Lock and load as you jump into this adrenaline rush. Conrad, the hero from "Flashback", awakes from his cryogenic sleep to find himself in the clutches of his old enemies, the Morphs.
With your heart in your throat, battle through the whole solar system in a huge three dimensional environment. Know how to win the confidence of the Ancients, these mysterious people, and discover the fabulous powers of the Pyramid. Overcome the terror which invades you in these murky mazes infested with danger, and exhaust your limits to conquer the Morph invaders.
- Computer controlled cameras for the best view of the action.
- A perfect mix of action and adventure.
- Maximum exploitation of the possibilities offered by 3D.
- Highly detailed player-controlled animation.
- High Tech arsenal of scanners, magnetic shields, explosive mines and evolutionary weapons.
- Film-quality dialogue by professional actors.
- Dozens of action-sensitive musical scores.
- Outstanding computer generated inter-leaving sequences.
~ from the back of the box
I never could quite get the hang of Delphine Software's Fade to Black. I had the budget re-release on EA's CD-ROM Classics label but never could get past the third room. I even tried the PlayStation port thinking the joypad controls would make it more user-friendly. Alas, it would go over my head just as much. I really wanted to get into it, though. It was the sequel to Flashback - a classic in its own right - and it was hyped to high heaven in the gaming magazines of 1995. With almost 30 years in gaming experience, can I do any better now? Can I 'eck!
About 200 years from now, our solar system is controlled by an alien race called Morphs. They're warmongering shapeshifters controlled by a hive mind that have subjugated mankind into oblivion. You play as Conrad Hart who, after regaining his memory in the first game, has been cryogenically frozen only to awake in a prison on the moon. It is here where we join our hero as he escapes determined to destroy the Morphs once and for all.
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Hold the minus (-) key on the number pad to enter combat mode and tap plus (+) to shoot.
If an enemy is near, a circular compass will clue you into their location.
If an enemy is near, a circular compass will clue you into their location.
Although with me behind the keyboard, it'll be a miracle if he ever succeeds. There are more than a few issues that only prove to alienate me from the game. Part of that is the deliberate controls and design ethos of a cinematic platformer transposed into a 3D action-adventure. Conrad has a fairly large array of moves and abilities that feel cramped when clustered around the number pad. You do have an alternative placed around the arrow and modifier keys, but with a shift in finger placement some important features like walking and reversing are missing. I did play around with DOSBox's keymapping feature, but I never really found a comfortable way to play.
Unlike Tomb Raider, which is essentially a cinematic platformer in 3D form, there is no allowance for button combinations. For example, to walk forward is a separate key than running forward. I am so used to holding the shift key with the up arrow to differentiate between the two that I would constantly run into deadly lasers or electrified floor pads when I just wanted to step a little closer. With such an alien control scheme, I would always lose my patience and give up fairly quickly. I have hundreds of unplayed games vying for my attention after all.
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Charging stations will replenish Conrad's shield (left).
Access panels will activate machinery or unlock a nearby door (right).
Access panels will activate machinery or unlock a nearby door (right).
This time, however, I decided to stick with it. I wanted to see what the fuss was about, to know why PC Gamer gave it 92%. Surely, I was missing something. After getting far further than I ever imagined I would, I can tell you I was and wasn't at the same time. It would've been a milestone in game design back then, but the relative simplicity of the game design versus the complexity of the controls have aged it rather badly.
Mechanically, the game is solid. Navigate through a complex of rooms searching for keys, switches and items while shooting at the enemy aliens in your way. Even those that look human might not be what they seem, given the Morphs can morph and all. It's kind of in their name. Some enemies are puzzle to solve rather than obstacles to remove. At one point, a robot droid will walk over pressure pads that deactivate lasers to let you pass. Later, re-spawning enemies are defeated by finding a hidden room and blowing up everything in there. It doesn't get quite as involved as, say, Tomb Raider but the puzzling remains decent enough. If you're stuck, you can give the Demo Mode a go and watch someone else play through the whole game flawlessly from beginning to end. I used it for hints when I didn't know where to go, though it'll display in lower resolution only.
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Items such as ammo, keys and memos will only be found in these grey storage units (left).
If you have the auto-map gizmo activated, your map will fill up with useful information (right).
If you have the auto-map gizmo activated, your map will fill up with useful information (right).
Visually, it is still as good looking as it was back when it was released in the August of 1995. Great effort has been made to make each room more than just square boxes. You'll find a bedroom with table lamps, a bedside chair and television. Dining halls come with counters of primary coloured blobs to represent food. Even the enemies morph like a green T-1000 with lizard-face. The graphics were far beyond anything else seen at home being released before the PlayStation hit the west. I'd say they still hold up today in all their chunky Gouraud-shaded glory.
Fade to Black is still a game I would gravitate towards, only the controls truly hold it back. Quite frankly, if I had the patience to stick with it back then I'd be singing a less reserved tune. I still haven't warmed to the controls but in spite of that, I've come out rather positive. I could always sense an engrossing action adventure behind them and what was there didn't disappoint. Should a remake ever be commissioned complete with revised controls and updated graphics, perhaps this often overlooked sequel may start getting the retro love it deserved.
To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox to bring the game to modern systems. Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.
File Size: 571 Mb. Install Size: 753 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ
Download
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Fade to Black is © Delphine Software International
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me
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I've played this for about 30 minutes now and i have to say, despite being quite rough around the edges when playing it now, there's already a lot of elements in there that no doubt were seen as pretty alien back in 1995 but nowadays a common sight in 3rd person shooters.
ReplyDeleteIt was highly regarded when it first came out. Less so now, but I do think there's a lot there for modern gamers if they can get around the controls.
DeleteI remember reading a print guide for this - perhaps on a shareware disc, or one of those omnibuses that gaming mags sometimes threw together - and being mesmerised just by the kind of things it implied the game let you do. It wouldn't be for another couple of decades until I played Another World and Flashback, and I never did get around to Fade to Black. But both those 2D Delphinesoft games felt incredibly forward-looking, especially in presentation, so I wouldn't be surprised were this similar. That said neither were perfect games by any means so I wouldn't be surprised if this had a few issues either!
ReplyDeleteAs immesnely appealing as they are, they're bloody difficult too. Trying to get at least a little further than I could as a kid (which wasn't far) before writing my review but I'm already late...
DeleteSweet, this game needs to be out there for people. The seemingly general internet-negativity towards F2B always annoy me (same with Hexen 2 tbh, but lets not get into that), so this was a nice read. We had a magazine that scored it 95%, and I had already played the demo to death before that. Always loved it. Was hoping you'd got it to display larger, as I've tinkered before without success, but I guess it's not possible, like with Discworld 2. So annoying as they would be close if just the vertical black bars were gone...
DeleteI believe a new installment of the Flashback series is coming out this year. Another 2d adventure it looks like. Might be worth checking out if they get it right.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm looking forward to it!
Deleteit works perfectly, thank you. i tried installaing it from DOSBox before from a ISO but it constantly telling me i have no memory for installation, like What!? it's such a tiny game running on dosbox how is that possible? i even change it's dos directory few times and still nothing. anyway thank you for doing this. the alternative is a "F2B-GL" version that plays fine and has the cutscenes and music but mapping of the keyboard and controller is all over the place and navigating the menu is a nightmare.
Deletei think "Fade to Black" is very underrated sequel. i don't think it's a bad game at all, it's just suffers from cluncky transition from 2D to 3D (very early one at that), if only DSI waited another year or two, it would been more polished, played better and be successful. i remeber it came in a big box with a awsome cover and at the time i had no idea it was a sequel to Flashback.
I set it up with f2bgl in the end, but took a while to find someone who had one with all the dependencies. Runs nicely natively in windows, too. Such an underrated game.
ReplyDeleteHi. Can you help me to set it up? I find all required.dll, but still doesn't work. :(
Delete