You uncover conspiracy within conspiracy on top of other conspiracy, like peeling the layers of an onion, all in four acts. There are bits and pieces of famous noir films liberally sprinkled throughout the game, but with kind of a distinct Discworld spin. The game’s plot is very highly developed, especially for a computer game, with lots of magic and murder—and I would say it’s at least as good as Jane Jensen’s stories for the Gabriel Knight games. It manages never to lose track of itself, even through numerous convolutions, and most, if not all, of the loose ends get tied up by the end of the game.

Graphics are pretty spotty. Some of the cutscenes are fantastic, especially since this is one of those ugly 3D-type games with polygons, but I feel like the designers skimped on the rest of them. Throughout most of the game, you get a background scene with characters superimposed on it, bobbing as if listening to a private little tune, moving their lips and waving their arms, but all the while no onscreen action is taking place. Everything is also too dark for my taste. There is a gamma correction option that adjusts the brightness, and I turned it all the way up, and the game was still too dark. I guess they weren’t kidding when they said “noir.” I really liked the way the characters were drawn, and I liked the way the whole look of the game, down to the characters and camera angles, all fit well within the film noir theme, but I mostly felt like I was listening to the radio because outside of the cutscenes the graphics did not add much, what with staring at the same background with the same characters wiggling and waggling in the same spots for a really long time, sometimes up to five minutes.

Gameplay is kind of spotty, too. I really liked the hotspot cursor that would light up an onscreen description of whatever you were supposed to interact with, and I really, really liked the fact that there was no dying. (Well, Lewton sort of dies, but it’s part of the story.) The game is largely mouse-controlled, with a couple of function keys to bring up options and inventory and the ever-so-valuable “escape” key to skip scenes or conversation. And there is a whole lot of conversation (more about this a little further down) and very little in the way of puzzles, actual or integrated, and what puzzles there were were pretty obtuse. DWN was just crawling with bugs, too—at first, every time I tried to change locations, I inexplicably would get booted back to my Windows 98 desktop. Then I learned that if I got rid of all TSRs except for Explorer and Systray, there weren’t any more crashes, but the game would stutter, sometimes for a couple of minutes straight. About halfway through, I got so fed up with how hard it was to actually enjoy the damned thing that I gave up and followed a walkthrough just to see how it ended. Back to the topic of conversations: better than 90% of the game involves talking to everyone about everything, much like in the Broken Sword games, and then 90% of what you hear is just dumb jokes.  Actually, the jokes were pretty funny and cute at first, but the humor wore thin after the first few scenes. Now, I do realize that classic old-style adventure games rely heavily on conversing, but there was simply too much in this game, especially since there was nothing to watch except the bobbing heads and waving arms of Lewton and whomever he was talking to while listening to what they were saying. Okay, I’m done ranting now, but the bugginess and tiresomeness and the soreness of my escape-key pinkie sorely tried my patience.

Sound effects, music, and voice acting were all first-rate, or they would have been had it not been for the broken-record-skipping (or for you whippersnappers, that would be rap music) effect that just got worse the further I got into the game. In particular, I would have really enjoyed the music—each scene had a different, appropriate tune to go with it. The voice acting was kind of silly at times, much to my delight—Lewton is played by an Englishman trying to sound American, and some of the pronunciations had me cracking up—he always said “Clark” for “clerk,” “I have some more quest-eons,” and “trall” for “troll”—in fact, I thought “trall” was some kind of unique Discworld beast for the first half of the game, until I saw it in writing on the screen. And then on top of that, except for the exaggerated foreign accents of a couple of the characters, all the rest of the voices were undisguised British. Anyway, that is not a criticism, it was just amusing.

I really hate to be very critical of one of the few true adventure games that will be released this year, but DWN was a big disappointment to me, largely because it was such a pain in the ass just to get it to run. DWN fairly reeks of atmosphere and would have been a much better game had it not been for the bugs (and before you ask, my computer, while middle-of-the-road in these PIII days, far exceeds the stated requirements in every respect). The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Perfect Entertainment Publisher: GT Interactive Release Date: July 1999

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

P166 or greater IBM compatible computer 32 MB of RAM 8X CD-ROM drive Windows 95/98

Where to Find It

Check the Game TZ

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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