Clock Tower 3 delivers some cheap chills thanks to some strategically placed camera angles and loud musical cuts, but the more genuine chills come from being unarmed for the majority of the adventure. Instead of being armed to the teeth with pistols, shotguns and rocket launchers you’re given the almighty… holy water? That’s right, your main arsenal is comprised of holy water. It adds some thrills to the game because you know that the enemy has an advantage over you. If anything it makes you dread going into precarious hallways and dimly lit rooms even more so because you’re at such a disadvantage. In a neat little touch there’s a little fear meter that fills as Alyssa is harmed or frightened. The more scared she gets the less control she has over her motor skills. To calm her down you’ll need to either crouch for awhile or drink a particular type of water. The more hysterical she is the harder the time you’ll have running away from the various beings that populate the game. In a nice little touch the more scared Alyssa gets the more scared the player gets.
Controlling your character here is essentially unchanged from Capcom’s other popular survival horror franchises. For those who aren’t familiar with them imagine that you’re controlling a human like you would control a car and you’ve got the gist of it. To add to the game’s problems the camera angles prove to be very crippling, especially in tight or high tension situations. When you’re running away from an axe-wielding monster it’s best to plan your route of escape, of course this is difficult when you can’t see more than 2 feet in front of you. More often than not you’ll find yourself running into walls while your enemies laugh with glee as their weapons connect with your skull.
Maneuvering Alyssa is very akin to driving a 67 Nova in that it feels like you’re controlling a boat on wheels. Why Capcom still decides to stick behind this sluggish and unresponsive control scheme after the countless complaints is beyond me. It makes lining up with objects and controlling with any sort of precision impossible and frustrating. I hope that the next generation of survival horror games ushers in a new control scheme because this current system is far more painful than it should be.
As a whole the game is a Monet. Upon first glance the game looks great, you’ll notice nice touches like Alyssa’s hair, both which flow and waiver in a realistic motion. All of the engine-rendered cutscenes are rather impressive thanks to some great motion capture technology. Characters move, react, gesture and behave in convincing fashion. But as the game progresses you begin to notice its physical deficiencies. Environments range from being intricately detailed to absurdly barren, enough to the point where you can immediately recognize if the location will be pertinent to advancing the storyline upon first glance.
Creepy. That’s the word that best characterizes the game’s audio elements. Go outside and run a few laps in the backyard. Notice how hard your heart is thumping? Multiply that by 10 and you can begin to understand how heart-thumping the game’s music really is. The pieces all have a very haunting feel to them, kind of like that scene from Interview with the Vampire when Lestat is playing that piece on the piano. You know that the piece is classy yet you can’t help but feel that chill run up the back of your spine.
If you play the game you’ll realize that the game’s highlight isn’t the graphics nor is it the atmosphere. It’s something far simpler than that; it’s the game’s gruesome and stomach-churning cutscenes. In order to ensure that the cutscenes would be disturbing to even the vilest human being, Sunsoft hired the man who directed the cult-hit Battle Royale to handle the in-game cutscenes. In an early cutscene you’ll see a soldier get lifted into the air by a mortar only to become impaled on some barb wiring. You might expect the game to fade out from the scene right? Well not quite, you’ll see a close up of the remains of the guy as it focuses on his impaled and battered body. Breaking the tradition set by other Capcom survival horror games, this game actually features some excellent voice acting as well, really lending a convincing atmosphere of fear.
All camera, gameplay length and minor problems aside,
Clock Tower 3 is actually one of the better survival horror games that the PS2 has seen. With all of its deficiencies, the game will still provide you with 5-10 hours of thrills, frills and intrigue. It’s not quite as long as we may have liked but if anything, Capcom and Sunsoft have shown yet again why they are the masters of the survival-horror genre. Pick this one up if you’re in the mood to be frightened or if you’re a sick bastard who likes to watch gruesome cutscenes. Either way you won’t be disappointed.
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Have you ever been so scared during a movie that you closed your eyes every time the protagonist went to open a door? That’s the feeling that we got from Clock Tower 3, one of the scariest and creepiest games ever made. Sure it’s got some problems but if you’re looking for a fun little romp through horrorville, look no further than Capcom’s latest entry.
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