Info
Deep within the mysterious corridors of twelve unearthly labyrinths, a dark force is spreading. Countless enemies lie in wait, hidden within the swirling shadows of an all-encompassing mist, eager to destroy all who dare seek a path to the exit.
Take control of Artemis, ancient goddess of the moon, in a quest to cast light upon the darkest corners of each dangerous maze. Fire arrows of pure light at deadly foes, search the depths with a magical glowing bow, activate enchanted lamps and collect secret keys on a path of enlightenment. Download Dark Mist and all will be illuminated!
Players: 1
Released: February 2008
Cost: PAL £4.99 HK$55.00
Review – by Keith Murray
Game Republic has recently had a patchy record. For every Folklore, there is an abysmal Genji – the game which provoked the infamous Internet Memes of Giant Enemy Crabs and attacking enemy weak spots for massive damage that have haunted Sony in their initial push to make the gaming public take their new gaming platform seriously. It leads to a strange feeling when approaching their first outing on the PSN, Dark Mist.
Essentially a top-down shooter ala Super Smash TV, Dark Mist’s lean story concerns itself with a world overrun by an invading army that has covered the land in an all-encompassing cloud of noxious gas. It’s left to a Zelda-style character to clear various dungeons of spawning enemies and once they have been dispatched, a colour-coded key which corresponds with the door in that area must be found to open the gate to the next area.
So far, so typical and no doubt a fair few have nodded off at the prospect. But such a simplified explanation does Dark Mist a disservice of the highest order.
The visuals are exquisite and are teeming with vibrancy and detail. Pseudo-cell shaded characters busy themselves with halting the player’s progress and are all animated with obvious care and attention to detail. Whether it is myopic bosses descending from the ceiling to envelope the entire area in the a cloud of purple mist (while sporting a crown set at a jaunty angle), or the puffs of smoke being cleared from an area with a forceful shake of the SIXAXIS, the animation is very special indeed. The weapon set is fairly limited and while a smart bomb can be used to clear the mist from a level, they should only be used in an emergency as they can be in sparse supply.
Add into the mix a chaining system which rewards the hi-score OCD suffers out there by upping the amount of points gathered for dispatching enemies, but draining away the higher the score rises, and it all adds up to a delicious, fast paced shooter that revels in its very existence. The classic risk/reward game play comes to the fore and although only 12 levels long and hardly difficult enough to warrant a breaking of sweat by more experienced gamers, it does open up a Hard mode upon completion which mixes up the pattern of rooms and forces players to learn a whole new approach.
Dark Mist is a wonderful little game, a welcome distraction that offers a lush set of characters if nothing in the way of over the top storytelling and is all the better for it.