Noctropolis is a classic full-motion video (FMV) point & click adventure cut right out of the mid 1990's. Originally developed by Flashpoint Productions and then published by Electronic Arts, it wasn't until the late quarter of 2015 that Night Dive Studios acquired the rights of the game and was able to recover the source code from the original developer. After much effort to port the game to more modern systems, this Enhanced Edition came to life in January, 2016.
The story follows a book owner by the name of Peter Grey. After relaxing and reading a couple issues of his favorite comic book series, that had abruptly been discontinued, he receives a strange knock at his door from an innocent-looking little girl. What he receives from her is a package that forever changes his life by throwing him into an alternate reality, where his favorite comic comes to life and he becomes the star superhero known as Darksheer. As with all comics, Darksheer must combat the onslaught of evil forces that are taking over the streets of the ever-dark city, Noctropolis, and in the end he might even have a chance of winning over the heart of a beautiful girl.
It's obvious to no end that this title is very low budget, but that's not a huge concern. Other great FMV games such as Phantasmagoria and Harvester were also made relatively cheaply. It just adds to the whole cheesy B-Grade atmosphere, which is enhanced by the eccentric charm of the over-acting characters. You can tell that a decent amount of effort went into the makeup and costumes of a lot of the protagonists and villains, and you can also tell that the cast had a lot of fun making this game; as shown even more in the unskippable post-game blooper reel.
The backgrounds are richly detailed, and most of them have a brooding, dark ambience to them that's reminiscent of the Batman series; in fact, the main character looks a lot like the famed Gotham superhero. There are even two fairly long in-game comics to read, which come with some of the best and most hidden gems of retro gaming music. There are quite a few areas to uncover, some of which will only be revealed if you do certain in-game tasks, and there are also multiple storyline branches. Needless to say, there's a decent amount of replayability if you want to explore further dialogues in the future.
Where Noctropolis falters is in its obscure, pixel-hunting solutions. If you're using a guide, this won't be much of a problem, although there are still instances when a tiny, and I mean nearly nonexistent, object is hard to find even with it being pointed out that it's there. Imagine playing this game back in the 90's, with little to no guidance whatsoever... it would've probably taken a good month to finally overcome. Speaking of the "good 'ol days", Night Dive Studios have fixed all of the 'road to nowhere' endings in this version. Previously, players would've been stuck about 90% into the game if they had forgotten a couple of items, but that is now no longer the case, as intended by the original release; thank the gaming gods for modern day patches, right?
In any case, Noctropolis is an underrated and largely overlooked diamond in the rough from the early days of point & click adventures. It's overly difficult at times, but we do live in a modern era and if you get stuck, a guide is just a couple of minutes away from your fingertips. Though it's not advised to pay the full price of $10.99 CAD for such an old game, grabbing it at a -75% or even a -50% sale is a steal. Highly recommended for comic book fans, and those who enjoy a dark atmosphere.
Rating: 3.5/5.0 - Average, can take it or leave it.The Horror Network
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