A nice little horror (Penumbra: Black Plague (PC))

Member Name: technoir

Product:	Penumbra: Black Plague (PC)
Date:	30/10/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good physics, good movement gimmick.

Disadvantages: low production values

Penumbra Black plague is not a new game, but is one that I had not heard of until I saw it on special offer for £6.
The game sells itself as a horror mystery, and this is pretty much what it is.
The game has the feel of both resident evil and silent hill, and like both these games, you are solving puzzles in a horror enviroment with creatures chasing after you and trying to kill you.
The big difference is that you cannot fight back. There are no guns or weapons and the only thing that you can do when faced with an enemy is to run away and hide in the shadows until thwy give up.
This is disapointing as it would have been nice to have some more enemies and a choice to destroy them.

The game is not very big and only takes a couple of days playing to complete. The layout is pretty linear and you cannot proceed to further parts until tasks have been done in the correct order. There is no real sense of exploration as you are compelled to go to each area to find the items that will let you access the next area.

The graphics are good but obviously done on a budget. There is not much detail and most of the levels are dark and boring. The enemies have limited animation and there is not a great deal of interesting things to discover.

The voice acting is sometimes corny and a bit annoyig, but the background mucis and noises are atmospheric and do give you a good horror feel.

Although this game has been made on the cheap, it is still worth a play as it does have some good horror points and a good sense of physics. One of the best features is that instead of just clicking on things to action them, you actually have to move your mouse to mimmick what your hand movements would be doing, such as opening a door, you either have to pull the mouse towards you or push it away. This gives the game originality and sets it aoart from some others in the genre.

I would recommend the game, especially if you can pick up a cheap copy. Good for a couple of days, but no online content and no replay value.

Summary: Give it a try.