Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr

In one of gaming's more intriguing development stories, Gathering of Developers is gearing up for the release of not one but three new titles based on the outrageously successful film The Blair Witch Project. What makes this entire project so interesting is that a different development studio is creating each game. The first Blair Witch game is being created by Terminal Reality, the same group that brought us Fly! and Nocturne (which is more to the point). The second title is under development by Human Head Studios (which is also hard at work on Rune), while the third will come from Ritual Entertainment (developers of SiN and Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2). Terminal Reality's game, dubbed Blair Witch Volume One: Rustin Parr, is set for release in August, with the other two games to follow in October and November, respectively.

Terminal Reality recently released a limited preview of the Rustin Parr title, which we've played through a number of times. Though the demo is limited to a single location and a grand total of about ten minutes of gameplay, it gives a good indication of what gamers can expect from the full version when it hits store shelves in August.

Blair Witch fans should remember the name Rustin Parr. He's the old hermit who lured seven children to his ramshackle home in the woods, killing them at the alleged behest of the Blair Witch herself. It is Parr who wanders into Burkittsville, Maryland, one day, muttering that he's "finally finished." The game begins just after Parr is convicted of murder in 1941. The star of the game is Nocturne's Doc Holiday, a Spookhouse agent sent to investigate the Burkittsville murders and Parr's claim of the supernatural influence that brought them about. Incidentally, this will be the only game in the Blair Witch series to include crossover material from Nocturne.

Rustin Parr is shaping up as an adventure game with action elements, so you should end up spending most of your time exploring and solving environmental puzzles. You will need to rely on your weapons an awful lot, however, including one very powerful ghost-killing gun called the enhanced charged radiance emitter. This appears to be along the lines of the Ghostbusters' armaments, so it of course fits right into the whole 1940s setting (much like the laser site each gun employs). You'll have good old lead-powered weapons at your disposal as well, but these aren't very useful in the demo because all of your enemies are spectral. Still shots from the final game show our heroine battling zombies and other more substantial creatures, so perhaps this is where those weapons show their real value.

You'll also have the use of a spectral activity sensor, which warns of nearby ghoulish behavior, and a handy notebook in which all of the important information you uncover will be logged. You are, after all, conducting an investigation, so every scrap of evidence, every note you take, and every person you talk to could be vital. It will be interesting to see how the system of character interaction plays out in the final game. Unfortunately, the only characters you interact with in the demo are ethereal: hulking, hostile ghost creatures (which look a little like Quake's Fiend) and the ghosts of the seven children who were killed (which all vanish as soon as you get too close to them).

It should come as no surprise that Rustin Parr closely resembles Nocturne, since it shares the same engine and development company. The good news is that Terminal Reality has modified the Nocturne engine to improve performance, lower system requirements, and generally make things more accommodating for gamers. As in Nocturne, the graphics in Rustin Parr are quite impressive, with a weathered, gritty look that captures the feel of The Blair Witch Project film. The lighting is almost uniformly dark, but the shadows and light-source effects are excellent. The bad news is that - even with the improvements and modifications made to the engine - Rustin Parr appears to suffer from some of the same control problems as Nocturne.

At least in the demo, it is still difficult to spin around and shoot enemies approaching from behind, but a special 180-degree-spin move is supposed to be included in the final version. Also, the game uses the same sort of auto-aim help that Nocturne did, but so far in Rustin Parr, this aiming does not appear to be very reliable. It's very tough to tell when your targeting laser actually lines up on a bad guy or thing, so it is difficult to make an accurate shot.

Still, this is a very limited release of a game that has not yet been completed. Let's hope Rustin Parr can overcome the control pitfalls that tripped up Nocturne. The story - or what little of it is known at this time - seems intriguing and worthy of the Blair Witch license. Even at this early stage, the graphics are generally well done, and the gameplay seems to be on the right track as far as mixing action with adventure. With more intuitive controls, Rustin Parr could be the game Nocturne should have been - and it should make an excellent debut to an impressive series of Blair Witch games from Gathering of Developers.