Fade to Black (video game)

Fade to Black is a 1995 action-adventure game developed by Delphine Software International and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the 1992 video game Flashback. The game was released for MS-DOS with full Gouraud-shaded 3D graphics, and PlayStation with fully textured 3D. A version for the Dreamcast was released in 2018 by JoshProd, rebranded as Fade to Black: Flashback 2.

Gameplay
Fade to Black is a 3D action-adventure game with a third-person view from behind the character's back. It features gun combat with a number of platforming sequences.

Plot
The main protagonist is Conrad Hart who, in Flashback, destroyed the planet of hostile aliens called the Morphs and went into suspended animation in a spaceship that floats aimlessly through outer space. In the year 2190 (50 years later), he is found by the Morphs and imprisoned in the Lunar prison of New Alcatraz. There, he is rescued by a man who introduces himself as John O'Conner, who tells him that the Morphs beat him to Conrad's ship, and leaves Conrad a few items "of interest" (a PDA and a handgun), before destroying the camera. On the PDA is a message 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 to Mandragore base Shadow just as the ship is destroyed.

They meet Sarah Smith, the leader of the Mandragore resistance. Later, in a meeting with Mandragore commander Hank, she tells Conrad that while he was in suspended animation the Morphs attacked Earth with superior forces, which made the governments surrender. The Mandragore has far fewer people, but they refuse to give up. Agents then call Sarah and tell her that they have found the location of 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 the holocube that is in Flashback), which he explains 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 a mining facility on Mars and gets the coordinates to a Morph base, where he rescues and meets Ageer. He tells Ageer about his previous adventures. Ageer tells Conrad that he and his people, an ancient alien race referred to as the "Ancients", want to join the Mandragore and can lead them to victory. Soon, Ageer tells Conrad that he must find the oracle in Pluto, the homeland of the Ancients. Conrad travels to Pluto with Ageer, who then tells Conrad that the oracle will lead him to the pyramid. As he travels, he 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 to Conrad: "The Ancients lived in peace until the Morphs arrive. The Ancients thought that they came in peace and they welcomed them. However, the Morphs attacked the ancients. The Ancients put their souls in the pyramid, which was then captured by the Morphs."

A Morph spaceship arrives to Pluto to steal the pyramid and take it to a Morph base, while a new and apparently invincible creature, the Super Morph, also arrives to kill Conrad. After avoiding him, he is teleported by Ageer to the Morph base in which he makes through looking for the stolen pyramid. In the meantime, he sees John telling Master Brain that their plan has become a success; with his identity, he has managed to infiltrate Shadow and put in an active detonation device. Master Brain tells John that someone is spying on them. John looks back, sees Conrad, and then transforms into his true identity: the Super Morph. After avoiding him, Conrad quickly takes the pyramid with the Morph spaceship and returns to Shadow, which is then attacked by the Morphs. Conrad fights his way through the Morphs as agents get killed. Conrad gets a key from a rescued soldier, which gives him access to the command room, where Conrad meets Hank. He tells Conrad that Sarah can give him the code to disable 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 Hank enter the command room as Sarah explains their new plan. The Ancients have given the Mandragore the ability to know where the Master Brain controlling the solar system is on Easter Island in planet Earth. She and Conrad will teleport there and destroy it. As they arrive, they separate. Conrad eventually teleports to the Master Brain and throws the pyramid in front of it. As he then teleports away, the pyramid fights and defeats the Master Brain. As Conrad flees Easter Island, it starts exploding, and the Super Morph gives chase.

There are two endings: one in which Conrad rescues Sarah from the Super Morph and a second ending where Conrad escapes alone. In both endings, the Super Morph is killed by the turbines of the escaping spaceship. But in the second ending, as a consequence of Conrad having to pilot the spaceship instead of Sarah, players are forced to complete a difficult flight sequence before the final cinematic.

Development
Shortly after the release of Flashback in 1992, the development team started work on a similar sequel titled Morphs: Flashback 2 for the Sega CD. Work on the game spanned 3-4 months, however, the project was put on hold while they focused on finishing Shaq Fu (1994). By the time they returned to the project, the Sega CD was no longer seen as a viable platform, so it was scrapped in favor of restarting on PC, which turned into the 3D shooter Fade to Black The idea of doing a 3D sequel to Flashback started in 1993. The game was originally announced under the title "Crossfire".

Conrad's animations were created using motion capture.

Reception
The PlayStation version was a best-seller in the United Kingdom, where it was among the nineteen best-selling PlayStation games of 1996 according to HMV. It sold enough copies to go Platinum.

Fade to Black received a moderately positive critical response. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the PlayStation version their "Game of the Month" award. Reviewers generally criticized the game's steep difficulty and blocky polygon models,  but praised the background graphics and animations,  and generally concluded that the game's close blend of action and puzzling in a 3D environment was a success.

Fade to Black was named the 29th best computer game ever by PC Gamer UK in 1997. The editors called it "an adrenaline-pumping polygon adventure" and "an intriguing game". In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the Playstation version 50th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time."

Cancelled sequel
Flashback Legend was an unfinished second sequel of Flashback. It was in co-development by Delphine Software International and Adeline Software International for a planned release in 2003. As opposed to Fade to Black, it was going to be a 2D side-scroller game, like Flashback, but without non-scrolling areas. It was targeted exclusively for the Game Boy Advance. The game was cancelled when Delphine went bankrupt and ceased operations in the end of 2002. However, a prototype ROM, dated 21 June 2002, was leaked and spread over the Internet at some point. It features all 16 levels with minor glitches and one music track, which is a compressed tune from Fade to Black. Despite multi-language options the beta can only be played in French with an English pause menu, but can be played in English via a fan-made patch.