THE DARK HALF

THE DARK HALF
BASED UPON A STEVEN KING THRILLER

The sparrows are flying again. Thad Beaumont's evil twin, George Stark, has returned in this thrilling computer graphic adventure game based on the Orion Pictures film, from the novel by Steven King. As Thad, a successful horror writer, you are drawn into the psychological mystery behind your evil twin as he commits crimes and murders for which you are blamed. To defeat his evil forces, you must dodge the police, uncover clues and discover the secret of the dark half. Only then can you prove your innocence, save your family, and silence George Stark forever.

Features:

• Cinematic animations and spine-tingling VGA images.
• Digitized sound effects.
• Graphic inventory display of over 35 items.
• Unique interface with point-and-click ease.

~ from the back of the box

There's a reason why I've tended to stay away from point-and-click adventures from Capstone, despite my love for the genre. They tended to take cheap, unwanted movie licenses and hand them to overworked development studios to plop out in a short time frame. Most of them were adventures that displayed a deep misunderstanding of the genre's strengths which resulted in a number of enticing yet terrible games hastily put out in the hope that a movie's success would boost sales. I've already included the dire and baffling adaptation of The Beverly Hillbillies on this site so it's about time I suffer another. Based on the George Romero directed film interpretation of Stephen King's novel, The Dark Half may just assuage some of my fears of the company, however sporadic and short-lived that may be.

Released a year before the movie in 1992, the game loosely follows its plot as author Thad Beaumont comes under suspicion for several gruesome murders that all seem to point directly towards him. After years of writing under the pseudonym George Stark, he has begun using his own name, metaphorically killing Stark off as a publicity stunt and those behind the decision wind up dead. It turns out that, unknown to him, Thad has an evil twin who has been calling himself just that and doesn't like the idea of being dead. Being a Stephen King tale, it's a lot more convoluted (and supernatural) than that, but that's the basic gist of it. Perfect fodder for an adventure game.

You'll need to channel your alter ego by writing on blank pieces of paper found on streets or trash cans (left).
Find the means to write and smoke at the same time to uncover contextless plot points (right).

We play as Thad as he aims to solve the muders and absolve himself. The thing is, as a player, I never really felt like I was doing that. Every action I took seemed arbitrary until it eventually lead to a game over. I don't know why this presumed innocent man would rummage through a dead body or steal evidence from a crime scene before the concept of being framed is even brought up. I've no idea why I would hide an empty beer bottle in my closet without knowing that this is the one place the cops won't look for the incriminating evidence. Even the concept of a psychicly-linked evil twin grown from an excised tumor removed from your brain as a child is only tangentially commented. Unless you've read the book or watched the movie, certain scenes in the game can be confusing as hell.

The way the verb list and text descriptions are displayed shows that the team did have some understanding of the source material. All of the standard words are presented on a typewriter of sorts with narration and description appearing on the black page placed within. Occasionally, it will interact with the game world, particularly when Thad sits down to write, but there is little more beyond this. Even dialogue trees - a concept that's long-since been figured out at this point - is botched. The conversation will end every time the other character speaks forcing you to click on the "Talk to" verb and the NPC again to exhaust the options.

A fast travel option can be accessed by clicking "Travel To" on the typewriter (left).
Oftentimes, it is the only way to access certain areas like your home (right).

There are also unsignalled game overs too. You are considered a person of interest in these murders so any wrong move will point the finger directly at you forcing the police to take you in. This happens when you are exploring puzzle solutions, so I suggest you save often. As for the puzzles themselves, well, if they were executed better I could say they are well designed. Take the locked box in a victim's apartment closet. It is too heavy to pick up and too sturdy to break with your hands and you can forget about finding a key. The hardware clerk in town announces unprovoked that he too has a lock box he can't open and will have to resort to a pistol to open it. Like any American entangled in a murder investigation, he has one in his home but the sound must be muffled with a pillow so not to alarm the police.

This is a good series of events for an inventory-based puzzle that doesn't even mention the guard dog also in your way. The problem is that you can't do any of this until you speak to the hardware clerk. You are not discovering puzzle solutions, but searching for the correct series of events thought up by the designers. And it's done in such a perfunctory way devoid of any character. It is this very same detached game logic that failed almost all of Capstone's other adventures.

Perhaps due to the source material and its intriguing murder mystery, The Dark Half does have some redeeming qualities. The idea of hindering a police investigation shows promise in from a puzzle design and situational perspective. Even hiding evidence in a closet could be a satisfying solution if done well. Alas, The Dark Half is not. A waste of a good IP.
 

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox Daum build of DOSBox 0.74 to bring the game to modern systems. Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 13.1 Mb.  Install Size: 26.2 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download


The Dark Half is © Orion Pictures Corporation & IntraCorp Inc
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

Like this? Try These...