Blair Witch: Volume II - The Legend of Coffin Rock

The Good
The second in the trilogy of games based on the Blair Witch mythos delves into the events surrounding the coffin rock massacre. As before the story is interesting to discover and provides info regarding the history of the BW, though in this case it's almost more of a side story than anything else. Visually this game is great. Human head have done a great job in getting the most out of the Nocturne engine. There is little to no slowdown even with loads of people on screen at once which proved to be a bit of a problem with Vol 1. Combat has been tightened a little also and now feels quite slick. Sound is decent and contains some very creepy noises, particularly the children screaming which is guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine.

The Bad
Although the game gets off to a great start it quickly deteriorates. Sadly the adventure elements are all but gone in this game. There's a small amount of free roaming in the beginning and a bit of simple puzzling near the end but that's it. The rest of the game you spend running along a streamlined path through the woods that lacks any kind of real inspiration. The visuals might look good but they often actually hinder you. In the first volume the trees often looked a little blocky but you knew exactly where the path was, in part 2 the trees look great but you are often prevented from going where a path appears to be by invisible barriers. Becoming cornered by monsters because you didn't realize that you weren't allowed to venture into a certain area happens all too often. The story has great creep potential but it just isn't scary because the clues that allude to the twisted ending are all too apparent from square one and amazingly the actual Blair Witch story is barely even touched on. The only part of the game that is even a bit creepy is right at the start and after that it all becomes very tame especially compared to BW1: Rustin Parr. The scare factor is also knocked down by the hilarious voice acting that is very much in the 'morning cartoon' style. Finally, there isn't much game to play. The whole thing was over for me in about 2 hours which is pitifully small even for a budget title, of course I could have forgiven it for that if it was a great game but it just isn't. Luckily I got it very cheap indeed.

The Bottom Line
Whilst BW Vol 2 isn't a complete disaster it is a very average title that is by far the worst of the three Blair Witch games. Don't bother unless you get it in a pack with the others or if (like me) you're a survival horror collector and curiousity overwhelms you. Oh and if you're the latter, make sure it's extremely cheap.