Obscure

"Obscure survival-horror could become Obscure hit"

Why the gloomy title? Because I really don't think Obscure will ever be a big block-buster hit. But for what it does, it does it very well. I initially picked up this game because I thought it would remind me of ILLBLEED, perhaps one of the most underestimated and underappreciated games of ALL ETERNITY.

Sadly it's almost nothing like Illbleed. It doesn't have quirky humor at all, no springy traps and spooky surprises. Obscure is a teen horror movie brought to videogame life. I'm a big fan of the Silent Hill series so I now see this as sort of a side-game to SH, kind of like a gaiden. I'm sure the Obscure programmers borrowed a lot of elements from Resident Evil and Silent Hill, it shows all the time. From the school in which you play to the monsters you face, you could very well think you're playing Silent Hill 5.

Would you absolutely love this Silent Hill 5 though? I don't think so. Obscure is so basic it hurts. Pick up key, open lock, go to direction on map, solve puzzles, fight enemies. The good thing is that there is absolutely no learning curve for survival horror veterans. The bad thing is you'll be done the game in 5 hours. I gotta admit they did innovate on some things, like being able to break glass doors to open them from inside, "meeting points" to which you can just warp to, easy to use real-time inventory, the whole "light up the enemies" with your flashlight thing.

The story is kinda so-so, if not completely uninteresting. I must admit I never read through the notes found everywhere in the school. I picked up the story from the cutscenes and that was enough. I'm not gonna ruin the plot here don't worry. I can say though that the characters are not very likable. I'm not that old, but those teens get on my nerves with the way they talk and everything. Especially Stan and the two girls, GOD. At least their voice acting is decent, but I'd rather not hear what they have to say.

What made the game totally interesting to me was the inclusion of a 2 player cooperative mode. This has never been done before, so the development team gets mad kudos from me right there. I wish so many more games would include 2 player modes. So my girlfriend and I are playing through Obscure together. Her comments would be that the 2nd player should never be able to walk off screen, it just makes things much more complicated. Otherwise they nailed it down perfectly.

The graphics are really, REALLY good for something that was probably done on a low budget. Everything looks smooth yet sharp, no slowdowns, really creepy environments. Monsters are pretty detailed but there aren't a lot of different ones. The soundtrack is quite good, great sound effects too. They promote heavily the fact that Sum 41 are on the game's soundtrack, but they're only on for one song, during the intro... so no big deal.

So nothing much else left to say. You can probably find this game for dirt cheap even though it's just out. If you're in the mood for a new horror game and are looking for good 2 player action, definitely consider Obscure. If you haven't played RE4 or any of the Silent Hills yet, get a good start with these series instead.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/05