Clock Tower 3

"Tick,Tock, you're dead."

Imagine yourself as a 15 year old girl, that runs around from crazed serial killers, and spends most of the time cowering in fear while at the same time, find a way to dispose of these killers. That’s what Clock Tower 3 is all about, it’s not your standard “pack as much fire power as possible and blow the crap out of your enemies” instead, you spend most of the time running.

Story: Clock Tower 3 is one of those rare games that come once in awhile, that is very different than any other game, and cannot simply be ignore! The story is incredibly good, the strongest point in this game. The only reason I continued to play this game till the end was because of the story. The story starts out as so; you are Alyssa, a 14 year old girl, just about to turn 15. Alyssa is at a boarding school when she gets a letter from her mum telling her to stay away from her house around her 15th birthday. Then she gets a call from her mum, as she picks it up, no one is on the other line. Being the rebellious teen she must be, she head homes anyhow, where she meets a strange old man, who looks like he wants to kill her. As she explores the house she finds strange things happening and gets shifted back to the 1940’s. That’s all I will say about the beginning, I don’t want to spoil much. But basically after each cinematic you see, the story is revealed a little bit more, it’s what keeps you hooked. I hive the story in general a perfect 10, I can’t seem to find fault in this.

Game play: Here is where the game trips and stumble and breaks a few bones and bleeds all over the place. First thing is , instead of a health meter, you have a “Panic meter” similar to the insanity meter in Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. but this is different, whenever Alyssa becomes emotionally, or physically threatened, the panic meter rises just a tad. Yes, when you get hit this also rises. If it gets to the max, Alyssa will go into panic mode, which makes her see double vision, and trip at random points, also she sometimes just stands there to catch her breath while the damn killer is hitting you. O and if you get hit in full panic mode, you die. Also, whenever a killer is chasing Alyssa, you have 1 out of 2 options and since you cannot attack (except with holy water, which only stuns the killer), you must either. A) Find a hide point, and hide until the killer teleports away, or B) Use an evade point, and temporally knock out your assailant. When you are in chase mode, certain points start glowing and just activate them to hide or use an evade, if you are hiding, you must wait in the spot, and hope your panic meter doesn’t rise to the max, otherwise Alyssa will come out screaming like a little schoolgirl. You know the assailant is gone, when you hear the music go away, and you hear a teleport sound. An evade point is different entirely, and can only be used once; hide points can be used as many times as you need. And evade point will trigger a little sequence will Alyssa will use her surrounding environment to knock out the killer. They are pretty useful, and they look pretty cool sometimes. But besides running around and hiding, you also have to solve puzzles at the same time, this can be frustrating from time to time, especially when the killer just happens to pop out at random times. But the puzzles are easy, they are way too easy, the puzzles prove no challenge at all, half of the time, it will involve you getting an item, and it will tell you the EXACT location, and how to get the key. But after running around and hiding, Alyssa gets pissed at one point, and after doing certain things, she can summon her holy bow, and slay the killer for that level. Boss battles can prove a pretty big challenge to most people. Alyssa gets an awesome bow, but shooting the killers just won’t do, you have to sit there for about 5 seconds, and charge an arrow, in which you can’t move at all. Once you shoot a full blasted arrow into him (or her) he/she will get bounded to the wall, and will be limited with movement. If you get 3 fully charge shots into a killer, while all 3 are binding him, you can shoot a special arrow, most likely killing the punk. The boss fights themselves aren’t that hard, but the final boss is, it took me a good 6 tries to finally kill him. A good battle indeed. The game play has its ups and downs; it’s not too bad, or very good at all, so it gets a mere 5.

Graphics: Capcom did a really good job with the graphics for CT3. The environment is fairly well done, the blood off dead bodies, is done really good as well. But as I was playing it, I kept feeling, that the graphics could have been a tad better. The cinematics are really well done too. The director really knew what he was doing Usually stays at a constant frame rate, I don’t believe it slowed down noticeably at any point. I give it an 8 out of 10.

Sound/Audio: The voice acting is done really well, when you are being chased by a certain sledgehammer wielding killer, he says “ALYSSA” in one of the most creepiest voices I have ever heard. Each killer possesses it’s own unique personality, one of them is extremely goofy at some points, while another two seem to be psychotic lunatics. The music is what really made this game as well, without it this game would be boring. The music itself can be a character in the game, as it sets the atmosphere for the level. During the beginning, it plays Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu, which I describe as both suspenseful, yet eerily relaxing. And they don’t re use the same chase music for each killer either. I give it a 9.

Replay-ability: After you beat this game, there isn’t much you can do, you get clear mode, which makes the killer have new weapons and makes them faster and stronger, and you get more suggestive outfits for Alyssa, that in all isn’t really worth replaying. I give it a 3.

I’d recommend you rent this game only, it is really good don’t get me wrong, but you can beat this game in 4 hours, I beat it in 5, and I really took my time too.

I give it an over all 8, since one can easily get used to the game play. And the story itself is very intriguing. This is one game you don’t want to miss out playing thru at least once, so go ahead, rent it, you’re not scared are you?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/03, Updated 07/24/03