D

Developer - Warp
Publisher - Acclaim
Players - 1
Extras - None

The bit on the box

"D. A full moon rises over L.A. National Hospital. Inside - the father, a doctor gone mad...but why? Outside - the daughter...the innocent, the seeker. You are about to enter the darkness forever! With stunning computer-rendered 3D graphics, D's descent into the dark pit of your soul is a tour-de-force of terrifying secrets and challenges."

Graphics

Does anyone remember The 7th Guest on the PC? It was released at the beginning of the CD-ROM era and was a showcase of graphics and sound, with very restricted interaction. D from Acclaim has much in common with the aforementioned title but unfortunately is just as disappointing. The game is viewed from first person perspective (although there are plenty of cut scenes that blend with the in-game action which show the main character) and the graphics are impressive, looking sharp and moving smoothly, as it is all pre rendered and not free flowing like Doom. The characters all look a little artificial (their mouths move like guppies when talking) but it still looks better than trying to blend FMV into the backdrops.

Sounds

D's music is few and far between, mainly used for building suspense and accompanying events. Sounds effects are also sparse, as there is no background noises at all, only the sounds of the actions your character partakes in (opening a drawer, door, etc). The speech is reasonable, although you only really get to hear one voice (that of the protagonist's father) throughout the story, the only vocals coming from you being gasps and shrieks. The sound is definitely not used to it's full potential, not measuring up to games like Resident Evil and Clock Tower for true suspense.

Gameplay

Interaction in this game is near to nil. All you can do is point to which direction you want the character to go and then she plods off to another destination, and at times you can use items from your inventory to solve some extremely easy puzzles. It is the shortness and ease of the game that really lets it down though. Whereas The 7th Guest had some tough puzzles and was fairly lengthy D is so easy the programmers decided not to add a save feature, and to limit the game to 2 hours! Hello? Even Resident Evil 2 was longer than that when you knew exactly what to do and how to do it, as it is I finished D on my first attempt, and quickly shelved it.

I feel a verdict coming on

To give credit where it is due D does have alot of atmosphere and is genuinely scary in parts (not many though). It can be a fun experience which could have been capitalized upon if it was longer and had more interaction, but as it stands now it seems more like an interactive storybook with incredibly weak puzzles. There could be a market for this type of game (as games like Myst have shown) but not if all the gameplayer can expect is a couple of hours of sitting watching CG animated sequences. I can't even recommend this game as a rental, although if you decide on trying it out then that is most definitely the course of action to take regarding it.

Review by D.R.T.Barrett