Jekyll and Hyde, A Twisted Tale Now On PC!

Written By Thomas Goodwin

Regardless of gaming quality, all games take a great deal of talent and dedication to create. Unfortunately, some games do not get the attention they need, have poor controls, poor stories, or ridiculous character and level models. Although I do not know how much work was put into it, Jekyll and Hyde, sadly, suffers from all of the latter three problems.

To assess the story, the game must be compared with the book. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a book written by Robert Louis Stevenson, takes place in Victorian London, England. The brilliant Dr. Jekyll learns to transform himself into a mighty, horrible creature by the name of Mr. Hyde. Realizing that he is wreaking havoc on society, Jekyll/Hyde takes it upon himself to commit suicide and do away with the evil he has created. This story is somewhat reasonable. Jekyll and Hyde, a game created by Dreamcatcher, takes place in Victorian London, England as well. This game, succeeding the book, ignores the fact that Jekyll/Hyde should be dead. It would seem, if a developer were going to ignore the story set forth by its creator, it would be wise to invent an entirely new story, rather than to butcher another. Sadly, things did not work out that way. Although minor changes in stories can be expected when a book is translated into a game, ignoring the death of the main character is intolerable.

Rather than to allow the difference from the book to completely destroy the game, it will be ignored from this point forth. The story of Jekyll and Hyde is peculiar, having what could either be considered a major plot twist or the point at which the game designer drank one too many. I'm leaning toward the latter. Dr. Jekyll, some time after the incidents from the book ended (with his, according to the book's author, death), has given up his evil Mr. Hyde personality forever. He now has a daughter, and since his wife's death, has had to raise her on his own. While working in an asylum for the insane, there is a revolt. He finds his daughter has been kidnapped by an escaped patient. When Jekyll finds the patient, he demands to speak with Mr. Hyde. The patient, along with the lawyer who had him committed, demands that Jekyll/Hyde locate three pieces of a medallion. Should he fail to do so within one night's time, his daughter will be murdered. From then on, Jekyll must rely on his evil alter-ego to perform stunts he alone cannot complete, doing anything to save his daughter's life. This quest will lead Jekyll/Hyde through London as well as many other places, and will force him to fight many enemies. Eventually, Jekyll is fighting the some of the best known, most fantastical creatures, ever in any game. The best way to describe it, perhaps, is as a crazy combination of science fiction and fantasy/horror.

The appearance of the game leaves something to be desired. The developer was trying to give the game an eerie, intense feeling about it, in many places. Using cartoonish character models and room designs, this simply cannot be properly accomplished. Most of the characters in the game have absurd faces and facial expressions. Jekyll's daughter looks like a doll, his assistant has the head of a lobster, and patients and enemies look like anything ranging from Frankenstein to moles. Rooms are poorly designed, often having odd-shaped tables, cabinets, and windows in them. Some things were meant to be twisted and contorted, and some things were not. I found that, when close enough to the ceiling, I could actually jump through it, which was somewhat irritating. Also, the automatic camera angles are, at times, horrible, forcing the use of camera buttons (which do not work in some places, regardless of how bad they are needed). In one particular area of the game, Jekyll actually outran the camera. To get the camera to reattach to Jekyll, I had to bring him back to it, at which point it once again centered around him. In other areas of the game, Jekyll would be in one place and the camera would be staring at a wall or some other obstruction, rather than at the character. One section that comes to mind required me to control a robot to obtain something. Essentially, I had to control this robot and prevent it from stepping on the wrong spot and being destroyed. Unfortunately, at times, Jekyll would be standing between the camera and the robot, preventing me from directing the robot. Since there was no way to move Jekyll, as controls were directed at the robot, I had to start from my most recent save to prevent Jekyll from obstructing the view. Despite all of the problems with appearance, I did find several spots in which I was thoroughly impressed. I found that when a sniper is aiming at Jekyll/Hyde, the perspective will instantly change to that of the sniper. This was a nice addition, but it did not make controlling the character any easier, as major viewpoint transitions never do. I was also impressed by the effect made by raindrops hitting the water-covered ground. The ripples they made were absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, though nice additions, these features do not make up for the visual problems present in the game.

The gameplay for Jekyll and Hyde is flawed as well. I find it irritating that Dr. Jekyll seems to be more effective in combat than Mr. Hyde, due to the extra range provided by his walking stick. Jekyll seldom has to get within an enemies attack range to destroy it, aside from those wielding firearms. Hyde, however, seems, in many cases, to have a shorter attack range than enemies. He takes less damage from enemies, however, allowing him to survive more damage. Frankly, though, I prefer Dr. Jekyll for combat, regardless of the damage he could take. Mr. Hyde is far more useful for the numerous jumping puzzles. Dr. Jekyll could not survive these obstacles. Aside from that fact that Jekyll has an extended attack range, the characters are balanced fairly well, making them both valuable and worth using. Both combat and jumping puzzles play a very large part in the game. Combat is fairly frequent and fairly short. Jumping puzzles generally occur every few levels and take up the majority of the level they involve. I was somewhat irritated by the fact that many levels were very small, and that sometimes a loading screen would be necessary to enter, what appears to be, a mid-sized room. In most cases, when a player saves his game, he will still have to restart from the beginning of the level. This is somewhat bothersome, and somewhat good. It prevents a player from saving too frequently, destroying any difficulty behind the game. Unfortunately, it also means that should a player complete an extremely hard section of the level, and then die afterwards, he will have to complete the hard section once again.

The controls for Jekyll and Hyde are miserable. The game feels and controls like a console game that has been translated into a PC game. The mouse cannot be used in either the game or the menu screen, whereas I would have expected it to be used for directional purposes, much as it was in Max Payne. By excluding the mouse, the control options are fairly weak. A player can use either the keyboard, a controller, a joystick, or any combination thereof. Frankly, though, the analog sticks on gamepads were never intended for use with the keyboard. I would have expected Dreamcatcher to realize this. Once I did figure out the absurd controls, I found that there is no sidestep and there is no backpedal, both of which are very important, useful features in any game involving any type of combat. The one good thing about the controls, of course, is the option to customize them. This, however, must be done before launching into the game. Eventually, a player will get accustomed to his control settings and will play the game more effectively, however they remain more difficult and awkward than necessary.

Jekyll and Hyde is unfortunately plagued by poor controls, poor stories, or ridiculous character and level models. With these problems, the game is hardly among the most enjoyable ones on the market. It is, however, a decent diversion when there is little to do, and, since it can be purchased nearly anywhere for around twenty dollars, the price is affordable. Personally, however, I would rather save my twenty dollars.