04/24/05 >> Obscure

Genre: Survival Horror

Developer: HydraVision

Publisher: Dreamcatcher Games

Official Site

 

 

 

 

Obscure has a refreshing new 2 player concept that was bound to happen in survivor horror games sooner or later, and it turns out to be the only factor which boosted this game to an above average rating. Survival horror fans would definitely not find the plot and graphics surpassing the likes of the Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame and even Alone in the Dark Series. However Obscure is surprising fun when coupled with a few friends who can actively support you by unloading a clip into monsters instead of the usual yelling of directions or to shoot faster.

 

Plot wise, Obscure is vastly lacking when compared to its predecessors. You’re virtually playing in a teen horror movie set in an American high school. Five teenagers trapped in a high school one night go looking for the janitor for the keys to get out, get attacked by monsters and try to survive. (Climbing over the gates never occurs to them) Hardcore survivor horror gamers can probably predict what’s going to happen around the next corner as there are quite a number of cliches everywhere in the game.

 

 

You get to choose from five playable characters at anytime in the game as there is a feature which allows you to ‘wrap’ back to a save room (from some places) where the other characters are waiting, apparently undisturbed by monsters. Each of these characters have a special ability which makes each unique and useful in various way. With certain advantages come disadvantages too, like for example one character is able to heal more health with the same items and give advice when you’re stuck at some point in the game but runs at a horrendously slow speed.

 

When playing alone, you can either choose to bring along another character to take advantage of his/her special ability or to just play the game alone. Taking another character means having a crappy AI along for the ride and it’s not always a good idea as healing items are shared amongst all your characters and the AI seems to get hurt a lot on hard mode. However at some points in the game, you need to have two characters to further progress the game, thus forcing you to bring along the dreadful AI.

 

 

The voice acting can only be graded as average with some muffled and hard to catch sentences. The music was worse. Maybe I’ve been playing too much of SH. There are also few boss battles and they are way too easy. None needing a whole lot of team work, they can be taken out quite easily even using a single player. Not to mention that it only takes a sitting or two of 3-4 hours to complete this game. In another words, I would prefer the game to be longer.

 

In conclusion, I would recommend Obscure to any survivor horror fan only if they have friends to bring along for the ride. This game can only shine when a group of friends get together and tackle the game together. It’s tremendously fun to see two gamers (used to having the camera on their character all the time) overcome problems of who’s going to be the lead character. And to devise their own tactics of double teaming monsters, placing the second player next to the exit for a quick escape and swapping the camera efficiently.

 

 

 

 

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Game Score: 6.1

About as much fun as being locked in your high school locker. Co-op saves this game from utter boredom.

 

Developer Grade: n/a

 

 

 

 

Reviewed by Royce Choo