ObsCure: The Aftermath

To be clear Aftermath is no Resident Evil 3. Aftermath is better suited to players who are new to the survival-horror series and want better odds of finishing the game with minimizing the feeling of helplessness and dread. The puzzles aren’t overly difficult but do include a variety of searching tasks and manipulation of objects to open doors. The Resident Evil series still takes the cake when it comes to multi-faceted puzzles where adventures reward you with one piece of a larger puzzle. Aftermath does not offer any extra value options to increase the replay value so it’s basically a once through and you’re done kind of game. It’s not a very long game so the advanced gamer may want to rent this one before moving onto something with more staying power. With that said it does offer up the gory goodness and feeds the need for some R and R this summer.

At the end of this reviewer’s fun and albeit frustrating adventure, I rather liked ObsCure: The Aftermath. The title is by no means perfect and suffers from several of the trappings of survival horrors especially the camera angles. Firing ranges weapons is awkward at times due to the sensitivity of the Wii-remote and the locking system that sometimes fails.

The co-op system works rather well (even though we found it to be a bit slow and stilted at times), the speed is worthy of both a third-person shooter and a survival/horror game, and above all else, the atmosphere gives the entire experience a huge boost. The storyline is kinda boring, though, and the pacing leaves a little something to be desired. The voice acting is just plain bad and we often felt completely overmatched when fighting the nasties that inhabit most every level of the game. Still, Obscure: The Aftermath is well worth playing for any fan of the genre, especially because it’s only twenty bucks. It’s also a good option if you want to play with a friend; just don’t expect something that’s refined and polished within an inch of its entertainment life. There are plenty of little flaws here and there that are quite visible, but it doesn’t completely erase the atmospheric appeal and general fun factor. And that’s a good note to end a review on.

Obscure: The Aftermath isn’t survival/horror reinvented. It isn’t survival/horror perfection. But like the retro RPGs, which serve their purpose by reiterating SNES gameplay and graphics that feel older, The Aftermath serves the survival/horror fan by giving them one last romp with the style that defined PSone and PS2

Obscure: The Aftermath is a surprisingly good game for only about twenty bucks. It's generally worth it for some fun co-op, great atmosphere and really beautiful music. Despite its problems, I enjoyed the overall experience.

Enkele vervelende minpuntjes ten spijt is Obscure II een best te pruimen Survival Horror game geworden.

Obscure 2 bietet auch auf der Konsole ein ordentliches Gruselerlebnis mit reichlich Schockermomenten. In der PC-Fassung angesprochene Schwächen wie die lieblose Charakteraufmachung oder die eintönigen Rätsel findet man auch hier, dafür hat diese Version nicht mit Umsetzungsschwächen zu kämpfen und bietet eine geringfügig bessere Steuerung – auch bei der Kamera. Dafür gibt’s einen Punkt Aufschlag in der Gesamtwertung. Und auch hier gilt: Zu zweit macht’s doppelt Spaß. Die Genrevielfalt ist auf der PS2 allerdings wesentlich höher, so können die Gruselfans zwar einen Blick riskieren, finden aber bessere Alternativen.

The Aftermath is not a great game, but it's a good game. It's not perfect, but it does offer some solid entertainment value despite some flaws.

Overall, Obscure is worth a look for survival horror fans hungry for a horror game, but the combat system may make the overall feel unpleasant at times. The first Obscure wasn't completely groundbreaking and the sequel isn't either. With a $20 price tag, it's worth a try for the well envisioned horror atmosphere it presents if nothing else. It lasts for a good 6 to 8 hours and there is no reason to play the game again except for the main story. The game seems to end suddenly but all is not over once the credits roll - there is actually quite a bit of gameplay left after that. From a story point of view, fans of the first game will most likely enjoy this one as well. I actually prefer this one when compared to the original Obscure.

If you liked Obscure and you want to see what happens to that game's survivors, then The Aftermath should be rented at best (don't worry, you should be able to get through its storyline before the rental period is up). If you were on the fence about the last one, then you still might want to check this game out because it does solve a few of the issues. Besides that, only die-hard survival horror fans need apply.

The Aftermath is not a great game, but it's a good game. It's not perfect, but it does offer some solid entertainment value despite some flaws.

This game isn't a looker. It gets the job done. Function over form seems to be the developers' mantra. Since the majority of the gameplay revolves around exploring and puzzle solving, the developers downplayed the ambience that would have undoubtedly plunged us into dreary darkness, making things difficult to see. Thankfully we aren't forced to explore the environments through the limited radius of a flashlight. They are well lit and easy to navigate. The ambient soundtrack does a good job of maintaining the creepy vibe. Orchestral and gothic choir washes remind me of Alan Parson's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. That's a good thing in case you didn't get the reference.

Obscure: The Aftermath is a surprisingly good game for about thirty bucks. It's generally worth it for some fun co-op, great atmosphere and really beautiful music. Despite its problems, I enjoyed the overall experience.

Being a survival horror game, Obscure II is up against some stiff competition, or at least it would have been were there any competition to compete with. The game has benefited by being released at a time when the genre seems to be in remission and with this PC port being surprisingly well done, unlike the fiasco surrounding the PC version of Resident Evil 4, there's plenty working in favour of this surprisingly quite enjoyable slice of teen horror fuelled adventuring.

A relatively short gaming experience, ObsCure II is nonetheless an enjoyable sequel to one of 2004's lesser known sleeper hits. Perhaps it pays a bit too much homage to the teen horror movies at times, but it does offer a surprisingly solid experience...while it lasts.

Mir gefallen auch solche Spiele mit deutlichen Mängeln, wenn mir während der Spielzeit ein ordentliches Maß an atmospährischer Unterhaltung geboten wird. Es kann auch seichte Unterhaltung sein. Schließlich sind all jene Tennie-Horror-Aufgüsse aus Hollywood auch nicht besonders anspruchsvoll. Obscure 2 bietet genau diese seichte Unterhaltung. Und das sogar mir einer tollen Atmospähre. Mehr aber nicht. Es macht eben einen Unterschied, ob die Charaktere mit viel Liebe herausgearbeitet sind oder nur visuelle Stereotypen darstellen. Die Puzzles sind zudem meistens zu lahm, um Rätselfreunde zu begeistern. Wer mit Rätseln nichts am Hut hat, den stören diese einfältigen Knobeleien höchstwahrscheinlich trotzdem.

Obscure avait bénéficié de l'effet de surprise ici réduit à peau de chagrin. On ne saluera pas toutes les innovations de cet épisode, loin d'améliorer le résultat final, et bien que le scénario s'aventure vers des horizons un peu plus torturés, on pourra aussi reprocher un manque de second degré, élément représentatif du précédent volet. En somme Obscure II est une sorte de face cachée d'Obscure qui aurait mérité un peu plus d'ambition pour briller autant que son modèle.

Obscure avait bénéficié de l'effet de surprise ici réduit à peau de chagrin. On ne saluera pas toutes les innovations de cet épisode, loin d'améliorer le résultat final, et bien que le scénario s'aventure vers des horizons un peu plus torturés, on pourra aussi reprocher un manque de second degré, élément représentatif du précédent volet. En somme Obscure II est une sorte de face cachée d'Obscure qui aurait mérité un peu plus d'ambition pour briller autant que son modèle.

Obscure avait bénéficié de l'effet de surprise ici réduit à peau de chagrin. On ne saluera pas toutes les innovations de cet épisode, loin d'améliorer le résultat final, et bien que le scénario s'aventure vers des horizons un peu plus torturés, on pourra aussi reprocher un manque de second degré, élément représentatif du précédent volet. En somme Obscure II est une sorte de face cachée d'Obscure qui aurait mérité un peu plus d'ambition pour briller autant que son modèle.

Obscure: The Aftermath is an enjoyable enough adventure, but it doesn’t excel in any way. The controls on Wii are forced and unnatural and hamper what is an otherwise solid game design.

Coming on the heels of a fantastic predecessor, Obscure: The Aftermath had a lot of potential to be a good survival horror game. Sadly it didn’t live up any such expectations – it’s such a drop in quality that I’m not even sure it was done by the same design team. While still passable for the genre, particularly given its low to midrange price tag, those of us who really got off on the original had better brace themselves for a severe letdown.

Coming on the heels of a fantastic predecessor, Obscure: The Aftermath had a lot of potential to be a good survival horror game. Sadly it didn’t live up any such expectations – it’s such a drop in quality that I’m not even sure it was done by the same design team. While still passable for the genre, particularly given its low to midrange price tag, those of us who really got off on the original had better brace themselves for a severe letdown.

Obscure: The Aftermath does feature some creepy music and might be a more enjoyable down the line should patches come down the road. Unfortunately, in its current state, the game is very unpolished and awkward. We can only recommend it to fervent fans of the survival-horror genre at this point.

Obscure: The Aftermath is a surprisingly solid game for about fifteen bucks. But the lack of feasible cooperative options makes the PC version of Aftermath the weakest of the bunch. You'll still have a bit of fun playing on your own, but it's just not the same.

Overall though, Obscure II packs in just about enough charm to make it worth looking into as a budget purchase, providing you can find it at the right price. It's an almost knowingly bad and referential tribute to some of the great horror movie sequels, and however average the play mechanics and art direction are, on some basic level it still manages to fill a nice gap. Whether or not that will be enough for a purchase is largely down to your love of horror games, but there are certainly a lot worse examples out there to choose from.

Obscure 2 ist das erste Spiel, bei dem mir übel geworden ist (mit Ausnahme einer bierseligen Runde Mashed vor ein paar Jahren). Und das liegt nicht an der Gruselgeschichte, die eigentlich sehr stimmungsvoll erzählt ist, sondern an der katastrophalen Kameraführung. Auch sonst ist die Steuerung ein Graus: Die Speicherpunkte liegen zu weit auseinander, das Inventarsystem ist wirr, das Gamepad nicht konfiguriert. Und ohne Gamepad bringt auch der eingebaute Koop-Modus nichts. Schade um die nette Teenie-Splatter-Story.

It isn't too long to complete, with the puzzle solving and running around trying to survive, you can finish it roughly within 8 hours or less with little pleasure to look ahead afterwards. There's nothing to unlock or any reason to play through it again, but your are left satisfied enough just completing it alone. It's decent enough to play if you're a fan of the genre, however the annoying faults in gameplay and overall presentation make the game lacking. If you can forgive the choppiness and ordinary structure it's a worthwhile look.

As a game, like the original, Obscure II fills a void, as a sequel it offers few real surprises. The handful of people who did actually play and enjoy the original, should be delighted with the return of two-player survival horror, and despite its flaws and the rather unflattering score at the foot of this page, Obscure II deserves more attention than the lukewarm amount that the original game received.

Still, I'd have to at least mildly recommend this one to fans of the survival horror genre. It's an inexpensive pick-up and some of the puzzles are fun to do. Cracking codes on digital locks with Mei was enjoyable, as was manually picking regular ones with Stan. And the pure shock value of having some character that's been with you most of the game suddenly get killed does give this game something that most similar ones don't have. Obscure: The Aftermath is no masterpiece, but is definitely worth playing on a rainy day, even if it likely will be relegated to a shoebox in the back of your closet almost immediately after you've beaten it.

Despite being clichéd at every turn, ObsCure II is worth a look if you enjoyed the original, are a survival horror fan or you just wish to invest a few hours in a decent co-op experience. The visuals do their job well and the soundtrack really enhances the atmosphere, and while the story and gameplay are fairly generic, the addition of full co-op, AI companions and a range of characters with their own unique skills does make a difference. It's no Resident Evil, and if you're new to the genre then really that's the place to start, but ObsCure II does provide a few scares and there are far worse ways to spend a few hours on a dark, lonely night.

So what are we left with then? Well, crucially I can’t say I was ever fully drawn into the atmosphere present in Obscure II, and neither did I come close to getting shocked by any events in the game. So, as a horror title I feel the game falls flat on it face. However, I did come to the realisation that the game itself seems well made, and many of the other elements on show, such as the puzzles and combat, are enough to make playing it somewhat fun. But on the other hand the main story falls clichéd at every turn, so that is yet one more bad point against the game. Of course, then there is also the co-op mode, which I will admit is fairly entertaining, but its inclusion does nothing more than raise the game to just above average.

But as a big fan of the genre, I can't help but want to persist with it. I'm still mildly entertained by the story, and, on occasion, the way it riffs on Silent Hill works, and creates a sinister atmosphere that keeps you going when it displays its more annoying traits. Obscure II also deserves credit for the slick way it handles co-op play - a feature that's still completely unique and exclusive to this series. So, the question you have to ask yourself is how much of a fan of horror adventures are you? If you have to own them all, then buy it - we all need our horror fix, after all. But if you're only after the cream of the crop, then be aware that this isn't likely to be one for your Most Wanted list.

If you're a survival-horror fan, you could do worse than to try following a teenage romance story while battling mutated creatures generated from genetically unstable hallucinogenic pollen that multiply through an infection that spreads like an STD all set to the awesome sounds of the Boston string orchestra and Children's Choir. And if that last sentence didn't parallel the title, then I quit.

Was soll man zu Obscure 2 bloß sagen? Die einen sehen darin eine grandiose Fortsetzung, die anderen die größte Verunstaltung des Survival-Horror Genres. Ich für meinen Teil kann beide Aussagen voll und ganz nachvollziehen. Das ein Spiel auch mit einer schlechteren Grafik noch jede menge Spaß bereiten kann, zeigen Beispiele wie z. B. Fahrenheit oder auch Clive Barker's Undying. Wenn man allerdings ein Auge auf Obscure 2 wirft, wird einem auffallen, dass es dort vorne und hinten nicht passt. Die hackelige Steuerung, eine total verhunzte Kameraführung und eine mehr als nur lineare Spielweise trüben den Spielspaß ungemein. Was dem Ganzen allerdings die Krone aufsetzt, ist die nach Stunden einsetzende Routine, welche sich allerdings daran festmacht, dass es eigentlich nur noch darum geht die zu öffnende Tür zu finden und gegebenenfalls Monster zu erledigen.

Die Story klingt interessant, der Titel macht neugierig nach mehr. Survival-Horror ist eigentlich mein Fall, Resident Evil wie auch Silent Hill gehören zu meinen Favoriten. Aber Obscure 2 wird nie dazu gehören, denn leider ging bei der Programmierung so einiges schief. Die Steuerung, insbesondere das Zielen und Schiessen, ist viel zu träge ausgefallen, in den vielen hektischen Situationen, die entstehen, eine echte Katastrophe. Der zweite Charakter strotzt, wenn nicht von einem Menschen gesteuert, nur so vor Dummheit, die Kamera lässt sich mit der Wiimote nicht ordentlich steuern und zu allem Überdruss ist die Technik arg unausgereift. Schade für das Produkt, denn die stellenweise geniale Musik, die Atmosphäre und Geschichte haben alle durchaus Potential, der Rest ist aber schlichtweg schlecht. In der Schule hiesse dies nichts anderes als: Nachsitzen!

All in all, Obscure: The Aftermath is a hodgepodge of poorly implemented design ideas and sub-par horror elements. While it can be a fairly decent co-op game, you'll need some luck finding someone who'll stick around long to endure this horror of a game.

Obscure II, at times, is a good little game. Its scary in places and is worth your while if you have the patience to put up with the dodgy save system. However it is so heavily influenced by the games that have come before it that it's hard to recommend above any of them. The genre is already saturated and I doubt this will make a massive impact. There's other games that do it better and are more consistent in their methods. Silent Hill is consistently creepy, Resident Evil is absolutely action packed, while Obscure is undeniably unsure of itself.

Obscure: The Aftermath is a poorly-executed horror game with a lot of control and design issues. It’s a rather painful game to play, and fails to provide any real scares. We recommend playing Resident Evil 4 again before spending the time and money on this.

If you liked the first game in the series, you'll find plenty of crossover elements, but then again, if you played the original Obscure, you already have an idea of what to expect. There's nothing wrong with exploiting a proven formula, assuming it's done well. Unfortunately, In Obscure: The Aftermath, nothing is done very well.

Here we have a game that attempts to take what we love from survival horror games like Resident Evil, and Silent Hill, then mash it together with somewhat clever puzzles tied to the interesting concept of controlling a huge cast. It's like each character has a piece to the larger puzzle, and had the combat and overall execution been better, Aftermath could have been an enjoyable game. But as it stands combat is annoying and the presentation feels like amateur hour at Resident Evil theater.

All together, Obscure: The Aftermath is a pretty bland survival horror experience. The enemy design is decent, and the actual sound FX employed feel a bit creepy. However, the uneven music experience puts a damper on the overall mood and effect of the environments, and the tedious character switching makes the later sections of the game feel more like a chore than anything fun. Unless you found yourself really absorbed into the experience of the first Obscure title, I can't give you a good reason for checking this one out. We've played better survival horror titles in the recent past, and everything about The Aftermath just feels like a step backwards for the genre.

Obscure: The Aftermath seems to take pleasure in trying to torment players, but not through its familiar take on horror. The save system relies on touching one of 24 flowers located in various regions, and each can be used only once before it disappears. Some save points are spaced a good thirty minutes apart, so it can be annoying if you die near the end of a particular area, forcing you to trek through the same puzzles or battles you've previously cleared. If a partner dies this time around, it's game over, which adds to the frustration. The original let you continue onward at the expense of losing a teenager for good, which increased its playability. Here, progress is completely linear.

I believe that if the developers had developed a better story and put a little more effort into the gameplay, this could have been a solid title, especially for fans of the first game. However, Obscure: The Aftermath is littered with horrible dialogue, a cast that has no redeeming qualities, and gameplay that simply is not fun. If you’re a huge fan of the first game and are dying for more of the story, you may be able to get past everything that’s wrong with Aftermath. However, for everyone else, I can’t imagine wanting to play this game for any amount of time.

Si le premier Obscure avait su intéresser par son ambiance de film d'horreur pour ado et quelques mécaniques de gameplay efficaces, ce second volet semble être totalement passé à côté de ce qui faisait l'intérêt de la série. Il s'enterre ainsi dans un premier degré lourdingue et ne propose qu'une aventure facile, linéaire, où l'ambiance peine à prendre corps. S'ajoutent à cela une réalisation brouillonne et des soucis de maniabilité. Bref, le jeu ne tient finalement plus que pour son principe survival horror, un genre assez peu représenté sur la console de Nintendo. Comme dirait ma grand-mère, faute de grives...

Apart from co-op's cleverness, the game takes the worst parts of Silent Hill (you have to squint to see the action, for instance) and pairs them with cumbersome controls, a camera that often spirals out of control, and the most ungodly save points ever conceived.

Apart from co-op's cleverness, the game takes the worst parts of Silent Hill (you have to squint to see the action, for instance) and pairs them with cumbersome controls, a camera that often spirals out of control, and the most ungodly save points ever conceived.

Obscure: The Aftermath is more tedious than scary and more frustrating than shocking. Campy dialogue, bad voice acting, and frequently misspelled subtitles complete the overall amateurish feel of the game. And for its $30 retail price, Wii gamers have the privilege of paying ten bucks more than their PS2 brethren, without getting standard Wii features like 16:9 widescreen or progressive scan. With so little to recommend it, this is one survival horror title that will hopefully live up to its name and fade quickly into obscurity.

You know that awful third-rate teen horror flick you watch your buddies because it's just so bad? Well, welcome to the game equivalent.

You know that awful third-rate teen horror flick you watch your buddies because it's just so bad? Well, welcome to the game equivalent.

You know that awful third-rate teen horror flick you watch your buddies because it's just so bad? Well, welcome to the game equivalent.