ObsCure

The Good
Film critic Roger Ebert notes that one of the reasons why teenagers make good fodder in horror movies is that they are guaranteed to make poor decisions: they have sex instead of acting as lifeguards or watch videos guaranteed to kill them. On the surface, a survival horror game with five teenagers trapped in their high school sounds like a great idea, but there’s a disconnect between a game which encourages players to keep their characters alive and a genre which plows through teenagers like so much mulch. With its budget pricing, ObsCure has the benefit of playing to low expectations, but takes the disappointing path of bowing to them.

ObsCure takes place in Leafmore High School, a self-described public/private school in an unassuming Midwest town. It has dormitories, and even though the dormitories are closed they are still being used. Located in the United States, Leafmore has documents from both the Ministry of Health and the Office of Technology of Congress. Its staff consists of one principal who says things like, “Enjoy the daylight while you still can,” one nurse, one janitor, and at least one teacher.

In Leafmore’s hundred year history, almost thirty students have disappeared. Surely something strange is afoot, but throughout the hundred years, Principal Friedman has steadfastly assured the public that there is nothing to worry about. The game’s Silent Hill prologue shows that there is something to worry about—something involving students as test subjects and monsters clouded in darkness.

ObsCure has five playable characters. One or two characters are playable at a time (the second character is player two or computer-controlled) while the others remain at a safe location called a Gathering Point. Each character has a unique ability: Josh instantly searches a room with the press of a button, Kenny can sprint, Ashley is good in a fight, Stan is a speedy locksmith, and Shannon gives hints on what to do next and is the best with a first aid kit. If a character dies, they are gone for good, but the others can continue on.

Since ObsCure is a survival horror game, there are certain features which are constitutionally mandated by the Ministry of the Office of the Judicial. First, Leafmore High is well stocked with guns and ammunition—like most high schools. Second, it has puzzles. Well, it has three puzzles (four if you don’t understand the term “safety catch”). Third, it has monsters.

Resident Evil has natural monsters. Silent Hill has supernatural monsters. ObsCure wants to have both. Actually, the monsters are either silly or pay homage to The Thing. What’s interesting about them is the cloud of darkness that surrounds them. To fight them off, you have to shine light on them so the dark shield dissipates (as the game advises: flashlight+tape+gun). Leafmore has plenty of flashlights on hand, and ObsCure has some areas where you can smash open windows flooding the creatures with light.

ObsCure’s save system is based on CD-R technology. If you find a disk, you can use it once to save anywhere. First Aid Kits and Energy Drinks keep you going between saves, and a convenient map lets you warp back to the Gathering Point as long as all the doors are unlocked between you and the Gathering Point.

If ObsCure has one solid area it is its use of music. Sum 41’s “Still Waiting” plays over the opening montage which introduces the school and the main characters and the game ends with Span’s “Don't Think the Way They Do”. Throughout the game Olivier Deriviere and the Children Chorus of the National Opera of Paris add a haunting and moody score. The game’s graphics are decent, ranging from a functional rendering of the main characters to very detailed levels and some atmospheric environments. With all the emphasis on light and darkness, dynamic lighting is sorely lacking. Finally ObsCure gains a few points for being a Survival Horror game with a great camera system.

The Bad
ObsCure has a great party system and five distinct (if stereotyped) characters. Through the game’s manual and a few cinematics we can tell that there’s a relationship between these kids, but there’s very little onscreen dynamic. Kenny and his sister Shannon don’t act differently than Kenny and his girlfriend Ashley. If a character dies, the other character reacts, but no pall hangs over the rest of the game. In fact, the emphasis isn’t on who the characters are, but what they can do.

And there is very little that the characters can’t do. They can shoot as well as S.T.A.R.S. and any one of the kids has the skills needed to play the game straight through to the end. In fact, only one sequence really calls for two characters. The end battle is actually harder with two characters, partly due to sloppy AI. The computer-controlled character attempts to emulate the player rather than working with the player. Occasionally this means that the computer knows that you are targeting something, but doesn’t join in on the combat.

The game’s environs are restricted to the school campus. Graphically, these levels look great. Leafmore is believable, if somewhat small. Unbelievable (most of the game, really), is that students wouldn’t be intimately familiar with some of the game’s locations. Well before James Dallas Egbert III, students have been proficient in exploring off-limits areas like basements and hidden laboratories. It’s also quite odd that the extensive gardens abutting the school surprise the game’s student characters. “Never noticed this before.” Really?

The Bottom Line
ObsCure’s biggest problem is that the game play can’t carry the story and the story can’t carry the game play. Both are average, making for an easy romp through a story that would feel at home on the SciFi channel’s movie lineup. Sadly, the only thing innovative about ObsCure is its CapItalization. This is almost tragic, since ObsCure had the opportunity to give survival horror a kick in the pants. With Resident Evil 4 rewriting the rules on the GameCube, it would have been nice to play a self-referential PS2 survival horror game featuring teens that were raised on them.