D

"A very short FMV game"

D is one of those FMV games. If you've played Myst or anything like it then you'll have a vague idea. The game was released on the PS1 and Saturn. I had originally played the PS1 version but found the Saturn version to buy for dirt cheap. Is it worth hunting a copy down? Read on!

Laura is at the hospital one day. There are corpses everywhere. An odd area appears before her. She steps into it and she's suddenly at home (or is it a random castle? I can't tell). Anyway a mysterious head keeps appearing and telling her to stay away. So now you must search this castle for its secrets. It's an interesting idea, really it is. The plot has a good bit of mystery to it and the ending seems to come out of left field. That being said a few aspects bring the entire plot down.

Graphically this game really didn't hold up. Laura has a very think man like body. The mysterious head is comical to look at. Everything is also rather grainy. But besides those minor things there is some nice details put into the game. Each room could pass off for a real room with its item locations and the overall set up of each room. The corpses also look pretty cool.

Sound in the game is almost perfect. Sound effects are haunting and limited. If it would make a sound in real life it makes a sound here. Be it the ticking of a clock to the sound of Laura's steps on the cold stone steps. The music is limited but adds a bit of tension to the game as you travel. One part actually had me slightly creeped out. Sadly the voice work is the worst I've ever heard. Laura seems to never talk which are both and maybe a saving grace. The mystery head talks too much and its lines are delivered so poorly that I was in tears during the ending from laughing because it was just that bad.

The game controls like a rock. It's slow and even the response time between hitting the button can take way too long. I don't know what they were thinking to make this game so slow moving. I don't remember the PS1 version being this slow.

The game is an adventure title. This means you walk around this castle. Look at items and pick some up and use them to advance to new areas. The game has a few more open areas that most but there is still a lot of door opening.

The main focus of the game is to make it back to the "real" world. Walk say to the 2nd floor bedroom and open a chest to get a key that opens a door to the basement. It works as simply as that. The thing is, the game really doesn't have many items to find or places to use them so it's just a matter of finding the item.

The problem with all of this is that Laura moves like a rock. Very slow and tedious. Angles and where you go are very limited and instead of feeling natural it really feels stiff at times. Later on it even becomes a chore to solve puzzles because it requires Laura to constantly be hitting levels and switches. That's fine but again she moves without any intention of going fast. It's a very slow pace she moves at.

Another problem is that the game is very short. It is possible to finish the game in under a half hour. Most people won't be it can be done. The thing is that a little bit of bland detail is brought to the table when you inspect certain items but none are interesting and add nothing to the game itself.

I would recommend D for only those die hard adventure fans. Or even horror junkies might be entertained. The problem is that it really isn't fun to play and the challenge is mediocre at best. And what makes it worse is that the sequel is even worse some how and plays differently. I'd say pass on D unless you're into the genre itself and even then I would still be cautious.

Story - 7/10
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 5/10
Game Play - 5/10
Replay value - 1/10

Final Score - 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/07