Post by Bytor on Apr 5, 2012 23:23:33 GMT -5
-Visuals- 8.5/10
Can 2D sprites cause fear? Can simple backgrounds and simple designs cause abject terror and despair? Can a game with a relatively simple design instill a sense of foreboding and make each step a step into an unknown which may, and often will, not only take your life but subject your soul to endless torture with no help of salvation? The answer is yes and no. The designs and renderings are certainly well thought out but the story is certainly what carries the ambiance, not the character designs. The cut scenes on the other hand are certainly scary and fit the mood of the game wonderfully. Certainly typical Japanese anime style but actually that makes it even creepier. While the graphics did not keep me on the edge of my seat they were adequate to the job of portraying a finely designed game.
-Sound- 9.0/10
The voice overs are in Japanese, so if reading subs is a problem then stay away. having said that I loved the voices. Each is individual and realistic and I dare you, especially wearing headphones, to NOT be, at times, somewhat terrified and to NOT feel the despair and terror the characters are experiencing. Yes, at times it seems over the top but it is what it is, the game IS a over the top horror story and the cries and exclamations certainly portray the horror the characters are experiencing and take you on a ride into the descent into despair with them.
-Gameplay- 7.8/10
This is one sense be a hard score to give and in another not so much. the game really is for all intensive purposes, IMO, a visual novel with a tad of action thrown in. You will spend the vast, and I mean vast, majority of the game exploring areas and finding clues and uncovering mysteries which will then lead you to yet more areas and more discoveries. And while that is certainly a challenge it can lead to some aggravations as death can come suddenly and cause quite a bit of frustration. For example, in one chapter I actually made a wrong choice somewhere around 6 minutes into the chapter, one hour and twenty-eight minutes later I found out I had made a serious mistake, so serious I was unable to actually continue the game, to say the least that was annoying. For the most part however as long as you make prudent use of the save points and use more than one you shouldn't have to ever "backtrack" more than 15 or 20 mins, which honestly isn't a big deal because in a weird way ti actually adds to the story and creates a more definitive sense of "what if". I found this to really be only a simple aggravation. the real aggravation was the timed escape sequences. There are only, in my gameplay one that is timed and two that are un-timed but it was seriously annoying to use the limited movements inherent in the PSP to make somewhat precise movements, which in all reality didn't need to be that precise but due to the ambiance of the game it will seem that way until you realize that the game is certainly skewered in your favor as far as movement. Be prepared for long cut scenes, long stretches of dialogue, some serious shocks and twists and enjoy the story, because that is where the real strength of the game is.
-Story- 9.0/10
Kisaragi Academy...present day...and a group of students are going to preform a childhood ceremony to insure they will be friends forever (one of the students is being forced to transfer due to her fathers job). Immediately following the ritual an earthquake occurs and the group is transported to Heavenly Host Elementary School, a school which was actually demolished many years ago after three students disappeared and were found mutilated and dead. To tell much more of the story would quite honestly ruin it, as pretty much anything I said would ruin it. Suffice it to say that the story is both complex and convoluted and be prepared for many, many, many surprises. BTW, I honestly feel you NEED to die and get some bad endings to actually experience the full story, after all...no...wait I can't say that, lt me just say the different possible endings make it a totally different story at times!
-Overall- 8.9/10
This game is fun, period. However, it is also aggravating at times. I swear I felt sometimes I traversed the same areas over and over and over again, which I did, attempting to trigger something, anything, to advance the story. having said that even the longest chapter was only a little over three hours, so the entire game lasts only a bit over 10 hours and it was all told a very, very well spent ten hours. I whole heartingly recommend this game to any survial horror game fan, but be prepared, it does take some patience and certainly some memory of where you have been, what you have discovered and what to do and what not to do.
