In one scene Stan turns to one of the characters and says "You better not be punking me" as well as "This school is totally whacked". One thing that stuck in my head was the Ashton Kutcher-caliber dialogue. As I mentioned, you can have the ability to switch between characters, but it's only useful for extending play time rather than for utilizing their individual abilities.
I didn't find the character's abilities to be distinct enough to warrant switching between them when needed. It sounds like a great concept, devised to add depth to the gameplay, but Hydravision didn't fully execute its playability. For example Stan (who looks strikingly like Josh Hartnett) is skilled at lock-picking and therefore picks locks quicker than the other characters. Each character supposedly has special abilities. While playing Obscure you choose to be one of four characters.
The "Black Aura" is more of an annoyance than anything since it obscured my view of paths and objects, as well as being inconsistent throughout the map, sometimes appearing and receding for no reason. "Black Aura" is an effect that dynamically covers objects around the player with a mossy-looking texture when monsters are nearby, then recedes back to normal once danger has passed.
Light is used in two ways: by breaking windows to allow light in, thus killing any monsters within range, and by taping a flashlight to a gun to increase the gun's effectiveness. The theme throughout the game is the use of light to kill monsters and the presence of "Black Aura". Since Obscure's gameplay seems to be more about navigating than actual combat with monsters, having such poor camera control leads to frustration.
It often seems that the camera is either too far away, or so close that one cannot see important details such as a door. There are times while navigating the room where the camera rudely cuts to a different angle, causing the player to shift the direction on the controller. This is where Resident Evil 4 shines in its third-person camera view, while Obscure fails miserably. However, even Sum 41 couldn't save Obscure, and it seems that the team spent more time developing their website which advertises the game than actually creating a unique game for fans of the genre to enjoy.įrom the start I had difficulty playing the game due to cumbersome camera control. I had high hopes for Obscure once I found out that it featured music by Sum 41 and was set in a different type of setting, a high school.
Prior to development of this survival horror game, Hydravision created Zombies, a series of French language pen-and-paper role-playing rulebooks.įollowing on the heels of Resident Evil 4's release, Hydravision needed something to set Obscure apart from the other games in the genre.
Obscure was previously released in Europe under the title Mortifilia.
In good adventure-game style, players will also need to fill their inventories with whatever items they can scrounge, and figure out how to use or combine this equipment in order to solve puzzles and progress through the story. The students' exploration of the spooky high school corridors is punctuated with fast-paced running and shooting action sequences. Kenny's friend Stan is a bit of a delinquent, always scheming, while Ashley is a prom-queen-type with martial arts skills and Josh is a nerdy reporter for the school paper with a good eye for important details.Īt least one of the five must survive through the story to reach the game's conclusion, but each possesses distinct abilities - such as Kenny's speed and strength, or Stan's thieving skills - so keeping as many of them alive as possible can make it easier to overcome various obstacles and survive surprise attacks. His sister Shannon is an "A" student with first-aid training. Players take the roles of five different students attending the run-down Leafmore High School, each representing a different social-clique stereotype. The Breakfast Club meets Resident Evil, with this survival horror adventure set in a typical American high school the first video game developed by the French studio Hydravision Entertainment.