Obscure – PS2 – Review

Designed to emulate teen
slasher flicks, Obscure is a game that wants to be a movie.  It has its ups
and downs, things that will remind you of at least a couple of cheesy horror
flicks.  As much as it wants to be different, in truth the game is not much
more than another take on the Silent Hill style of gameplay.

Starring a group of high
school kids who get trapped in a school, Obscure starts off slow but
interesting.  You control a young basketball star around the court, shooting
baskets if you desire.  The graphics look pretty bland at this point, but I
like the seclusion of the atmosphere.  I like how the ball naturally rolls
around the court as I run into it – a small but necessary touch in today’s
world of demands.

Shooting baskets gets old
quick.  Assuming that’s not really the reason why I’m here, I head for the
nearest door.  It’s not locked (apparently), but the game informs me that I’m
not leaving without my stuff.  Okay, I’ll buy that.  I wouldn’t take off
without my stuff in real life either (especially if a PSP was in my bag.  You
couldn’t get me to go anywhere without that!).  What to do?  Search for the
bag and see what’s inside, if anything.

"Uhhh…hello?"

All other doors are
locked, except for the locker, which was intentionally left open.  I don’t
know it at the time, but a trap was being laid.  Like a mouse chasing after a
piece of cheese, I fell for it.

There it is, my bag!
It’s only there for us to see, of course.  Only us, the gamers (viewers) get
to witness the bag being taken away but what appears to be a monstrous hand.
Rats, what now?

More walking and running
and more door checking.  This one is locked.  This one is tightly shut, etc.,
etc.  If you heard it in Resident Evil or Silent Hill, chances are you’ll hear
an excuse that’s just as lame, if not lamer, to explain why you can’t enter.

Time passes, yawns
follow, and eventually I make my way down to where the monster is hiding.  A
scared citizen is located, and before I know it we’re heading off into battle
as a team.  We’ve got weapons (I found a gun along the way – what was it doing
in a school?), and we’re ready to take on any vicious beast that will attempt
to lash its tongue at us!  Or so we thought.  The monster comes, we fight but
die.  At least that’s how it appears.  The "Obscure" logo appears, putting a
Scream-like end to the game’s interactive intro.  Great concept, but it
would’ve been a lot more exciting if the characters moved faster and if the
monster looked scarier.

Red is the color of those we do not speak of.

Just as an unrealistic
monster prepares moviegoers for a scare-less experience, Obscure’s intro does
little to entice the player to continue.  You’re curious to know what happens
next.  We all are.  But that monster looked so lame.  Finding him wasn’t fun.
The areas are too big and little explanation is given to guide you in
whichever direction you’re supposed to go.  Did I mention the frequent door
checking?  As bad as the monsters look, there just aren’t enough of them, nor
are there enough real weapons to take them down.

Although I had high hopes
for the scare-factor, the game never reaches a scary, or even a suspenseful,
level.  Playing Obscure after playing other survival/horror games is like
watching I Know What You Did Last Summer after watching The Ring.  There’s no
comparison between the two.  The Ring is scary.  I Know…isn’t.

A game is only as scary
as the amount of realism packed into the graphics engine, and this is another
area where Obscure comes up short.  Clunky controls don’t have to equal clunky
animations, but they do in this game.  I was particularly disappointed by the
backgrounds and the monster designs and animations.  Not only did the
environments lack the realistic sense of fear and darkness present in, say,
the first Silent Hill, but the game also lacks a collection of monsters,
creatures or any type of adversary that has the power to strike fear in the
player.

The computer animated
scenes aren’t that great either.  They remind me of the CG used for Beast Wars
and other low-budget TV shows developed in the late 90s.  I thought games had
gotten past that.

We’ve got flashlights and we’re NOT afraid to use them!

I had high hopes for
Obscure and its exciting concept of being trapped in a school, slowly killing
off its cast like an episode of American Idol, but instead I got a game that
was akin to the vocal performance of the last American Idol: scary for all the
wrong reasons.

Review Scoring Details for Obscure

Gameplay: 6
Lacks
excitement.  Lacks thrills.  Lacks scares and chills!  It takes the “horror”
out of survival/horror and becomes a game of survival, one that isn’t even
that hard to survive.  With lots of walking, door checking, and a poorly
constructed story, Obscure becomes a game that, before too long, will be the
definition that justifies its name.

Graphics: 6.9
We’re on the fast
lane to the next generation of game consoles.  It’s at this time when all
games released on the current generation should look their best.  It is also a
time when we are reminded that, no matter how young or old a console is, there
will always be games that look like they were made for a much older console.

Sound: 7.9
Surprisingly
haunting for a game that isn’t very scary.  Good compositions,
original-sounding, and much more entertaining than the game itself.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Survival/horror
is supposed to be a game of surviving horrific scenarios.  Obscure doesn’t
quite meet the requirement, having decent graphics, decent cut scenes and good
music, but below-average gameplay.

Concept: 9
Excellent ideas
presented.  Good use of camera; smart choice for characters; clever ideas for
make-your-own weapon/device.  The execution of it all is where the game falls
short.

Multiplayer: 6.5
Wanna share the
love?  Then drag your friend over to the TV and make him pick up a
controller.  Two-player co-op available…if you dare.

Overall: 6
All mechanical
issues aside, the most important feature a survival/horror game can have is
horror.  Can’t say “better luck next time” or “this game almost pulls it off”
when it’s missing the thing that matters most.  It doesn’t even have those
pop-out-and-say-boo moments that the first two Resident Evil games were famous
for.  That, combined with clunky gameplay and lame monsters, make for one
obscure game.