Fade to Black is a video game released in
1995-Events:*May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek *May 11-16 — The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, California....
by
Delphine Software InternationalDelphine Software was a French video game developer company. They were famous for their games Another World and Flashback, which bore a similarity to Prince of Persia, both in gameplay and in utilizing rotoscoped animation...
. It is the sequel to their previous game
Flashback.
The game was released for DOS and
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
. The PlayStation version was also released as a download for the
Playstation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
and
Playstation PortableThe PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
in Europe on January 31, 2008. It was also to be released on the
Nintendo 64The , often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan, September 29, 1996 in North America, March 1, 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1, 1997 in France and December 10,...
(Ultra 64 at the time) and
Sega SaturnThe is a 32-bit video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America, and July 8 1995 in Europe...
.
The main protagonist is Conrad Hart, who, in
Flashback destroyed the Morph planet Morphs at the consequence of having to go into
suspended animationSuspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
in a spaceship that floats aimlessly through outer space.
Fade to Black is a video game released in
1995-Events:*May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek *May 11-16 — The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, California....
by
Delphine Software InternationalDelphine Software was a French video game developer company. They were famous for their games Another World and Flashback, which bore a similarity to Prince of Persia, both in gameplay and in utilizing rotoscoped animation...
. It is the sequel to their previous game
Flashback.
The game was released for DOS and
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
. The PlayStation version was also released as a download for the
Playstation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
and
Playstation PortableThe PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
in Europe on January 31, 2008. It was also to be released on the
Nintendo 64The , often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan, September 29, 1996 in North America, March 1, 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1, 1997 in France and December 10,...
(Ultra 64 at the time) and
Sega SaturnThe is a 32-bit video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America, and July 8 1995 in Europe...
.
Story
The main protagonist is Conrad Hart, who, in
Flashback destroyed the Morph planet Morphs at the consequence of having to go into
suspended animationSuspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
in a spaceship that floats aimlessly through outer space. A half century later, he is found by the Morphs and imprisoned in the Lunar prison of New Alcatraz. There, the security Morph taunts Conrad, only to be shot to death by a man that introduces himself as John O'Conner. He then tells him that the Morphs beat him to his ship, he left him a few items
of interest (PDA and gun), and to make it to his ship, before he destroys the camera. On the PDA is a message that's from John, who tells Conrad to sneak around the base. Mandragore agents left a radar-scrambler there. Conrad soon makes it to John's ship. As they blast off, Morph ships start attacking them. They teleport away to Mandragore base Shadow just as the ship is destroyed. They meet Sarah Smith, who leads them. Later, she tells Conrad that the Morphs, while he was in suspended animation, attacked Earth with far superior forces, which made the governments surrender. The Mandragore has far less people, but they refuse to give up. Agents then call Sarah and tell her that they have found the location of the professor Bergstein...Morph asteroid base D321. Sarah sends Conrad and John there to rescue him. Conrad eventually finds Bergstein, who tells him that the base must be destroyed because it contains the Morph's new mind-manipulating weapon. He gives him a datacube (Similar to a holocube that is in
Flashback), which he explains that contains a virus that he programmed in. The virus will blow up the base when the datacube is connected to the core. They connect the virus to the core and escape the base with John as it blows up, along with the asteroid itself. Conrad is then sent to Pluto, where he meets Ageer. He tells Ageer about his previous adventures. Ageer tells Conrad that he and his people, whom are the Ancient alien race, want to join the Mandragore and can lead them to victory. Soon, Ageer tells Conrad that he must find the oracle. Conrad travels to Easter Island. Ageer then tells Conrad that the oracle leads him to the pyramid. As he travels, no sooner does the Super Morph arrive to kill Conrad, who finds a glass eyeball that he gives to a hand creature that then gives him the oracle. The oracle does lead Conrad to the pyramid, which Ageer uses to give the history of the Ancients of Conrad.
The Ancients live in peace until the Morphs arrive. The Ancients think that they come in peace and they welcome them. However, the Morphs attack the ancients. The Ancients put their souls in the pyramid, which is then captured by the Morphs.
As Conrad starts returning to his ship, he sees John telling the Master Brain that their plan has become a success...with his identity, he has managed to infiltrate Shadow and place in an active detonation device. The Master Brain then tells him that someone is spying on them. John looks back, sees Conrad, and then transforms into his true identity...the Super Morph. Conrad quickly takes the pyramid and returns to Shadow, which is then attacked by the Morphs. Conrad fights his way through the Morphs as agents from left to right get killed. He gets a key from Hank, which gives him access to the command room. The commander tells Conrad that Sarah can give him the code to disabling the detonation device, but she has been taken hostage by a Morph. Conrad gets to the floor and saves Sarah, who then gives him the code and teleports away. After Conrad disables the device, Ageer and the Mandragore enter the command room as Sarah explains their new plan...the Ancients have given the Mandragore the ability to know where the central Master Brain is on Easter Island. She and Conrad will teleport there and destroy it. As they arrive, they separate. Conrad eventually teleports to the central Master Brain and throws the oracle in front of it. As he then teleports away, the oracle disappears and leaves behind the pyramid, which now contains the souls of the Ancients. The Ancients then fight the central Master Brain. The Ancients sacrifice themselves in order to destroy the central Master Brain. As Conrad then starts fleeing Easter Island as it starts exploding, the Super Morph gives chase. From here are two endings.
- If Conrad reunites with Sarah and goes to the ship, then they enter it and Sarah starts the ship. The Super Morph attempts to attack, but Sarah pulls down on the control stick, which causes one of the blasters to start. The impace kills the Super Morph. Sarah then skillfully pilots the ship off of Easter Island just as it explodes. The Mandragore then congragulates Conrad for his efforts. As Sarah pilots the ship back to Shadow and ships arrive on Earth, a voiceover of Conrad is heard explaining that he was no longer alone, how he knew that the ships would converge on Earth, how millions fled the Morphs, and how he was anxious to join Shadow as a comrade.
- If Conrad gets to the ship alone, then he does the exact things that Sarah does in the other ending, including killing the Super Morph, but he must fly off of Easter Island on his own. He successfully does just as it blows up. The Mandragore seems unaware of Sarah's death as they don't mention it when they congragulate Conrad. Although ships are converging on Earth and the Morphs have been destroyed, Conrad's future relationship with the Mandragore is left unknown.
Gameplay
The game has somewhat different gameplay to
Flashback...it is in full
gouraud shadedGouraud shading,named after Henri Gouraud, is a method used in computer graphics to simulate the differing effects of light and colour across the surface of an object. In practice, Gouraud shading is used to achieve smooth lighting on low-polygon surfaces without the heavy computational...
3D for DOS and fully-textured 3D for the PlayStation. It features an over-the-shoulder viewpoint, with almost no platform sequences. The style of the game is
action adventureAn action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
in a similar style to the later
Tomb Raider series, although it bears a more superficial resemblance to the likes of
Metal Gearis a critically acclaimed series of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. In the series, the player takes control of a Special Forces Operative repeatedly facing off against the latest incarnation of the eponymous superweapon "Metal Gear"; a bipedal walking...
. The game is also notable for the ways where Conrad can get killed, all while showing
game overGame Over is a traditional message in video games which usually signals the game has ended with a negative outcome. Notably used first in pinball machines and, later, arcade games, it has since been adopted widely and is now commonly associated with video games in general; however, many other...
at the same time. He also doesn't have the voice that he had in
Flashback, instead being a deep voice. In the death scenes though, his voice is somewhat similar to his
Flashback voice.
Cast
English
- Morphs (Super Morph included) and Ageer: Robert Feero
- Computer and Sarah: Kristina Holland
- John: Roger L. Jackson
Roger Labon Jackson is an American voice actor. He gained fame among horror film fans for voicing the villain Ghostface in the Scream trilogy. He was also the voice of Mojo Jojo in the Powerpuff Girls series....
- Bergstein and Conrad: Jarion Monroe
- Hank; Rebels; Cook: Bill O'Neil
French
- Sarah: Francoise Cadol
- John and the morphs: Bruno Dubernat
- Hank and the rebels: Phillipe Dumond
- Bergstein and the oracle: Jean-Louis Faure
- Computer: Deborah Perret
- Conrad: Bernard Lanneau
German
- Computer: Paula Klein
- Conrad and morphs: Richard Sammel
- Hank and morphs: Yorg Schnass
- Bergstein; Oracle; Morphs: Florian Schneider
Florian Schneider-Esleben is one of the founding members of electronic music band Kraftwerk. In November 2008, he left the band.- Career :...
- John and morphs: Peter Himmler
- Sarah: Dorris Streibl
Reception
Fade to Black received a moderately positive critical response. The PlayStation version sold enough copies to go
PlatinumThe Platinum Range is a Sony PlayStation budget range in the PAL regions, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, Ireland, Africa and continental Europe. A similar budget range in the North American market is known as the Greatest Hits label.Platinum Range titles are...
.
Cancelled sequel
A third game in the series,
Flashback LegendsFlashback Legends was an unreleased sequel to the 1995 video game Fade to Black, which in turn is the sequel to Flashback: The Quest for Identity....
, was in development by both
Delphine Software InternationalDelphine Software was a French video game developer company. They were famous for their games Another World and Flashback, which bore a similarity to Prince of Persia, both in gameplay and in utilizing rotoscoped animation...
and
Adeline Software InternationalAdeline Software International was a video game developer founded in February 1993 as a subsidiary company of Delphine Software International, and based in Lyon, France...
for a planned released in 2003, but was cancelled when the company went bankrupt and ceased operations at the end of 2002.