Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within

"Exit planet Scissorman in this X-Files rendition."

If you're a Clock Tower buff, there is a SLIM chance you will like this game. But get ready for my honest opinions....

STORY: 2/10
A young girl named Alyssa Hale has a bad habit of split personalities, changing into a cold blooded male ego named ''Mr. Bates''. She can regain herself when she has her amulet. Well, once, Alyssa changed into Bates and did some bad things to her buddies. Years later, she decides to pay her Uncle and Aunt a visit. But when she arrives, nobody is in sight, weird squeaking sounds happen, and yellow blood is everywhere. Did I mention there's no connection to the first two games, let alone a clock OR a tower? Instead of scissorman, we get a psycho girl with a knife, a few zombies, and some maniac with a huge cleaver in a satan mask. Riiiiiight.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10
Well, you can't knock the point-and-click gameplay, which is always fun in the Clock Tower series. This time you can obtain weapons, like shotguns, pistols, and even UZIs, to mow down zombies (?!) And save your skin. Cool, but there are barely any hiding spots like before. Movement is very smooth, however. At least you can experience what it's like to have a RUNNING killer this time, and interact with a vast array of characters. There are little mini games, one where you take control of the detective briefly to fill some zombies with buckshot, and some time-attack shoot-em-up after you finish the game with a certain ending, in which you, as Bates, go on a zombie shooting spree through a level. Sorta fun.

GRAPHICS: 10/10
The graphics here are also nice. Highly detailed backgrounds, weapons, characters, etc. Lighting is very nice, especially when you are the Mr. Bates personality and the aura casts evil shadows from under Alyssa's face. If you look hard enough, one of the rooms even has a poster on the wall of Clock Tower, the origional, which is nifty.

SOUND: 10/10
The sound is spectacular, although most of the music is pretty ridiculous upbeat techno, which takes away from what horror element was meant to be there. Sound effects are nice, and the opening ''terror'' music when you locate the mangled body in the bathtub is VERY ominous and makes you wonder if you're being stalked. The voices are good, there's alot more talking in this threequel, and Mr. bates sounds reminiscent of good old Jack Nicholson. They even threw some swear words into the fray, so we can hear Bates call other characters ''bitches'' and ''little shits''. Let's not forget the nice and sometimes creepy ''I'm going to kill you'' that you can witness if you answer a ringing telephone. Always a good laugh.

FEAR FACTOR: 2/10
There might be a few moments where the baddies just pop up and make ya jump, but those are VERY FEW. This is more along the lines of a comedy horror, having little or no horror. This may distaste most Clock Tower junkies, but it can prove to be a funny experience. In fact, this game is so over-the-top and cheesy, it's just too funny. From people not worrying about a zombie invasion, to a crazed doctor (''Hurry up and get eaten!!'') to pointless side-tales of revenge, this game will make you love and severely hate it at the same time.

DIFFICULTY: 5/10
The final stages may be a little challenging, but you'll conquer this sure enough. Zombies are a tad tricky to kill, because you must aim for a specific body part, which varies per zombie. This can prove to be annoying to most gamers.

REPLAY FACTOR: 8/10
Although it has many endings, you can only view one from the endings menu, as the others are just screen shots for you to ponder over. Not exactly neat-o. But it should be fun to keep coming back and finding more endings, like in previous CTs. But you can only control Alyssa/Bates, unlike the previous CT where you could control many characters. In any case, it will be fun to get all the endings, only when you do, you're liable to launch this disc at the neighbor's house, or track down the person who made the game and throw it at him.

OVERALL: 3/10
Despite all it's good points, Clock Tower: The Struggle Within can piss off, for all I care. It is good for some laughs, and for more Clock Tower-esque adventures, but you'll get nothing but a point-and-click X-Files adventure, full of ridiculous nonsense.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/20/02, Updated 08/20/02