Dark Fall

Dark Fall is a medieval strategy game in which you take command of a huge medieval military force. The story isn't that complicated--you'll start out as a lowly infantryman working for a village, but you'll eventually go into conflict as a drifter, advanced builder and control a great empire. Dark Fall gives you some freedom in how you approach your decisions. You can be a cunning strategist and a warrior--both of which are characters in the upcoming game Dark Fall.

Dark Fall is using a 3D engine, though this may be a shift from a strategy game. Dark Fall's developers were behind both the Shogun and Rainbow Six titles for Sega and Infogrames respectively. Not only is the engine powerful, but the characters and environments are completely different. While these games, like Shogun, are action-oriented, they are much more stealth-oriented and even more blood-splattered. Dark Fall uses a combination of real-time and 3D animation to render characters and environments with realistically lit appearances. Character models move with the player, which is another very important aspect of the Dark Fall. For example, characters can move around on a wall, and their heads turn to face the camera. When playing the new 3D version, the characters move with the camera around the environment, and enemies can even run around in a circle, moving and disappearing if they aren't close enough. The current version of the game allows for up to eight characters at once, but this feature is currently capped at four. Other characters can become trapped in cages, and these can either be destroyed by the enemy or forced to retreat. In addition, the characters in Dark Fall will be able to find a variety of hidden objects and weapons by picking up power-ups, such as daggers and knives, and other items like glass bottles, grenades, fire extinguishers, and a barrel that can be used to roll the enemies into objects.

Visually, Dark Fall's characters are gorgeous, and they animate very well. In the default "early 2000s" version of the game, the characters are 2D sprites, but they animate very smoothly. However, the same animation can be found in the very early 2000s version, and characters are animated smoothly in certain environments. The very basic animations are still in place, but, because the characters are presented in 3D, the characters move smoothly, and the backgrounds are very well animated. On the other hand, the sprites are quite a bit more detailed, and the same animations are present in the darker areas of the game. You can actually see characters that are standing in close quarters, which is a good thing considering that many of the enemies in the game have guns at their disposal. In fact, the only character in the game who is immune to bullets is a vampire named Antibri.

The sound is also very good. It is very clear that the soundtrack is coming together nicely, and the game is incredibly atmospheric. The voice work is very well done, and the voices all speak on a given situation, which makes the game even more suspenseful. I would suggest that some players enjoy watching the music while playing the game, but since the story is a little confusing, this can be hard to achieve.

GS: Can you give us an idea of the game's structure? How long will it be?

LR: The main story will take about 6-7 hours to complete. There will be three main story areas: the facility in the middle of a swamp, the junkyard in the middle of the bay, and the suburban area in the middle of the city. Each of these locations has a bonus chapter, and each one is unique. Some have a unique storyline, and some have you controlling either a female vampire named Laura or one of the other characters. In the mission briefing, you'll see a series of cutscenes between the main characters, and the mission briefings will tell you where to go next. But you'll have to figure out the objectives first, as the game will require you to complete an assortment of quests to advance the plot.

You can explore each area using the analog stick or a face button. For navigation, you'll use the A button to move the camera and the Y button to shoot. The X button is used to cycle through your weapons. The square button is used to switch to a secondary weapon, and the right trigger is used to swap weapons. A full-fledged inventory system is included in the game, and it allows you to change weapons, equip and use items, and change your inventory with the D pad. You'll also have access to the TQ button to quickly call up a minimap to get a better look at your surroundings.

In addition to the weapons and armor that you'll find in the game, you'll be able to pick up gadgets and other objects that you can use in the game to power up. The most significant addition to the action is the use of stealth by knocking into enemies.