Kalisto Entertainment is getting ready to give gamers nightmares all over again. Nightmare Creatures II, published by Konami, is coming to PlayStation and Dreamcast this spring and has the potential to set a new standard in horror action games.

Nightmare Creatures II is set a full century after the original game. Dr. Albert Crowley, the villain from the first NC, isn't quite as dead as players thought he was - in fact, he's been practicing black arts and is stronger than ever. He's been pretty busy kidnapping ordinary folks to torture and experiment with, too. This is where the hero comes in. As one of Crowley's "patients," Herbert Wallace (has a hero ever been named 'Herbert' before?) has been subjected to the doc's torture for the past 20 years and, not surprisingly, he's not the most sane individual around. Covered in bloody bandages and resembling a Gothic Darkman, Wallace escapes from prison with the goal of killing Crowley and ending his terror.

Wallace's macabre mission takes him through 30 levels in eight areas, including London, Paris and Prague, where Crowley's inhuman creations prowl. The hi-res graphics we saw on the playable PlayStation version were dark and ominous, but with excellent textures and high detail that make you feel like you're wandering the haunted cobblestone streets of 1934 Europe. Tattered tapestries flutter in the wind, candles cast an eerie glow on the walls, and beautiful rain effects will make your hair stand on end. There's even an authentic hearse, modeled after a real 1920s vehicle. Character graphics are impressive also - Wallace is built from 700 polygons, and his coat and bandages flap about as he moves. The Dreamcast version, shown in video form only, looked similar, but much smoother.

The sounds are stunning so far. Whether it's a grandfather clock booming in the background, the crack of a door being kicked open or the splintering of wood as Wallace smashes a crate, the effects are incredibly realistic and add to the game's creepy atmosphere. Music was pretty rockin' in this version of the game, but whether it stays in is up in the air; Rob Zombie has signed on to create the opening and ending themes for the game, and perhaps the entire musical score if time permits.

Gameplay itself is divided into two parts - exploration and combat. Exploration mode is pretty self-explanatory, but the fights are actually pretty cool. Transition between the two parts of gameplay is seamless; the only real changes during combat mode are that an enemy life bar appears, Wallace locks on to the nearest foe (although combat is frequently one-on-on) and gains extra attack moves. Wallace is a true madman in battle; he's about brutality, not finesse. In the demo we saw, he was wielding a pair of axes that sent blood flying and splattering on walls as he maimed his opponent, a grotesque chainsaw-using monster. When the monster weakened, it dropped to its knees, and Wallace finished it off with a Mortal Kombat-style fatality - a decapitation followed by a brutal pummeling of the body. The fatalities are executed by specific button commands, but how many different finishers will be in the final version is unknown. Each enemy creature can perform special fatalities as well. Wallace can also use special power-up abilities in battle, just as characters in the first NC could. Some of these powers will be from the original, and others, like the swarm of flies that devours your opponent, are completely new.

Kalisto has taken many complaints about the original to heart and tried to rectify them. Unlike the characters in the first NC, Wallace can walk backwards, as opposed to the reverse-hop in the original. Loading times are also no longer a problem, as the game features asynchronous loading so the game is reading from the CD while the action takes place, much like Soul Reaver. Many other features will be in the final game as well. Halfway through the adventure, Wallace will rescue a girl named Raquel who then becomes a playable character.

So far, Nightmare Creatures II is shaping up to be a polished and frightening adventure that could be as terrifying as Konami's own Silent Hill. Hopefully it will live up to its potential. Both the PlayStation and Dreamcast versions of Nightmare Creatures II are scheduled for release on March 28, though the Dreamcast version could be delayed until April.

Nightmare Creatures 2 Preview Movies

Notes concerning the following movies: each is approximately two minutes long, broken into four sections for ease in downloading. They're in MPEG1 format; each section is between three and four megabytes. The first two are trailers containing gameplay sequences and real-time cinemas. The third is a combination of 2D and 3D concept artwork and sequences. We're told it was used by Kalisto to give programmers and artists who were new to the project an impression of what Nightmare Creatures was about - to get them up to speed as far as the game's style and intent.

Trailer 1: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Trailer 2: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Concept Movie: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Nightmare Creatures 2 Concept Art