Black Dahlia
And special it is indeed. Take 2 Interactive has brought us eight full CD-ROM's worth of dark adventure and one of the best plots ever devised. Suspense, murder, madness, corruption, psychic warfare, World War II, human sacrifice--the plot of this game has as many facets as the ancient gem which is the center of all the action. The puzzles are more similar to Myst than traditional point-and-click games: there are many stand-alone puzzles to figure out, although a few inventory-based puzzles are present. And the puzzles are tough-- if you consider yourself expert at these games, youre in for a long, grueling challenge. There are over 60 hours worth of playing time here (I spent closer to 80 hours to finish it), including some of the most brutal and frustrating spatial-relations puzzles I've ever seen. The problems to be solved come thick and fast, and the real joy of the game is that almost all of them are well-integrated into the plot, as opposed to the puzzles-for-sake-of-puzzles feel of Ripper, Take 2s earlier murder mystery. There are endless secret doors, encoded messages, locked boxes, and vaults. The plot gets more and more interesting as you progress, and the quality of acting is much better than your average full-motion video games.
Overall, Black Dahlia is without a doubt the best adventure game from Take 2 before they abandoned the genre. Building on strong bases of earlier releases (BloodNet, Bureau 13, Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller), the Take 2 team has finally pulled off a great murder mystery that will capture everyones attention to the end. One word of advice, though: have the walkthrough handy beside you, because chances are you WILL get stuck and frustrated at some very obscure puzzles. Just look at a hint or two to move onthe story is well worth cheating for [EG]. Highly recommended, especially for fans of murder mystery games. And be sure to visit related links below for further information on the fascinating unsolved murder of the Black Dahlia, as well as the novel of the same name by James Ellroy my most favorite crime writer ever :)
Average Rating: | 8.7 [331 votes] |
Genre: | Adventure |
Designer: | |
Developer: | Take 2 Interactive |
Publisher: | Take 2 Interactive |
Year: | 1998 |
Software Copyright: | Take 2 Interactive |
Theme: | Mystery, Horror, Myth & Legend |
Multiplayer: | |
Related Links: | Quandary review , The Black Dahlia Home Page , Black Dahlia novel |
More Info: | Mobygames | The Web |
System Requirements: | DOS |
If you like this game, try: | Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller, Dracula Unleashed |
Thanks to... | |
Technical Notes: |
Screenshots © The Good Old Days