ObsCure – Review

Ahh the teen slasher genre, is there anything more cinematically satisfying than seeing a bunch of hapless teens get bumped off one by one by monsters? Of course not, it’s all the teen slasher genre has going for it, particularly since the genre has become, shall we say…. A bit rubbish of late. Luckily for you though Ubi Soft have delivered the same formula in game format, ahh the joy… welcome to ObsCure (which we’ll write as Obscure from this point forth because it reads better).

The title sets the scene beautifully by showing us a nice intro depicting your typical US high school / college, all the kids milling around the campus grounds until we’re led inside to the basketball court with bleachers. The intro sets the scene perfectly as the jock guy is left in the gym to play a few hoops before returning to the eerily empty locker room, it is here the tension begins as his bag is stolen and he hunts down the ‘person’ who has taken it. I have to be honest, I couldn’t help but feel that this was looking a little like Resident Evil with teens, the good news is however it wasn’t FEELING like a Resident Evil title, the controls were for the most part tight and there was none of that annoying slowdown, once I got into it a little it actually reminded me more of the Buffy games or Eternal Darkness, the only thing missing was the Scooby Gang.

Once our hapless basketball star disappears, his friends set about finding him and the game truly comes into its own. It is for all intents and purposes your standard survival horror fare with keys to find, equipment to pick up, puzzles to solve, fragments of information to put together and energy drinks to keep your strength up as you not only try and find your friend but also find out just what the devil is going on in your monster filled school.

Graphics are lovely and it isn’t ashamed of the similarities between itself and other prominent survival horror titles, if resident evil, silent hill or any of the others were set in a school I’m imagining it would look very much like Obscure. Also I should mention at times the linking between the cut sequences and game itself was so seamless I actually wasn’t aware it had occurred. There’s also lots of interactive objects which made a nice change to the stock standard pretty backgrounds that do nothing.

Sound, brilliant, it’s all in lovely Dolby Digital. The music and in game sound effects I found very atmospheric which definitely lent itself to the overall tension of the title, the voice-overs were not too shabby and it also has the now standard indie rock tracks the likes of which you’d hear in a Tony Hawk game (well they are American Teens!).

Innovation, yes it’s there, although at first glance this does indeed appear to be another run of the mill survival horror it surprises you with the ‘cooperative mode’ with a team member managed by AI, but, and here’s the magic bit, at any time, you can substitute AI for a second player, yes that’s right a friend comes over whilst you’re in the middle of a game? No problem, pass them a controller and you’ve got a real life team mate. You also get to control any one of the 5 students, each one with a different skill and you can switch between them in game at any time with the tap of a button. Good luck in keeping them all alive! As well as this there’s also the rather novel weapon of ‘light’ in the game. Monsters can be killed by light, be it the torch you pick up on your travels with it’s powerful high beam or by smashing open windows to let natural light flood in, clever and different and I do like it when a game surprises me like that (the last to do so, project Zero with it’s use of a camera as a weapon).

Female Gamer Angle: Well it’s got female characters in it and they’re pretty cool, you also get to choose the character you control so that’s good if you must play a female character. As we’re always saying here at Thumb Bandits, female gamers love a game if it’s a good game, just like our male counterparts, but it’s extra nice when there’s girls in games who kick ass, and this title has those.

What’s wrong with it?
I only have a couple of gripes about Obscure, at one point I was doing the survival horror marathon (running around and around looking for a clue I missed) which can get a little irritating, though more often than not this is down to the players own stupidity than anything else. I guess if you’re purchasing a survival horror title you should expect to be covering the same areas a few times so no biggie. The targeting system, whilst better than resident evil (God that was awful!) can at times lead you to firing at nothing as opposed to the beast about to tear your arms off. Oh and apparently it’s short, though I haven’t quite finished it (refer back to the survival horror marathon as to why this is the case).

Conclusion:
I was and still am really enjoying this title, the innovative control method, atmospheric sound, crisp graphics and sweet environments make this one of the better horror genre titles available. Ok so it’s not perfect, if it was it would be getting all the hype and press wouldn’t it. I can’t help but feel saddened that this title may therefore get lost in the flood of ‘big name’ releases presently getting most of the advertising, that would be a shame because above average survival horror titles are few and far between.

If you’re a fan of this genre you have to check this out, not a fan of this genre, but enjoy the thought of teens getting munched by monsters, check it out. Not a fan of this genre and don’t much care for munched teens, wait till it drops in price then check it out. Could I be any more Obscure?

Review by Angela