This game comes from the same group that brought us
Out of This World and it shows. If you enjoyed that game and its sequel,
Fade to Black,
Heart of Darkness may be for you. It’s a side-scroller with some variations. For example, you can climb certain walls and also push or blast with your gun to move items. But beware, this game is tough. There are certain moves that you HAVE to master if you want to progress. There’s a point pretty early in the game where you must double jump over a group of shadow dogs or be continuously knocked off the cliff. This can get really frustrating.
A big problem I had with this game is that the graphics and storyline seemed to be targeted at a younger audience, but the game is ridiculously hard. Not only that, the game is rated for everyone. Yet I found some of the violence (although animated) to be disturbing. Of course, Andy is constantly getting killed. In one scene, the shadow creatures throw him to the ground and start tearing at his clothing and lifeless body. Another scene shows enemies yanking him inside of a small hole as you watch his legs flailing during the struggle, then hang lifelessly after he is killed. Oh, and then he gets dragged inside of the hole and presumable eaten. Now don’t get me wrong, I like blood and guts as much as any gamer, but not in a game obviously aimed at kids. The violence is a little too realistic. Just to be fair, there’s a scene where a big plant sucks him in and spits out his tennis shoe. That’s handling it in a cute and funny way. They should have stuck to that.
