GBAtemp Recommends Revival # 040

[VatoLoco]

Welcome to the 40th issue of the GBAtemp Recommends Revival Project! This project is a weekly feature where we share our favorite games and applications with you. The things we recommend may be "old school" titles, a Homebrew, a ROM hack, sleeper hits, an application, etc, but one thing's for certain, we think they are fantastic and deserve your attention!

GBAtemp Recommends!

Heart of Darkness​

​

This week in GBAtemp Recommends we take a look at Heart of Darkness, a linear side scroll platformer released by Amazing Studio for the Playstation and Windows in 1998. Developed by Eric Chahi and his team, the title was nearly six years in the making because of the orchestral soundtrack, and nearly half an hour's worth of cinematic cut-scenes.

In Heart of Darkness you play as Andy, a boy who's on the search for Whiskey, his dog that's been mistakenly nabbed and taken to another world during a solar eclipse. Being an inventor, Andy hightails it back to his treehouse, grabs his ray-gun and hops into his home-made rocket, flying off to the treacherous Darklands to find his dog-napped buddy.
After wrecking his ship, Andy has to make his way through the strange and hostile environment on foot, using his gun to zap through hordes of savage, cackling shadow creatures and various other baddies while often having to complete tasks and solve puzzles in order to progress further. During his journey Andy loses his gun, but gains special powers that can obliterate shadow creatures and can also be used to manipulate plants/seeds. Along the way, he meets and rescues a winged fellow named Amigo who helps him reach the main lair, where the Master of Darkness and his shadowy minions await.

Timing is essential when playing Heart of Darkness, so movements must be planned just right, or its certain death. Be assured you will die, and die a lot in this game. But, your repeated graphic deaths are quite fun to watch, and with an unlimited amount of continues your constant demise shouldn't hinder your progress too much. Interestingly, the game received an E(Everyone) rating by the ESRB, despite the amount of disturbing ways that Andy can be killed.

Personally speaking, I love the graphics of this game, the shadow critters are really creepy, and the pre-rendered background art is nicely detailed. The cinematic cut-scenes keep the story moving along and also help make this all-too-short of a classic last a bit longer. So if you haven't played this one yet, don't delay, dust off that old Playstation, or give the Windows version a try. Now go save Whiskey!

Genre: Cinematic Platformer
Type: Commercial Release
Developer: Eric Chahi and co.
Release Date: July/August, 1998
System: PS1, Windows


If you enjoyed this weeks edition of GBAtemp Recommends! please leave a comment in the thread. This helps us monitor feedback and ensures we keep posting these articles in the future.

We are always looking for community members who wish to get more involved. If you would like to write a GBAtemp Recommends! article, let us know.

Official GBAtemp Recommends! Mini-Page & History

 

[raulpica]

EVERYONE. GO. PLAY. THIS. NOW.

It's a wonderful game, and one of my favourite games from my childhood. The learning curve is a bit harsh sometimes, but it's a rewarding and beautiful game.

I'll repeat myself. Go play this now.

 

[Wabsta]

I had this game when I was a child and absolutely hated it. It was so fucking hard.. If I remember right, I coulndn't even get past the 2nd screen or part of the first world..
Later I sold it on a flea market, yeeeaaaars ago.

 

[BORTZ]

Wow that video is depressing.

 

[Daemauroa]

this looks like a sort of demon souls/dark souls from the last century...

 

[gtmtnbiker]

Why is there a wireless router icon associated with this thread? It messes up the formatting when you look at all of the threads.

 

[Another World]

i love this game. i picked it up for the ps1 when it first came out. i bought it because of how pretty it looked, i had no idea if the game would even be fun. it isn't as difficult as some will make it out. once you learn the patterns of each level you can blast through the entire game. sort of like the laser disk arcade games. it is rote memorization for some of the stages but the rest is just understanding the best pattern of attack. great suggestion!

now... has anyone been able to complete a ps1 eboot on their psp? it seems the game crashes right before the last boss battle.

-another world

 

[chavosaur]

Game of my CHILDHOOD! Gawd I loved this game so much. The death scenes of this game were so graphic as well o.o I would LOVE to see this game remade, great choice for revival.

 

[shakirmoledina]

limbo deaths? or another world deaths?

 

[Skye07]

I've played this over 10 years ago as a kid, great game! Thanks for the share!

 

[mehrab2603]

Amazing game. I first played it around 2001 but couldn't finish it then. Had a go at it again last month and finally finished it 11 years later Wish they made more games like this.

 

[Bladexdsl]

oh god i remember this wanting to smash my ps1 controller i've never known a game with so many cheap shots in my life! this would make a perfect ep for the avgn

 

[h8uthemost]

now... has anyone been able to complete a ps1 eboot on their psp? it seems the game crashes right before the last boss battle.

That's too bad. I was just about to go and grab the eboot for my psp. Maybe it's a problem on your end? The site I'm looking at there's no comments about any crashes throughout the game.

 

[Cyan]

This is a game I always wanted to play since the first intro video release (and I saw only the intro, without knowing the game was a plateform)
But it ended that I never played it (never bought it on PS1 era).

I still don't have it... maybe Eric Chahi could release all his games in a HD remake (like Another World HD) in a Humble Bundle ?

 

[Hadrian]

I waited what seemed a very long time for this for the PC, then when it eventually came out I pirated the PSX version from Blockbuster.

There were a lot of games like this where the CGI parts was shown without much gameplay and without the internet you couldn't see the gameplay vids, when they did show the gameplay on TV it was in 2 second clips. The actual game looked great for the time which is something you can't say about others of its ilk but I can't say I loved the game. It's a solid game, a good challenge and experience but if I never play the game again I can't say I'll be that bothered. One of those style over content titles but it was better than others that did the same.

 

[infinete]

Wow, brings back memories. One of my most remembered PS1 titles, I really should go back and finish it .

 

[DCG]

Never got past the cave part, where you had to swim.....
Even died a couple of times, because the animation was realy funny XD

When dead space came out, I instantly thought of this game again.

I should still have the CD lying around somewhere :/

 

[jamesaa]

First game I played when I got my PS1 years ago

After completing it a couple of time it does become a very short play through, but otherwise very enjoyable and rage inducing

 

[trance]

I still have my PC disc for this, though I'm afraid to play it again ahaha

 

[Uncle FEFL]

Should have been the same type of game, but based on the book by Conrad...