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Bargain Bin Games Revue - Round One

 by Eddie Turner on September 1, 2008 12:00 AM EST
34 Comments | Add A Comment
34 Comments

As I informed you earlier, a survival horror game is included in this round of games, and Penumbra: Black Plague is it. (Ed: You Are Empty doesn't count, unless you consider the survival horror aspect of actually wading through the game.) However, this is not your typical horror title. Yes, the game is very scary, and yes, your goal is to get from a really bad situation to a more desirable one. So, what's different? Well, for starters, you don't have a gun at your disposal. In fact, there are almost no enemies or monsters to deal with throughout the game. I know what you're thinking: how can this be a survival horror game without the element of survival; without the horror? For those whose minds are bewildered at this point, rest assured that both elements are present in a big way.

Part Half-Life and part Silent Hill, Penumbra: Black Plague is the spawn of Penumbra: Overture, a game that made its debut as a free download just last year. The game takes place in an abandoned research facility whose halls and corridors are creepy enough to give Hannibal Lecter the willies. While the game's opening sequence does provide some back-story, your identity is unknown. What you do know is that you've awakened in a substation of this dark and musty lair with no clue what lies beyond the room in which you begin.

Black Plague, much like its predecessor, plays like a standard first person shooter, but with a style of gameplay that is deep-rooted in the adventure genre. You simply move about freely using the standard WASD control scheme along with the space bar to jump. However, your interactions in the game are all done with your mouse. As you move your cursor over objects that can be moved or manipulated, a little hand appears in its place. Instead of simply clicking on objects to move them, you'll actually interact with the environment with the movement of the hand icon. For instance, if you choose to open a drawer, you'll need to hold down your left mouse button and drag it open to see what's inside. If you come to a door, you might choose to just open it just enough to see what's inside before you bolt through it. How fast objects move is dependent upon how fast you choose to move them. This simple yet intuitive control scheme is implemented perfectly for a game that's heavy on these types on interactions.
 
 
As you take on the game's physics puzzles and brain teasers that enable you to progress from one area to the next, you'll collect various objects that are added to your inventory to use when the situation calls for them. You'll also come across bits of information made available to you via computer terminals that you'll hack. One of the things you'll learn is that the facility you're lost in suffered a viral outbreak that left many dead and others infected. I stated earlier that there are almost no monsters or deranged enemies in the game, and this is true. Still, I feel compelled to shed a bit more light on the subject.

(Ed: Spoiler Alert!) While the vast majority of the game is void of any life other than your own, you will encounter a few of the infected aimlessly wondering the halls. However, you can simply walk around them as they don't seem to make much of an effort to attack you. Also, you do meet up with a single enemy in the game. His name is Clarence. However, Clarence does not take a physical form. Instead, your dealings with him consist of voices that appear to be inside your character's head. Early on in the game, you'll only hear Clarence moan and groan, adding a bit more eeriness to the atmosphere. As the game progresses, he begins to speak to you and even tries to manipulate your actions. While a clever addition to the game, Clarence's presence eventually goes from creepy to annoying as he simply will not shut up. Even with these elements thrown in, most of Black Plague's heart pounding moments are purely situational. Much like in F.E.A.R., the game keeps you jumping with little surprises rather than full-on assaults. This, along with heavy exploration even in the most confined of areas, provides a unique experience that you won't find in many other games.
 

Weighing in with merely four or five hours of gameplay, Penumbra: Black Plague can be completed in one or two sittings. While this might be a turnoff to some, the game is worth its weight in gold and is a lot of fun to play while it lasts. With a price tag of only ten bucks, the game is easily more enjoyable than many of the blockbuster titles out there that last twice as long at five times the price. Penumbra: Black Plague is truly in a league of its own and is a blast to play though. Save for the kiddies, I have no problem recommending the game to any gamers with a spare Hamilton.

I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist. Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.
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  • kilkennycat - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    Penumbra:Black Plague is the second game in a trilogy. The first is Penumbra: Overture, still available retail from Gamestop and on-line sources for $19.99. The game mechanics in Black Plague are a lot less awkward than in Overture. The third in the series Penumbra:Requiem has just been released in the past few days and is available as an add-on EXPANSION to Black Plague. Afaik, there will never be a retail version of the Requiem expansion, however it is available for download purchase for $9.99, currently from www.gamersgate.com. The download version will run with either a retail copy or download copy of Black Plague. Gamersgate has all parts of the trilogy separately available for download purchase and also offers Black Plague Gold Edition for $19.99, which contains both Black Plague and Requiem. This combo may also be released retail, but I have not come across any (US) sources so far. See:-

    http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?page=shop&...">http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?pag...what=bro...

    Not affiliated in any way with Gamersgate. I have not (yet) purchased any games from them. I have retail copies of both Overture and Black Plague, knew that Requiem had just been released for download only, so came across Gamersgate yesterday in my hunt.

  • duderockin - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    this could also be a useful article series for those who want the more zen perspective of 20/20 hindsight.

    also good for those who hate spending more time on video card catch-up than actual gaming.

  • GTForce - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    Check out Falcon:
    http://home.novint.com/">http://home.novint.com/

    and how Penumbra series benefits from it:
    http://home.novint.com/games/games_list.php?c=0&am...">http://home.novint.com/games/games_list.php?c=0&am...
    http://home.novint.com/games/games_list.php?c=0&am...">http://home.novint.com/games/games_list.php?c=0&am...

  • cosmotic - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    I don't really see any need to do (Ed: blah blah) notes. I presume there is an editorial process that is two way? Maybe these 'issues' should be resolved and the text of the article changed. This makes for an easier read and would help the professionalism of the articles. Thanks.

  • JarredWalton - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    I felt most were somewhat humorous. Sorry they didn't please, since I added them. Without having Crazy Machines 2 I couldn't verify whether PhysX drivers were sufficient or not.

  • Pottervilla - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    I agree with the humorous part.

    However, you guys are one of the premier hardware review sites on the web--I would expect you to know about things like drivers. Also, I would expect that if you were reviewing a game, you would have a copy of it somewhere, and maybe a couple PhysX capable graphics cards.

    Overall, it was still a good thing to mention (the possibility that PhysX drivers might open up the extra levels), but I have come to expect a little more than maybes from this site--and a little communication between editor and reviewer would be nice too. :)

    I hope this is constructive criticism--keep up the good work.

  • Nihility - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    ...suck.

    The whole point of the titles is to make it easier to navigate a 7 page article. Sure it's fun to be random at times and be witty, but seriously give us readers a break please.

  • StormEffect - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    I thought they were clever. Enjoy the creativity, if you want numbers and easily searchable reviews go to google or use meta-critic.

    Anandtech readers can be so dry and boring sometimes. Waa waa waa.

  • JarredWalton - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    And here I thought the readers might enjoy some literary quotes as a change of pace. I mean, isn't the point that you actually read about the games rather than just look at a page heading and decide whether or not that's worth reading? Or you can treat it like a magazine and click through the pages; if you see the pictures and don't feel like reading, click to the next page. It takes all of 5 seconds. Besides, more page views are good for the articles - the popular stuff is more likely to get similar articles in the future, since after all we are a business the depends on advertising.

  • Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - link

    Honestly I think it's got to be a balance between something creative and something functional, I try to blend the two as much as I can whenever I write - sometimes I get it right, other times I don't.

    I've never been a fan of forcing pageviews on an article, my thinking is always that if an article is good enough it'll attract its own traffic, regardless of how it's structured.

    Thanks for the feedback, while I can't always guarantee that we'll be perfect - we'll definitely try :)

    Take care,
    Anand
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