The journey from innocence to experience is one of the oldest storytelling themes. Its history can be traced from the Biblical story of Joseph to the evolution of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films. Now this old chestnut of a theme is being incorporated in another story, this one to play out on your computer screen.

	But, wait a minute. Did I say old? The theme is the only thing old about Heart of Darkness. (Except of course, the title, for which the good people at Amazing Studio should kiss the deceased feet of novelist Joseph Conrad. While his story of corruption and murder would make for one hell of a computer game, this ain't it.) The overall feel of this upcoming adventure game from Amazing and Virgin Interactive is one of cutting-edge newness, of things never done before. 

	The story revolves around a boy and his dog. Okay, that's not the most original thing in the world either, but one mysterious night, the dog disappears under the cover of darkness, leaving our hero, Andy, to try and get him back. The dog, Whisky, has not just wandered around the corner to knock over a friendly looking trash can. He has been swept away to a mysterious dimension of night, ruled by a powerful overlord. Andy must leave his comfortable hometown and travel to the (Conrad, forgive me) Heart of Darkness for the sake of his old friend.

	This strange land is one of Amazing's greatest accomplishments with this game. The setting is almost photo-realistic, and yet it is populated by a bunch of refugees from the Muppet Show, all beautifully rendered in 3D, of course. Lots of huge eyeballs, protruding teeth, stuff like that. The surreality of the location and its inhabitants starts to call the whole adventure into question. I mean, we are dealing with a young boy here. Could this whole world be the product of his imagination? Well, Alice had her Wonderland . . . 

	But if Andy did concoct this place out of fancy, he sure isn't making it easy on himself. There are some very real dangers along the way, and the story moves along at a breakneck pace similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark. While this isn't an "interactive movie" per se, there is no denying its film influences. 

	While this is the first product from Amazing Studio, the designers' work will ring a bell with experienced gamers. The co-founder of Amazing is Eric Chahi, the man who brought you the innovative, award-winning game Out of this World. The project director for Heart of Darkness is Frederic Savoir, one of the big guns behind the legendary Flashback.

	In addition to sporting some big names from the computer industry, Heart of Darkness also features the work of film composer Bruce Broughton. Bruce wrote the score for some of Hollywood's recent blockbusters including Miracle on 34th Street, Tombstone, and Honey, I Blew Up The Kid. His soundtrack for this project will actually be recorded by a full orchestra.

	This kind of power doesn't come cheap. But with a production budget of one million pounds, this product will stun the industry on many levels. The character of Andy is animated with 1400 frames for one direction alone. This will create an unprecedented smoothness and clarity of motion. While the gameplay itself will mostly be in the tried-and-true side scrolling style, the game will also be jam-packed with gorgeous cinematic sequences, and a great deal of trouble has gone into blending those two aspects into a seamless whole. This project has taken three years to realize so far, but the designers assure us that it has been a "labour of love."

	With the game's cartoonish style, many players will be surprised when they realize that this is not a "children's game." There are many genuinely frightening moments in the story, and the story is suffused with a dark humor that is bound to go over the little ones' heads, and probably give 'em the shakes in the meantime.

	No, Heart of Darkness is not for the kiddies. It's for adults who wish to reclaim the child inside them. It's a world full of action, wonder, suspense and terror, kind of like life. If you're brave enough, you can investigate the Dark Heart for yourself when it hits the shelves this October.