The Retrospective 03.15.07: Clock Tower (Part 2 of 2)
Posted by Sean McCabe on 03.15.2007
Clock Tower undergoes a change of hands and a metamorphosis, ironically reaching its pinnacle in a game that by name is not part of the series. But the Clock Tower philosophy goes deeper than it’s name, as we will discuss in this week’s Retrospective.
Hola, peeps.
Last week the column was pretty lethargic, so to make up, this one is going to be quite detailed. And since I'll probably need to take another break next week to get a coursework done, I got like three weeks to make up for.
The Introspective
I suppose the thing to start with is for you to click over to the Select and Start News Report and check out what a guy called Chris Hecker had to say. Pretty dumb, eh? Well I cannot say too much, since I can sympathise with his apology –
"I was trying to be thought provoking and entertaining and fun, and a lot of the stuff went too far over the top on the entertaining and fun side, so that it was no longer thought provoking, just inflammatory. And in the process, I hurt a bunch of people I care about. And so, I want to apologize now. I do not think that the Wii is a piece of shit."
Since that sounds like a lot of what I had to do recently, I won't be too harsh. But what I will say; there's a world of difference between going too far in some random review being posted on a random site on the net, and making a speech like his at the GDC… it sounds more than a little unprofessional. Journalists do shit like it all the time, but I dunno… I really expected more from an actual developer. I guess this makes you think… I certainly know I'll be taking lessons from it in future. However, I do find his assertions that Sony and Microsoft give a hoot about gaming as an art form over a form of making money a bit of a joke. Nintendo I think probably take gaming a little more seriously than those two since games are its main breadwinner after all.
I… have a confession to make. It's about Okami. I think… it's overrated. There, I said it. I do think it's good, but I personally got really bored with it and gave up, and took it back to the store. It just didn't resonate with me so much over time, it just seemed like Zelda-lite once you get past the gimmicks and the graphics, clever though they are. As such, of the Clover two, God Hand is the better one. Controversial, but I stand by my feelings on the matter. God Hand felt it had more substance to offer for fans of brawlers than Okami had to offer to fans of adventure games. And I am a fan of both. Oh well, there you go, I'm sure many of you wish to burn me at the stake now.
Anyway, enough about that, and more about the game I traded Okami in for, Excite Truck. I was getting bored of the Wii until it finally hit UK stores, and freaking wow! Fast, frenetic and totally chaotic, it is to racing games what Win is to Lose. I've been playing it off and on, it's the perfect game to blow twenty minutes on when your bored, and has kept my Wii powered on regularly for the first time since beating Twilight Princess. I would say that if I did have any doubts about the Wii's ability to keep people entertained before, games like Excite Truck reminds me to have faith. F-Zero Wii, judging from the standards of Excite Truck, is going to be an awesome proposition.
There isn't a whole lot more to say this week, as in actuality my gaming has been somewhat downplayed in favour of doing work (sigh) and watching the Witchblade anime, which has been pretty awesome considering it doesn't have the greatest source material. Maybe it's no myth that Japanese comics and cartoons really are better than American… they actually have character development.
VG Babe of the Week: Jill Valentine
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say, Jill is easily one of the best female icons in games, right up there with Samus Aran. And it does give things a Capcom theme this week, which is a good thing, as Capcom would become the owners of the Clock Tower franchise after all.
The Breakdown
First I want to call attention to a game that displayed the obvious admiration that Capcom had for the Clock Tower series which pretty much foreshadowed their acquisition, the game of course being Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Even to a lesser extent the seeds were laid in Resident Evil 2's B scenarios, with the unstoppable Mr. X. In both these games Clock Tower's stalker system was utilised, to enhance the story and give players an overhanging threat over their actions. Whilst these two games are not Clock Tower games, the fact that pretty much the most famous and commercially successful horror series of all time and the coiner of the Survival Horror term borrowed liberally from a series such as Clock Tower shows just how much importance it has to the development of the horror genre in videogames.
Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within (Clock Tower: Ghost Head)
Developer: Human Entertainment
Format: PSX
Release: 1998
Notes: Although only the second Clock Tower game to receive Western release chronologically, hence being called Clock Tower 2, the game in actuality is a spin off and has no number, much like Resident Evil: Code Veronica.
Ghost Head is the first game of the series to be set in Japan, although the settings and names were changed for the American release. The story is about a girl called Alyssa Maxwell (see what they did thar?) who is rescued as a young child from the Maxwell family grave where she had been buried alive, at the behest of her father George Maxwell due to his belief that she is cursed in a similar way to the Burrows twins from the first Clock Tower. A scientist named Alan Hale who is motivated to do so not by normal reasoning but by a desire to ruin George Maxwell, a Scientist who has displaced his position rescues her and adopts her as his own daughter. Alyssa is indeed cursed with a murderous alter ego named Bates, however she is forced to rely on him when an experiment at the Memorial Pharmaceutical, the lab where Maxwell and Hale worked goes horribly wrong… Hale implants a toxin in a Golden Statue which drives anyone who touches it mad. Alyssa winds up caught in the middle of all this, and must survive by whatever means possible, for there is more to the event than meets the eye. Someone wants her dead.
Clock Tower 2 utilises once again the same point and click interface of previous games, once again designed so that movement is fast and intuitive for the chase sequences. However, this game is the worst game in the series, for a reason not only of the rather convoluted story which really overcomplicates things, and the weak graphics, excusable in the first PSX game but not in the second, but also Bates. Bates can use weapons. And frankly, that's not very Clock Tower, least not outside of very specific boss confrontations. But probably the worst problem with this game is it's triggering system. There are too many points in the game that result in an instant game over. Not a game over, you're dead, start from the last save point game over, but an ending to the game which forces you to start over. This is a flaw of the game having 13 odd endings only one of which is the true ending. The rest are glorified failure screens. This however, is the most popular game of the series in Japan, because of it actually being set there… which is pretty shallow really, this is not a better game than either of its predecessors or its followers.
The Introspective: I got to play this game years ago, it was the first Clock Tower game I had played and it didn't really impress me. It is just as well I would later give the original and 3 a chance, because those got me much more into the series.
Clock Tower 3
Developer: Sunsoft
Format: PS2
Release: 2003
Notes: The first, and for the moment, only official Clock Tower to be published by Capcom, the new owner of the Clock Tower franchise. Also the first to finally have a consistent name. It's Clock Tower 3, wherever you live. Even if it is the 4th game in the series.
Clock Tower 3 is an interesting game. Instead of taking the slasher game approach of the first three games, it is instead a lot more fantastical. It uses elements of Celtic myth and urban legends of serial killers to great effect, weaving an ultimately engrossing tale that whilst unbecoming of what the series was known for up to this point, was just so damn good it's impossible to complain. Another problem, albeit one that isn't really so bad, is the introduction of boss confrontations. Although these are again, combat-orientated and do somewhat break the flow of the game, they are fun enough, and kept very specifically for the end of sections, so forgivable.
The story is set in London, albeit a fairly romanticised London. And although the story is meant to be set in 2003, it shifts to other points in time, including 1942 and 1963. In fact Alyssa Hamilton, the 14 year old protagonist, finds herself all over space and time really, through the course of the game. This does allow Sunsoft to design some beautiful and ornate locations. The games events take place just before her 15th birthday, which is very important. For it is on the hour of her 15th birthday, that a dark sacrament known as the Ritual of Engagement can be carried out. This is because Alyssa is descended from a family of holy warriors known as the Rooders. These warriors fight evil spirits known as Entities that twist human beings into psychotic monsters. But through this ritual, a mortal can become an entity and gain immortality…
That's enough to set the scene, but is far from the whole story of Clock Tower 3, a story that transcends history and time, love and fear. It almost makes me happy that the Clock Tower movie will be using 3 as its base… almost, because they'll fuck it up. It's just too good to handle for Hollywood. There's also only one ending… Capcom probably feared a repeat of the problems with Ghost Head if they went the multi-ending route.
Clock Tower 3 would drop the point and click interface and adopt the same control style as Resident Evil, which you'll either love or hate. But I don't think anyone can claim it does not suit it well. The controls during the battle sequences between Alyssa and the Entities are probably the hardest to get used to. The boss fights, particularly the last one, are tough, but nonetheless, quite fun to play. The focus of the game however is still on solving puzzles whilst eluding the Entities intent on making Alyssa's life end violently. The game also includes some of the most disturbingly violent cut scenes I've ever seen in any game, including a little girl being clubbed to death with a sledgehammer, this game is not for the faint of heart. But it sure as hell is for those who like good horror.
In Retrospect: Although as a game Clock Tower 3 could be considered as relatively average (well, except for me, I love the old school RE style), it's one of those games where the story and art direction is so good and the concepts so twisted it's worth it for anybody to play it once. I noticed the Angry Gamer this week took a look at Thrill Kill, as an example of a great game that uses intense content to enhance its experience. A game that, ooh, I have played, quite a while ago (surprise, surprise). He could certainly do a lot worse than cover Clock Tower 3 for similar reasons, even if, unlike Thrill Kill, it was actually released.
Alright. The next game, is not a Clock Tower game. Apparently. Even though it has the same stalker system, the same panic system, the same attitude towards horror, the same attitude towards sexuality (suffice to say, I haven't covered everything) and just has the same feel. So you're not fooling anyone Capcom. Perhaps because the Clock Tower name doesn't have the same value it used to, CT3 not selling too well, but Capcom decided to take an in-house crack at the series but ditching the name. I am of course talking about… The Gregory Horror Show.
Alright, kidding. I mean Haunting Ground.
Haunting Ground (Demento)
Developer: Capcom
Format: PS2
Release: 2005
Notes: Haunting Ground was released after Resident Evil 4. This is not a good time for a game like Haunting Ground to be released, because Resident Evil 4, as good a game as it is, basically killed the horror genre in videogames as an art form, which is what I attribute to this awesome, awesome game's poor sales.
Alright, I want to make this clear, now. Haunting Ground is probably the greatest pure horror title ever released. It is definitely the greatest one that Capcom have ever released. But of course, it may have come too little, too late. It came at a time when most people were still reeling from RE4 and seemed to expect every horror game to be about saving the President's daughter and blowing the shit out of 20 foot long spider using a rocket launcher. Not a good time to be a psychological, intelligent horror game. As a result, it got mostly lower review scores than it deserves. The Finnish Games Magazine PELIT, probably the closest Europe has to it's own Famitsu, awarded this game 89% and is the only review of this game probably anywhere that fairly analysed what this game was about and rewarded it both for it's technical excellence and artistic flair. Clock Tower 3 was technically quite impressive, so it is something else that Haunting Ground is a whole league above Clock Tower 3.
The game opens with one of the most, well, creepy intros I think I've ever seen, which I've provided below. I would also like to note that the game seems to have quite the following for the creation of music videos to its scenes, as there's quite a number available on Youtube.
Players assume the role of Fiona, an 18 year old girl who finds herself at the start of the game locked in a cage by a grotesque hunchbacked… thing. She eventually escapes, and encounters a white-coated Alsatian that seems as lost and alone as she is. The name on its collar denotes its name as Hewie. Fiona and Hewie then embark on a quest to escape the castle they have been locked inside in. But it's a journey fraught with peril. Aren't the always? The plot veers into pretty freaky territories, but I will say it has a lot to do with Alchemy, and kinda like Clock Tower 3 before it, creepy men wanting to do creepy things to young girls for immortality. I told you I didn't cover everything.
The gameplay is much, much improved from Clock Tower 3. Where stalkers would appear out of nowhere, and far too frequently in Clock Tower 3, and use of hiding spots would pretty much guarantee an end to a chase, Haunting Ground is far, far more unpredictable. The AI of the stalkers is actually pretty good, as they will get wise to your hiding places if you rely on them too much. You can fight back using limited items, the shin kick (Fiona unfortunately kicks like a pre-schooler) and, probably most effectively, Hewie, whom you can command like a real dog. In fact Hewie is what sticks out about this game. He acts like a real dog would. Feed him treats and pet him once in a while and you can (mostly) rely on him to protect you. Kick him about and fail to treat him after injuries and he will be useless. Since you need him to solve puzzles, it's advisable not to treat him too harshly, though cleverly, the option to scold as well as pet does mean that it's more than just being about lovey dovey towards him, he does respond to discipline. The game looks absolutely beautiful, suffice to say, a real feast for the eyes. The game also features large areas with no loading times. In fact the only detectable loading times in the entire game seems to be just for cut scenes, and even those are almost unnoticeably short. Also… I just want to say, once again, that if you have any doubts about this game's relationship to Clock Tower… you save at clocks. On the whole, using Clock Tower 3 as a base to judge from, Haunting Ground's story isn't quite as good, although it's still a very good story in its own right, but Haunting Ground is very much superior in every other area.
In Retrospect: This game is top 10 material in my mind, I absolutely loved it. Of course, it's decidedly old school and more about psychological horror and being chased than blowing things up, so if that's more your thing, avoid. This game doesn't need anymore people dissing it because they need a big gun to feel they can enjoy a horror game.
Bitter? Me? Not at all… not at all…
Oh, some links for once
Cory Moore steals into my territory for a look at Sonic 2 in this week's Fun Factor
Theo's Nintendophiles brings the usual dose of weekly Nintendo goodness. You know you love it.
411'a favourite ogre covers the movies he wants to see games of in Working Title. I'm blaming him if the Clock Tower movie sucks, just so you know.
And just to acknowledge that there's more than a Games section on 411 -
Ari's Column of Honor this week presents, among other things, the must-see "Briscoes' Guide to Manning Up". Since reading it I've been Manning Up. Even this column has Manned up.
Keep things in Perspective, Man Up!, and I'll be back, probably in a couple of weeks, where I will be covering one of the more interesting series in gaming history.
