Obscure - Review

Added April 29th, 2005 by Dakota Grabowski

Introduction:

Not too many survival horror games have captivated me enough to label them as excellent games.  I’ll have to admit that it’s not my favorite genre to play, nor one that draws the majority of my friends to play either.  In this genre, only Fatal Frame 2 has been released on the Xbox recently that could actually be called a stellar game.  Ubi Soft released Cold Fear in which they tried to create Resident Evil on a boat, however, they failed miserably.  Konami released another Silent Hill and that didn’t go over too well with the Silent Hill fans.  Midway’s The Suffering was well received but that is more of an action-oriented game rather than an adventure game.  With Obscure, Dreamcatcher hopes to instill fear and capture the survival horror genre at its highest moments.  Let’s see how it performs.

Gameplay:

The core dynamics of Obscure pits the player in the position of hightailing it out of a high school which holds demonic creatures.  Right there should be the first clue as to where the main focus of the game is aiming for.  Dreamcatcher picked a great scenario with the setting being a high school.  High schools nationwide have brought horror to kids everywhere, so it’s ironic that the terrors now aren’t in the daytime where teachers pester the kids for their homework, but rather late at night with horrors found around every dark corner.

A few may be wondering how a school can be horrifying.  Well, five different students are stuck in the school they attend for the premise. The school is over 100 years old and was constructed for dark purposes.  So, if you are curious, yes, the school has a troubled background.  The story is weak and straight to the point.  You won’t ever be confused and the simplicity makes it all the better to not play it again.

About the characters in the game: each one has their own specific traits that make them unique.  One can run faster, another can see clues with ease and so much more such as being able to hit harder.  None of them are very likable, so if a sub-character dies, oh well.  You’ll quickly see what I mean.   You’ll also find that you have no care whatsoever for the plot or any of the characters.

The key to a survival-horror game for me is the monsters.  If the monsters can deliver chills down my back and moments where I cringe upon facing them, then the developers have done their job.  The monsters within Obscure aren’t that scary at all and aren’t even that evil.  All the monsters pretty much radiate with is a black aura that is supposed to make them appear more evil, but it just attempts to hide the fact that they aren’t that scary.  I am disappointed that there aren’t any chilling creatures to freak out about.  No chills, no thrills, no fun if you ask me.

If you are the type that gets scared while playing horror games, then you are in for a treat.  There are the familiar scares that you probably should have become accustomed to already from playing other horror games.  If you haven’t yet, there’s some help to get over your fears as a flashlight is available for your use.  If the flashlight isn’t bright enough for you, pull in the left trigger and it will become brighter for a select amount of time.  Beware though of it over-heating, as you’ll be without a light source and you’ll be wandering clueless all alone in the dark.

Graphics:

The school and the classes that you are forced to walk through are actually visibly pleasing.  Sure, they aren’t top notch, but at least they provide a better atmosphere to play through.  On the other hand, the same can’t be said for the monsters.  They don’t flow with evil like they should and aren’t a menace to fight either.  The faces for the characters look nice but every animation in the game feels forced.  You might as well be controlling robots that are stiff.  Could the cut scenes save the game?  Nope, they are goofy looking and needed more work to be done.  The foliage has all the same texture and look to them.  Not too much positive in terms of graphics, it could be best compared to the first generation of Playstation 2 games.  The graphics area is stronger than the audio if that’s anything to say.

Audio:

If voice acting wasn’t so horrible in Obscure, it would have been an average survival horror game all around..  But the voice talent is atrocious and not too far into the game, you will find it irritating to hear them speak.  Even worse is the dialogue for the actors to read.  It’s cheesy and too predictable.  I wish survival-horror games had intelligent dialogue so I could actually be attached to the story and be interested all the way through the game.  The sound effects are what you would predict with a horror game as such.  The monsters growl, of course, the girls shriek in terror, and gunshots are all there.  None excel though and could be easily overlooked.  The only thing that could possibly be noticed would be the music to try and spice up the atmosphere in the game, but it will be drowned out at times due to horrible voice acting.  Dreamcatcher does have Sum 41 providing tunes, but it’s not enough to make up for the voice acting.

Controls:

The game is in the third-person perspective.  You will be controlling the characters with the thumbsticks, of course, and directing him which way you want to go.  It is similar to what you find with other survival-horror games, so fans will find it easy to adapt to.  The inventory system is easy to access and scroll through.  The right side of the inventory system is where your weapons will be and the left side is for your items relating to the plot.  If you do have a problem with the controls (which I highly doubt you will) there are some tutorials in the game to assist you.  I bet many will find the tutorials tedious just like in so many other games but they do help out the novices playing in this genre.

The camera views are fixed so you’ll have to work within the system they give.  With no control over the camera, you’ll of course find many issues like it not keeping up with the action.  Two player co-op does have it issues with losing players off the screen.  This of course is a huge issue due to that they’ll die without you even being able to see their demise.  The camera doesn’t need to be reworked but rather a whole new system needs to be put in.  I found too many issues and it's unflattering to have a friend become tired of it also.

Replay:

Trying to somewhat innovate, Dreamcatcher throws in a second-player mode.  The second-player is there to assist the main character complete tasks.  Funny thing is that only at certain moments in the game will you be allowed to use a second character.  Your friend that you may have brought over may have to wait to pick up that controller and assist you on taking on some creatures that are easily dispatched by yourself.  The actual story itself is completed within six to eight hours.  You won’t be picking this back up to play again so I am afraid the replay is limited to just that of a second player mode if you ever have a friend that is into this genre.

Overall:

If Dreamcatcher decides to make another Obscure, I do hope they intend on revolving the story around the high school again.  The high school was a nice environment to feel unsafe at and always be on my feet for my next encounter with the creatures.  They are on the right path with adding in co-op for this genre, as it is desperately needed for more than one to enjoy.  Obscure isn’t a disgrace as it does its job at delivering with gameplay, and in some cases, the graphics, but it’s the audio that kills it from being enjoyable.  I can’t really say too much more aboutObscure.  It’s sloppy and mediocre all the way through.