So after being disappointed by Cold Fear, I picked up Obscure yesterday and, after playing for 3 hours, am really pleased with my purchase (much more so than with CF...and Obscure has a map you can consult throughout).
Let's get this out right away, though...don't expect this to be a horror game along the lines of Doom 3. It's a $19.99 game along the lines of Silent Hill and Resident Evil (more so Silent Hill) but in a high school setting with students as the protagonists.
Evil creeps into the school through the dormitory and suddenly students go missing. You, along with four other playable characters you can switch back and forth to and control, must solve what went through via a series of key quests, puzzles (combine this with that), etc.
So, let's look closer at what plucking down an Andy Jackson gets you:
GRAPHICS: I was VERY surprised at the quality of both the in-game graphics and the cut scenes (even more so with the CS stuff).
The game is colorful, vibrant and the player models look really good (there's even a panty peek element in one area where you must "lift" a female into an air duct, for all you guys into that.)
While the monster modeling has been ripped by European game reviews (this game hit their shores about a year ago) I found nothing wrong with them and literally thought they were quite good. Below Silent Hill, but above a Constantine and comparable to The Suffering.
The backgrounds are really solid. Not static, but fully rendered and they are might impressive for the most part, more so than what you'd find in the SH franchise IMO.
The main thing that impressed me was the camera. At no point whatsoever did it become an obstacle, blocking my path or view of the action. It's your classic overhead cam most games of this type use, but it works to perfection and kept up with every movement of my character, never becoming a hindrance.
SOUND: Probably the weakest part of the game, but that's being really picky.
The voice acting is really pretty good, although the kid who thinks he's street will get on your nerves after a while with his chattering like he grew up street tough.
The music is alright. It builds in crescendo as something big is about to go down, so it's a good indicator. Could have been better, though.
As for ambient sounds, the monsters, creaking of rusty doors, etc. is very impressive overall.
Weapons, though, like the gun and bat, sound weak.
GAMEPLAY: This game doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to survival horror, but takes the best of what's already out there and mimics it.
I liked the idea of being able to play so many different characters and it's not a cheap gimmick. In some areas, you will need to have a specific character follow you to help with a puzzle, as each has their own specific abilities.
When you die, you switch to a different character autotmatically and if they are all killed, it's game over. You can also switch characters manually, which was fun as some are better at combat than others.
For me, a game like this isn't worth jack unless it gets me scared. The sound, atmosphere and graphics really are moody, making you feel alone and isolated in this school and when the mosters come, you will definitely jump. This game succeeds in every way, IMO, in the scare department.
The only gripe I had was there is really no tutorial or training, so I had to play and have three characters killed off before realizing that instead of just shooting/clubbing monsters, you can use a bat to break out windows to kill them, as they hate the light like a vampire would. There is a trailer which I suggest you view which shows different things like this, like a pseudo tutorial, but you need to look under the "bonus" item in the main menu to view it.
As for the length, I sense I'm about 1/3 of the way into the game after three hours, so I'd expect maybe 8-10 hours in length, but I like to take these games slow and soak in the scenery.
CONCLUSION: I'm really glad I bought this game, despite the lackluster European reviews. IGN give it a solid 7.6, I believe, and I'd grade it an 8.2 overall.
Like I said, its not really unique but the Xbox is so short in terms of survivial horror games that you can't go wrong by picking this one up. It's a good scare, that's for sure.
Might be hard to find, as only Gamestop and EB Games are the only channels I know of for distribution of the game so far.
I'll check back here every so often so if you have a specific question I can answer about the game, feel free to fire away and I'll try and answer it.
Let's get this out right away, though...don't expect this to be a horror game along the lines of Doom 3. It's a $19.99 game along the lines of Silent Hill and Resident Evil (more so Silent Hill) but in a high school setting with students as the protagonists.
Evil creeps into the school through the dormitory and suddenly students go missing. You, along with four other playable characters you can switch back and forth to and control, must solve what went through via a series of key quests, puzzles (combine this with that), etc.
So, let's look closer at what plucking down an Andy Jackson gets you:
GRAPHICS: I was VERY surprised at the quality of both the in-game graphics and the cut scenes (even more so with the CS stuff).
The game is colorful, vibrant and the player models look really good (there's even a panty peek element in one area where you must "lift" a female into an air duct, for all you guys into that.)
While the monster modeling has been ripped by European game reviews (this game hit their shores about a year ago) I found nothing wrong with them and literally thought they were quite good. Below Silent Hill, but above a Constantine and comparable to The Suffering.
The backgrounds are really solid. Not static, but fully rendered and they are might impressive for the most part, more so than what you'd find in the SH franchise IMO.
The main thing that impressed me was the camera. At no point whatsoever did it become an obstacle, blocking my path or view of the action. It's your classic overhead cam most games of this type use, but it works to perfection and kept up with every movement of my character, never becoming a hindrance.
SOUND: Probably the weakest part of the game, but that's being really picky.
The voice acting is really pretty good, although the kid who thinks he's street will get on your nerves after a while with his chattering like he grew up street tough.
The music is alright. It builds in crescendo as something big is about to go down, so it's a good indicator. Could have been better, though.
As for ambient sounds, the monsters, creaking of rusty doors, etc. is very impressive overall.
Weapons, though, like the gun and bat, sound weak.
GAMEPLAY: This game doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to survival horror, but takes the best of what's already out there and mimics it.
I liked the idea of being able to play so many different characters and it's not a cheap gimmick. In some areas, you will need to have a specific character follow you to help with a puzzle, as each has their own specific abilities.
When you die, you switch to a different character autotmatically and if they are all killed, it's game over. You can also switch characters manually, which was fun as some are better at combat than others.
For me, a game like this isn't worth jack unless it gets me scared. The sound, atmosphere and graphics really are moody, making you feel alone and isolated in this school and when the mosters come, you will definitely jump. This game succeeds in every way, IMO, in the scare department.
The only gripe I had was there is really no tutorial or training, so I had to play and have three characters killed off before realizing that instead of just shooting/clubbing monsters, you can use a bat to break out windows to kill them, as they hate the light like a vampire would. There is a trailer which I suggest you view which shows different things like this, like a pseudo tutorial, but you need to look under the "bonus" item in the main menu to view it.
As for the length, I sense I'm about 1/3 of the way into the game after three hours, so I'd expect maybe 8-10 hours in length, but I like to take these games slow and soak in the scenery.
CONCLUSION: I'm really glad I bought this game, despite the lackluster European reviews. IGN give it a solid 7.6, I believe, and I'd grade it an 8.2 overall.
Like I said, its not really unique but the Xbox is so short in terms of survivial horror games that you can't go wrong by picking this one up. It's a good scare, that's for sure.
Might be hard to find, as only Gamestop and EB Games are the only channels I know of for distribution of the game so far.
I'll check back here every so often so if you have a specific question I can answer about the game, feel free to fire away and I'll try and answer it.
