Until Dawn - Trailer for a new PS3 horror game

I just saw this the first time and thought I'd share it with you guys. It's a trailer for the upcoming PS3 horror game, Until Dawn:



There's never enough horror games for the PS3 so I'm keeping an eye out for this. The US release date is set to December 31st.

Game Review: Penumbra: Overture

 Penumbra: Overture

 




Game system: Windows, Linux, Macintosh

Release Date: 30/03/2007

Developer: Frictional Games

Publishers: Frictional Games / Paradox Interactive / Strategy First, Inc. / Noviy Disk / Got Game Entertainment / Lexicon Entertainment / 1C Company

            







Penumbra: Overture is a first person survival-horror game developed by Frictional Games (which are now famous for having made Amnesia: The Dark Descent). It is the first part in the Penumbra trilogy.

       
You play the rôle of Phillip, who after having received a letter from his presumably long dead father, travels to Northern Greenland due to the clues given with the letter, in order to try and find out more about his father. He ends up in an abandoned mine in which the game takes place.

It only took me a short moment to realize what was Penumbra: Overture's greatest strength: from the gorgeous graphics viewed in first person, the realistic pacing, the fitting soundtrack and sound effects, you will be completely immersed into the game's world right away.

Controls also add a lot to the immersion and to making you feel as if you were the protagonist : a lot of simple movements, such as turning a wheel, pushing a crate or opening a door, have to be realisticly imitated using the mouse (which makes me wish the game was ported to a console with a motion controller).

The game is divided into seperate segments, all of them composed of long maze-like corridors and a few rooms. The layout of each segment is in the same style, which I found a little repetitive by the end of the game even though texturing and architecture differs from segment to segment.
Once you reach the following segment you can not go back to the previous one.
Each segment has its sets of puzzles to solve and the same monsters to deal with.       

Regarding monsters, there are overall few of them, the developers clearly prefered to focus on immersion, puzzles and storytelling over action. However, they get more numerous as you progress through the game.

       
These monsters can be be divided into two categories : dog-like creatures that I will call « lurkers », which wander around and which you have the choice to either avoid or kill; as well as spiders and giant worms, that I will categorize as the « runner » type.

       
The « lurkers » sadly didn't pose much of a threat to me, I played on the normal difficulty skill, and I was quickly able to figure out their attacking patterns and weaknesses, making them easy preys to the different melee weapons at my disposal.
However they can kill you more easily on hard so I'd recommend playing on that skill setting even on a first playthrough to experience them as they were meant to be.

       
Though like I said you do not have to kill them, if you keep your distance and be careful enough by making little noise and turning off your flashlight or torch, they won't notice you.
The game advices you to fear them and to prefer avoiding them, but I found that killing them was always the best solution in order to be able to focus on solving the puzzles.

       
The type of action with the « runners » is at the opposite as the « lurkers ». With lurkers the game wants you to keep a slow and quiet pace or to try to find another route; « runners » will trigger faster paced straightforward chase sequences (which can be compared to what you can find in Devilman, a Japan exclusive survival-horror game for PSX, or to Silent Hill: Shattered Memories).
If a « runner » catches up to you, in most cases it's a sure death, so you have to keep running while avoiding obstacles or finding ways to block the path behind you.      

      
The concepts behind those two type of action are good, but I found the execution flawed in both cases: you're supposed to fear the « lurkers » by remaining silent and avoiding them, but killing them ends up being the best solution. « Runners » are a bit more interesting because they offer more varied action, but this action is ruined by heavy trial&error with a lot of deaths.
Plus, the fact that you're given unlimited continues that make you respawn right before the beginning of the chase renders null any fear of death you're supposed to have from them.

Gameplay-wise, puzzles are the most interesting point of the game. There is a lot of variety in them : from physic puzzles, to combining different items, or turning a set of valves in the right order with given clues, each one is different.

       
What makes them so interesting is their realism. In Penumbra you will have nothing like using a blazon to move a clock. Here, they are realistic in design (for example the way you have to build your own explosive using different ingredients) and also because they are directly linked to surrounding environment (like having to turn on the power generato of a whole segment): they make sense.

       
This is quite notable for a survival-horror game, or even for adventure games in general, and it is another point that helps immersing the player into the game's world.

    
However, I can't help but to nitpick on a couple of puzzles. Regarding the puzzle I mentionned in which you have to mix different ingredients to make an explosive, you have to use that explosive to blow up a barrel of TNT. However, the player is provided with dynamite and a room nearby even has small bombs that you can carry around; yet you can use neither to blow up the TNT barrel. Only the explosive you have to make yourself will work.

      
A similar thing happens later on in the game as well, again with an explosive you have to make; if you throw it away on the boulders you want to explode, it WILL explode but kill you at the same time. You have to put it on the boulders, use a fuse and your lighter and that however won't kill you even if you stand closer to where you would have thrown it from.

Again, this is nitpicking, but the fact that I'm nitpicking about it proves several things. It proves that overall the game succeeds in making realistic puzzles with sense to them, because these two explosive related puzzles stand out as being « flawed » while this « flaw » is common in the vast majority of adventure games. It also proves that overall the game succeeds in immersing the player, as only these two minor points cut down the immersive experience I was going through, which means that the rest doesn't. Finally, it also proves how difficult it is to make a game with good immersion and that Frictional Games did an overall great job with that.

To summarize, Penumbra: Overture is lacking quality in terms of action but it has smart puzzles.

By the end of it, the story has given more questions than answers, but that's probably partly due to the episodic concept of the trilogy (each episode is a direct sequel to the previous one).

However it will immerse you incredibly well into a creepy and disturbing world; and that alone makes it worth playing.

 In Penumbra: Overture, you don't just play a video game, you experience an adventure.

Score : 3,5/5
Review by Ness 26/11/12.

Translation: ...Iru!

MrFaithful has done a fan translation of ...Iru!, so you can now enjoy the game even if you don't understand a word of Japanese !

However this translation hasn't been put into the game, so you'll have to read it through the following pages as you're playing.

If anyone with knowledge on how to insert this translation into the game is willing to help, please let us know by leaving a comment here or e-mailing us at cocometh.dal@gmail.com

Translation Part 1
Translation Part 2
Translation Part 3
Translation Part 4
Translation Part 5
Translation Part 6
Translation Part 7
Translation Part 8
Translation Part 9
Translation Part 10
Translation Part 11



MrFaithful says the translation isn't perfect yet, and for now it doesn't cover every ending, but that he will update it soon. We'll let you know!

Game Review: Deep Fear

Deep Fear

Game system: SEGA Saturn

Release Date (Jap): 16/07/98

Release Date (Pal): 11/98

Developer: SEGA

Publisher: SEGA

          Deep Fear was developed and published by SEGA for the Saturn. It can easily be considered SEGA's answer to Resident Evil. By the middle of 1998 the Saturn wasn't doing well in the US, which explains why it remained unreleased in North America.

          The game takes place in an underwater research facility called the « Big Table ». After a nuclear submarine crashes by accident in a portion of the base, you, John Mayer, ex Navy-SEAL and new recruit on the « Big Table », are sent to investigate and to rescue the researcher Gena Weisburg.

          Soon, humans will begin to mutate into monsters and your goal will be to survive and escape the underwater facility.

          The first thing you notice when playing Deep Fear is its technical qualities for a Saturn title.

The FMVs are impressive, the 3D models are highly detailed and the animations are very smooth.

Deep Fear was also the first Survival Horror game with fixed camera angle in which you could walk and shoot at the same time.

          This being said, technical advancements alone never meant quality, but Deep Fear also shines in a few other departments.

          The mutants look rather original and inspired, and the pre-rendered backgrounds do their job: their industrial nature and colors give a cold, dehumanized feel to the place. This feel is also emphasized by the constant hum of the machinery of the facility which can be heard in the back at all times.

          Sadly, except during a few timed events, the game doesn't use musics outside of FMVs. If used in a smart way, they could have added a lot to the atmosphere (see for example Dino Crisis, which with a rather similar industrial atmosphere often switches machinery sounds and a suitable soundtrack during the proper situations).

          Deep Fear, just like Resident Evil, feels like a B-Movie. The use of quality and long movie-like FMVs, the storyline, the dialogues and most importantly the musics signed Kenji Kawai (who worked on Ghost In the Shell, just to name one) are all elements contributing to that.

          Sadly, this B-movie feel is a bit ruined by the most laughable voice acting ever seen in a survival horror game...

          Gameplay-wise, the game tries to go further into survival than its model by adding management of oxygen. Since the accident, air has to be refilled in areas you go through before it runs out. The same applies to an oxygen mask that you use underwater or when there is no more air in a room. While the concept is excellent, the execution is rather poor since you can pretty much never run out of air unless you really don't pay attention. The counter goes down slowly and there are always ways to refill air nearby or by using air grenades.

          Another aspect of survival which could have been executed better is the management of weapons and ammunition: you can carry many weapons with huge magazines and you can refill ammo near lockers in given areas. The same goes for health as you can carry up to 8 “normal” sprays (without counting the better types of sprays) and refill near “health cases” scattered throughout the game. The amount of ammo and sprays you can carry with you are “limited” but you can refill as many times as you want.

          As a consequence, you don't need to worry about ammo or health items, which doesn't help building tension or a sense of terror. This could have easily been fixed even if keeping the infinite refill system by lowering the number of ammunition and health items you can carry.

          As far as puzzles are concerned, you will mostly find item puzzles, but which are well thought and actually make sense. To compare Deep Fear with its model again: you will have to use an extinguisher to shut down a fire, rather than using a blazon to move a clock. This brings more realism and immersion into the game and make the puzzles feel less dull.

          Deep Fear takes a lot of inspiration from Resident Evil, and tries to improve the formula. It succeeded on a few technical points but failed with the most important: the survival and horror aspects feel too limited.

          That's not saying that the ideas brought in those departments are bad, it's just that they were not used to their full potential.

          This being said, Deep Fear remains an average title, its best points being the dehumanized atmosphere, the B-movie feel, and the storyline.

          Players who like classic style tank controls survival-horror games à-la Alone In The Dark and Resident Evil should enjoy it.

Score: 2,5/5

Review by Ness 19/11/12, sceenshot borrowed from mobygames.com.

Game Review: ...Iru!

...Iru!                         

           

Game System: PSX

Release Date (Jap): 26/03/1998 

Developer: Takara                                                                                                               

Publisher: Takara              

           ...Iru! , which could be translated by  ...Here!  or   ...Thing! , is a first person survival horror game developed and published by TAKARA and released  for the PSX only in Japan.

It seems to have been  rather popular as it was re-released under the «The Best Takaramono» label later on, which I believe is the Japanese equivalent of «Platinum». Shamefully, it remained obscure in the rest of the world...

You play the role of a young man locked up into your school at night with some other students, teachers and attendants. As they are getting killed one by one, your goal is to get out alive,  to try to save others and to find out what could be hidden behind all those mysterious and horrible deaths.

The game is only available in Japanese but even without understanding a single word of it myself, it was a problem only for one puzzle throughout the entire game. Otherwise, the gameplay was very instinctive and the main aspects of the storyline were understandable.  
          You can check MrFaithful's translation as you're playing as a help to understand the game's dialogues : Check it by clicking here

 

You progress through ...Iru! in two manners.

The first way is by talking from person to person, in order to trigger new dialogues, new scenes with other people. For example talking to person A will trigger a scene between A and B and so on.

The other way is  by solving item puzzles, the typical kind of ones you would expect in an adventure game of this kind. For example you find an item, which you have to use somewhere else to get another one, or to open a new area, and so on.

New areas are often blocked by monsters, and you need to find the right item to «kill» those monsters in order to proceed further. If you get too close to them, they will kill you (and  ...Iru! , like Alone In The Dark or Overblood, is full of original deaths, which are always a kind of a perverted pleasure to witness).

Overall, those item puzzles are rather simple and easy to figure out. They are never too fancy like the kind of things you would find in some hardcore adventure games. A problem with this kind of Puzzles in Survival Horror games is that they often don't make sense and feel out of place. For the most part, this is not really the case in ...Iru!

On the other hand; the dialogue process can easily get tedious. You often find yourself with no clue on who you need to talk to next, or if the last dialogue triggered a scene somewhere in the game or not. However,this is probably less of a problem if you do understand Japanese, and it is also rather obvious when a character is saying something new even though you can not understand what it is about, and that is always a sign that some progress has been made.

 

Different monsters or enemies chase you throughout the game. When that happens, you have limited time to find a good hiding place in a given room. If a monster catches you before you achieve that it’s Game Over.

The intensity of being chased by a monster which can kill you in one hit and against which you have little time is emphasized by a few well thought gameplay elements. A bar at the top of the screen shows the distance between the monster and you. There are some small scripted sequences, for example if you're hiding in a locker the first person camera will perform small movements as if the protagonist was looking through the holes of the locker to check on the monster's location. Also, during those chases the music is faster and more intense.

But to be fair, this whole running and hiding thing could have been done a lot better. It always feels like a quick hit or miss situation with little freedom (there are few hiding places to choose from, and the rooms in which those sequences take place are always rather small). The game would have been more interesting and intense if those sequences were not always so short and didn't take place in single rooms. For example the monsters could have re-appeared a bit later on and would chase the player into another room, or the player could actually get caught a first time but somehow got away and had to find another hiding place right after that, etc.

But that's not saying that those moments are bad: the intensity of the scenes and the fear of being caught are real.

All of these elements are examples of what contributes to make the player feel like a rat trapped in a cage which is the real strength of ...Iru!

From the main music, heavy with its simple keyboard chords looping constantly yet disturbing at the same time with its slow and quiet ring bells, to the sight of each of your comrades often shaking with fear in their respective corners before they end up devoured or killed under your very own eyes, without forgetting the way the entire school is either locked up or blocked by creatures: the atmosphere alone in ...Iru!  makes the game worth playing.

It is not just scary or creepy, it is heavy, disturbing, while being more and more mystic and oppressive as the game goes on.

 ...Iru!  is far from being a perfect game. Some gameplay elements could have been made more complicated or difficult and it could have used some more polishing (for example textures are repetitive at the beginning of the game, and some of them misaligned at the end).

However, half way between Echo Night and Clock Tower, it offers a classic gameplay and a strong atmosphere covered by a mystic storyline with multiple endings.

Unless you are not able to be moved by PSX quality graphics anymore,  ...Iru! , while being an obscure title, is something you will enjoy to play at least for its atmosphere. If you are a fan of Echo Night or Clock Tower, you should like it even more.

Score : 3/5

          A fan translation is in the works by MrFaithful, but we need help from anyone who would happen to know how to put it into the game. If you're willing to help please let us know by leaving a comment.
          You can check MrFaithful's translation by clicking here

Reviewed by Ness 19/11/12

Resident Evil: Revelations possibly coming to PS3/X360?

NeoGAF user raven777 found out that South Korean's game rating committee has added ratings for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Resident Evil: Revelations.

While this might be simply an error, it's not unlike of CAPCOM to re-release their recent games on other platforms barely years since their original releases.

We'll wait to see how the situation develops and keep you informed.

Links:

• News on Eurogamer
• NeoGAF post
• Korean Rating Board