 Review By: Siou Choy |
Developer: | Hydravision Entertainment |
| Publisher: | Ignition Entertainment | |
| Genre: | Survival Horror | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1-2 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Nunchuk | |
| Buy Now: |   |
The game draws its inspiration from the much maligned but perennially resurgent teenage horror genre, and sticks fairly close to the template. Presumably intentional bad voice acting and lame plot threads pad the game’s running time. The plot? Such as it is, it can be summed up in two sentences: here goes. Somehow the horrors that the cast of the original Obscure survived have followed them to their new college setting. Stoned, drunken, oversexed and otherwise spaced co-eds have begun to act oddly after being exposed to a strange plant found throughout the dorms and college proper.
As with the original, despite the fact that the game is playable as a two person co-operative experience, it’s better to play solo and let the computer AI guide your teammate. The areas you have to explore and do battle in are rather cramped and unforgiving when both of you try to run and end up going in opposite directions (which always seems to happen). Almost anything you can get your hands on can be a weapon, though nothing seems to do the job quite so well as the old standbys of baseball bat or gun.
Save points are few and far between. A prominent design flaw is that each save point can only be used once, making the game far more difficult than need be. One wrong turn into a room with a monster and you’ve had it, buddy – better prepare to redo your last hour’s worth of gaming or more. So once again, what really tanks an otherwise passable survival horror entry is the computer geek factor: – let’s make this something they’ll never get through – . And fellas? That’s exactly the sort of crap that makes me consider giving up gaming…and from discussions I’ve had with other folks, I’m not alone in my feeling. Keep us interested, and somewhat challenged. Don’t geek out on us.
Bottom Line:
Coming on the heels of a fantastic predecessor, Obscure: The Aftermath had a lot of potential to be a good survival horror game. Sadly it didn’t live up any such expectations – it’s such a drop in quality that I’m not even sure it was done by the same design team. While still passable for the genre, particularly given its low to midrange price tag, those of us who really got off on the original had better brace themselves for a severe letdown.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 6.5 |
Posted: 2008-06-09 11:03:28 PST