by Brian - April 24, 2004

Waking up in a body bag is not a good way to start off your day, but that�s exactly what happens to begin your adventure in Midnight Nowhere. Furthermore, the main character, whom I shall not name in order to not spoil a big part of the story, can�t remember anything about where he is, how he got there, or even his own name. As you will quickly find out, you are in the morgue of a hospital surrounded by other dead folk in body bags, and that is only the beginning!

Intriguing and Suspenseful

Midnight Nowhere is a very story driven game, meaning everything you do is meant to advance the story a little bit at a time. It can be most accurately be compared to Resident Evil except without the terrible controls and pretty much no action sequences. You use the mouse to point and click at various hotspots in each room to find items, rummage through papers to find clues and passwords, move around. For this reason, the game has no learning curve and anyone can dive in and play the game. Of course, that doesn�t mean they will be able to solve all of the puzzles. Some of them are very easy while others are quite difficult to figure out. Depending on your own competence at solving puzzles, the game can take you anywhere from 20 to 30 hours to complete. Less if you use a guide.

A great thing about Midnight Nowhere is the atmosphere. The highly detailed rooms, music, sound effects, and massive quantities of blood help create a suspenseful and cryptic tone. Also, when they say this game is mature, they mean it! This game has the most female nudity (mostly posters on the walls) I�ve ever seen in a game, and the cursing of the main character doesn�t help either. This game definitely isn�t for kids. While we are on the topic of cursing, sometimes it felt out of place and his sarcastic wit detracted from the atmosphere a little bit. I mean, after waking up in a body bag surrounded by dead people, you don�t expect the man to start cracking jokes, which most of the time were not all to funny. The developers obviously had a sense of humor when making the game though. I laughed out loud at a few of the posters on the walls of the hospital, the funniest of which I included in the screenshots. It�s very subtle humor though, so not everyone will appreciate it.

Very Detailed Environments

Midnight Nowhere has some pretty superb graphics. Especially considering the game�s very low requirements. The game takes place through a series of pre-rendered rooms with a fixed camera view much like Resident Evil. I was blown away by how detailed some of the areas were, and as mentioned earlier, the games graphics really help create the creepy atmosphere of the game. The only gripe I have is that if you minimize the game at any point in the game, your character will completely disappear and the environment will be a little distorted. Going to a new area will fix this, but the glitch was annoying for me, and will be to anyone else who likes to multitask.

Great Voice Acting

Another plus for this game is the excellent voice acting. Some of the best voice acting I�ve seen in a game in a while. The voices fit the characters� looks perfectly. I was thoroughly impressed with the voice actors.

The music is, most of the time, somewhat creepy and brooding. For me, the music was very hit and miss. Some parts felt very well done for their parts in the game, while others seemed out of place. Also, in some parts the music is much louder than the people talking, and turning the music volume down didn�t help much to correct that.

Define �Fun�

If solving puzzles if fun to you, than this game will be very fun, because that�s the core of the gameplay. If you need some action to satisfy you, then this game will not be fun at all. I was a bit disappointed that there was absolutely no action, but the puzzles kept me interested enough to finish the game. Also, as mentioned before, if you like subtle humor, than the game may give you a few laughs.

Too Short

Yep, the game is too short. It took me less than twenty hours to beat the game and the ending was very unsatisfying. The ending was too quick and it didn�t explain itself very well. Overall though, the story up to that point was great. It was just a little disappointing at the end.

Furthermore, the game has no replayability. Once you beat it, there is no incentive to play through it again.

The Wrap Up

Overall, Midnight Nowhere is a good game. The story is impressive and suspenseful, the environments are highly detailed, and the game has excellent voice acting. Unfortunately, it suffers from being too short, having no replayability, it suffers from a few annoying glitches. If I were to rate my experience playing the game, I�d say I had a pretty good time. I�d recommend this game to anyone looking for an immersive story driven adventure game.