Black Dahlia Video Game
| Black Dahlia | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Take-Two Interactive |
| Publisher(s) | Interplay |
| Designer(s) | Steve Glasstetter |
| Programmer(s) | Greg Brown |
| Artist(s) | |
| Writer(s) | Patrick Freeman |
| Composer(s) | Michael Bross |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Interactive movie, Point-and-click adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Black Dahlia was a nominee for CNET Gamecenter's 1998 'Adventure Game of the Year' award, which ultimately went to Grim Fandango. The editors wrote, 'With its endless secret doors, encoded messages, locked boxes, and a little gunplay, Black Dahlia did not disappoint.' Nov 27, 2010 Black Dahlia - PC by Interplay. The game itself is a terrific, one of the better titles that made use of full motion video. Sadly the game is not compatible with Windows XP, after much effort and an unofficial patch it was still a no go. I can only guess it would also not work in Windows 7 as the compatibility mode in XP had no luck either. Black Dahlia is an Adventure Game released by Take 2 in 1998. The story begins in Cleveland in 1941, where a brutal serial-killer known as 'The Torso Killer' terrorises the population. The main character of the game, Jim Pearson has recently been assigned to the COI - 'Co-ordinator Of Information'- unit. Secondly, while the game is very interactive during the limited times you get to interact, Black Dahlia has a little too much great video, making the game a little weak in actual gameplay. The game will also require you to do a lot of reading, which, depending on your preference, may be a good or bad point.
Black Dahlia is an interactive moviepoint-and-click adventure game that was released on February 28, 1998 by Take-Two Interactive.
Directed by Eric Trow, Lance Laspina. With Dennis Hopper, Teri Garr, Darren Eliker, Michael Battista. As WWII approaches, special agent Jim Pearson is assigned to investigate US industrialist's ties to the occult German pro-Nazi Thule Society. This leads to Jim's perilous decades-long search for the apocalyptic Black Dahlia gemstone. Black Dahlia is a highly underrated murder mystery adventure that features excellent full-motion video and storyline that outshine some very unfair puzzles. The star of the game is the plot, which is an ingenious combination of facts, myths, and pure fiction.
The story, while fictional, is inspired by the real life Cleveland Torso Murderer and the infamous murder of Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles.
This interactive moviepoint-and-click adventure game ties Elizabeth Short's murder to Nazis and occult rituals which the player has to investigate. The game features 2 big Hollywood star named actors, Dennis Hopper and Teri Garr.
Plot[edit]
Agent Pearson is the newest member of the COI, and is somewhat dejected to find the job not as glamorous as he was initially told. After being given a case where a local munitions manufacturer was invited to join the Brotherhood of Thule, an American branch of the Thule society, Pearson is puzzled by the apparent connections with Nazi occultism. Along the way he encounters Agent Winslow, apparently a bumbling Federal agent who is more concerned with his press appearance than solving cases.
After making a connection between the Brotherhood of Thule and the Cleveland torso murders, Pearson leads a local detective to the butchers lair after finding bizarre Gaelic documents left by his predecessor regarding a ritual involving Odin and a gemstone called the Black Dahlia, which is a key instrument that can render a ritual user the ability to control dreams.
Years later, Pearson is a member of the OSI, and recovers the Dahlia from a Nazi bunker, but it is quickly snatched away and then sold on the black market by a corrupt quartermaster. Following the Dahlia, Pearson again encounters Winslow, a Nazi SS operative following the final orders of Hitler to perform the Dahlia ritual.
Pearson pursues Winslow across the USA, finally cornering him in a California home, where Winslow has just completed the final ritual murders regarding the Dahlia. After tearing out his own eye and performing the remainder of the ritual, the player has one choice with his pistol. If he shoots Winslow or hesitates, Winslow stabs himself, and possesses Pearson, becoming an American version of Hitler, and able to control large portions of the populace through their dreams. If Pearson destroys the Dahlia, Winslow dies and Pearson is blamed for the locals spree of killings, though he is overjoyed and content with having stopped the Nazi plot to take over the world.
Reception[edit]
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Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that 'The game seems as if it were made to sell hint books, and those who play without one are likely to end up bashing the computer in frustration.'[3]
The game received an average score of 72.00% at GameRankings, based on an aggregate of 9 reviews.[1]
Black Dahlia was a nominee for CNET Gamecenter's 1998 'Adventure Game of the Year' award, which ultimately went to Grim Fandango. The editors wrote, 'With its endless secret doors, encoded messages, locked boxes, and a little gunplay, Black Dahlia did not disappoint.'[9]
In 2011, Adventure Gamers named Black Dahlia the 63rd-best adventure game ever released.[10]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ ab'Black Dahlia'. GameRankings. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2012-01-24.
- ^Scorpia (July 1998). 'Black and Blue'. Computer Gaming World (168): 154, 157.
- ^ ab'Finals'. Next Generation. No. 44. Imagine Media. August 1998. p. 98.
- ^Poole, Stephen (July 1998). 'Black Dahlia'. PC Gamer US. Archived from the original on March 8, 2000. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
- ^Rose, Paul (May 1998). 'Reviews; Black Dahlia'. PC Zone (63): 86.
- ^Royal, Tim (April 2, 1998). 'Black Dahlia'. Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on March 24, 2005. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
- ^Wildgoose, David (May 1998). 'Review; Black Dahlia'. PC PowerPlay (24): 86, 87.
- ^Morris, Daniel (August 3, 1998). 'Black Dahlia Review'. PC Games. Archived from the original on September 1, 1999. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
- ^The Gamecenter Editors (January 29, 1999). 'The CNET Gamecenter.com Awards for 1998'. CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on December 16, 2000. Retrieved June 10, 2019.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- ^AG Staff (December 30, 2011). 'Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games'. Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
External links[edit]
- Official website via Internet Archive
- Black Dahlia at MobyGames
Description of Black Dahlia Windows
Read Full ReviewBlack Dahlia is a highly underrated murder mystery adventure that features excellent full-motion video and storyline that outshine some very unfair puzzles.
The star of the game is the plot, which is an ingenious combination of facts, myths, and pure fiction. Rosemary Young summarizes it well in her review of the game: “Black Dahlia takes its name and its inspiration both from the murder of [aspiring actress] Elizabeth Short (known as the Black Dahlia) in Los Angeles in 1947 and from the equally infamous Cleveland Torso Murders that were investigated by Eliot Ness and ceased just prior to the Second World War. Of course, both cases remain unsolved and it has been speculated that they may have been perpetrated by the same killer.
Black Dahlia builds on this speculation and weaves in notions of occult rituals based on Norse mythology and of Nazi involvement via a shadowy fifth column at work in the USA. Hence the story more or less spans the 1940's and in it you'll briefly run into Mr Ness as well as the unfortunate Elizabeth Short as you follow a murderous trail. You are cast as Jim Pearson, newly employed by the COI (Office of the Coordinator of Information), a covert organisation akin to the CIA just before the outbreak of World War II. Your first assignment is to investigate a 'crackpot' complaint about subversive activities, but very soon you'll learn about the mysterious dismissal of your predecessor and begin sniffing out a trail of clues that link your investigation with a string of grizzly murders and, ultimately, with a fiendish supernatural plot hatched by a sadistic megalomaniac.”
When you have the Cleveland Torso Murderer, the Nazi fascination with the occult, the history of the Teutonic Knights, the ancient death cults of the Norse god Wotan, and the Black Dahlia murder all in one story, you know the game is going to be something special. And special it is indeed. Take 2 Interactive has brought us eight full CD-ROM's worth of dark adventure and one of the best plots ever devised. Suspense, murder, madness, corruption, psychic warfare, World War II, human sacrifice--the plot of this game has as many facets as the ancient gem which is the center of all the action.
The puzzles are more similar to Myst than traditional point-and-click games: there are many stand-alone puzzles to figure out, although a few inventory-based puzzles are present. And the puzzles are tough-- if you consider yourself expert at these games, you’re in for a long, gruelling challenge. There are over 60 hours worth of playing time here (I spent closer to 80 hours to finish it), including some of the most brutal and frustrating spatial-relations puzzles I've ever seen. The problems to be solved come thick and fast, and the real joy of the game is that almost all of them are well-integrated into the plot, as opposed to the puzzles-for-sake-of-puzzles feel of Ripper, Take 2’s earlier murder mystery. There are endless secret doors, encoded messages, locked boxes, and vaults. The plot gets more and more interesting as you progress, and the quality of acting is much better than your average full-motion video games.
Overall, Black Dahlia is without a doubt the best adventure game from Take 2 before they abandoned the genre. Building on strong bases of earlier releases (BloodNet, Bureau 13, Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller), the Take 2 team has finally pulled off a great murder mystery that will capture everyone’s attention to the end. One word of advice, though: have the walkthrough handy beside you, because chances are you WILL get stuck and frustrated at some very obscure puzzles. Just look at a hint or two to move on—the story is well worth cheating for [EG].
Highly recommended, especially for fans of murder mystery games. And be sure to visit related links below for further information on the fascinating unsolved murder of the Black Dahlia, as well as the novel of the same name by James Ellroy – my most favorite crime writer ever :)
Review By HOTUD
Captures and Snapshots
Screenshots from MobyGames.com
Comments and reviews
Classic Champion2019-06-070 point
@EVA
Wait-this is a Brazilian game and it installs in French? That's weird.
Because people in Brazil speak Portuguese, not French!
Eva2018-07-24-7 points
game crashes
Each time I am getting the very same error:
SetEntries generic failure.
And game installs in French.
Can you please advise.
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