Clock Tower

"It's so good. Why does nobody know about it?"

It starts out perfectly. A humongous villain chases the small heroine up a cliff ending in the ugly ones demise. Talk about another villain arises as two stroll down a walkway. It's just the beginning and it's beautiful despite the disgustingly bad/underused voice acting the game offers.

Lets start the nitpicking.

Graphics:

They're bland. I don't care. Neither should you. It's not a turn off. Just a bad palette. Don't avoid this game because of its graphics.

Sound:

The voice acting is bad as aforementioned but not horrible. It can be overlooked. Only two songs. the intro theme and the scissor man theme. That just adds to the scare factor. You're walking down the hall then... Shing Shing and the music starts. it's wonderful and the first time it happens you gonna go all buggy eyed.

Game play:

It's a point and click game. That does sometimes make things awkward but for the most part, it's good. If you don't like it, still give it a shot. You might totally surprise yourself at how it works.

The actual game isn't about brutality. No, you don't shoot the guts out of all that moves. Nope. There is only one monster and he just happens to be an invincible monster bent on destroying, you guessed it. You and everyone else. With a humongoid pair of scissors (hence the name scissor man) he has the advantage over your creative weapons. You know, dish detergent, fire extinguishers.

What you have to do is hide. Well that and hit him with stuff like the before mentioned fire extinguisher. Except you can't hide in the same place fifty times over. He gets smart on you. Which is why you should alternate depending on your position.

Story:

You must solve the mystery of scissor man before he kills everyone. From England to Norway. You uncover the secrets of The family of scissor man (name withheld). Sounds dumb but it's surprisingly deep with a unique ending. Ten of them actually.

Camera:

Two words. Fixed view. Well except in the Final Scenario. Still, It's good.

Replay Value:

Wonderful. Ten endings. Two characters. It'll keep you coming back for a while. That's not all. Ten hidden hints. They help you find other endings. All the unique deaths to find. Then there are the ways to save them. Places to find scissor man. Much much more is involved but I can't say it all without spoiling stuff.

Parent/unimportant Stuff

Scare factor:

Depends on the person. For me the atmosphere is like no other. Once you hear scissor man coming you'll go through the roof. Then slowly float down and run into a closet or a box or something hoping he won't shove his scissors up your nose. Very tense. Very tense indeed. Nothing that'll give your kid nightmares.

Violence level:

Hardly any violence but the dead bodies might not be the best thing to show your kids. It's not horrible but a bit a bit of a shock the first time through. You try it first. Unless you're too scared. *corny laugh*

Swearing:

Nada. Zero. Zip.

sexual content:

Attempted rape. Ouch. That hurts the parents score. Then there is a pedophile if I remember correctly (man do I have a bad memory. I beat the game yesterday and I forget already.) Just make sure your child or yourself can handle it.

My opinion summed up in three words:

Beautiful. Magic. Masterpiece.

Total:(A trip back into important land.)

After reading that longwinded review you'll be happy to hear that the end of the review is within 8 lines.

Eat your heart out Silent Hill. This games got it all. Great Sound. Great atmosphere. Scare level off the Richter scale. This games got it all!( I know I said that.) Well except Graphics. Which can be overlooked.

Buy or rent?:

If you normally don't like point and click rent it. If you like horror games. Buy it. By all means, at least give it a chance. That's the final word. Literally. Darn it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/08/03, Updated 02/08/03