Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within

"An Interesting Game, To Say The Least"

This game had potential; I'll say that right now.

It really did.

It just happened to come into play at the exact wrong time.

Most people assume this game to be a rip-off of Resident Evil, with the zombies in the second chapter and the neurotoxin that caused it. But what if they had removed these elements from the game and added, say, killer dolls, or maybe a few ravenous woodland creatures? Would anyone have complained?

Probably. But not nearly as much.

This game, indeed, had a lot of potential. You control a young girl called Alyssa Hale [or Yuu in the Japanese version entitled Clocktower 2: Ghost Head ] who is sent to live with her 'Uncle' and his family while her father deals with work. She travels to Japan from her home of San Francisco, and finds, oddly enough, that there is no one to greet her as she enters her Uncle's home. She slips off her shoes and slides her feet into orange slippers, then climbs the two stairs to search the house for her relatives.

Alyssa flicks on the light of the downstairs bathroom, the closest room. She wanders about the small room, checking the washing machine, gazing about the room as though looking for hints as to where her relatives might have gone to. Then, her eyes stop on the bathtub. She emits an audible gasp, and takes an automatic step backwards. Slowly, she creeps forward to inspect the bathtub closer. There is a putrid, mossy green... thing... in the bathtub, soaked in a yellow liquid that fills it. She wonders to herself what the disgusting thing could be. And, for somewhere in the depths of the house, a child's giggle interrupts her thoughts, adding the last brushstrokes of the painting that spells out young Alyssa's doom.

Perhaps this sounds overly dramatic, yes? Well, that's the kind of horrifying, creepy game it would have been, in the right hands. However, in the second chapter of the game, zombies come into play, and we learn of a neurotoxin that changed them. This, of course, was too close to Resident Evil for many people, and the game never got the chance it truly deserved.

Alyssa Hale is a 17 year old girl, shy and sweet, with a thin body and pale complexion. She prefers to flee rather than fight, and dislikes weapons of all kids, though will use one if the situation warrants it. She is highly superstitious, and carries and amulet given to her by her father. This amulet, however, seems to affect her more deeply than a simple cherished gift. For when she does not have it with her, due to any of a number of circumstances, she feels insecure. And if driven to a point of extreme panic, she will... change...

The result is Mr. Bates.

Mr. Bates [Or Shou in the Japanese version] is her alter ego of sorts. He is the best character in the game, hands down. He is also the only one of the two to use a gun. But aside from the obvious points, let me tell you about him.

He is cool. SO amazingly cool.

He is the darker, more edgy one. He is often the one to save Alyssa from situations where she would otherwise perish. He is spiteful of everything and everyone. He is cold and calculating, antisocial in the extreme. And, in the English version, he seems to enjoy cussing people out. He is the more 'male' one of the two.

The third chapter yields information about Alyssa's past and a very tall enemy with a HUGE meat cleaver.

His name is George Maxwell, and he'll be your psycho murderer today.

His design is interesting enough, though I fail to see how you could identify him if he constantly wears the devil's mask. His worn and tattered cape is stained with blood and gore, and his cleaver scrapes against the ground as he hunts relentlessly for fresh meat. He is a strange villain, and not a horrible replacement for Scissorman.

However, I'm sure you're still somewhat cheesed about that.

Skipping ahead, I'd like to say that this game could have been so much more. It had all the makings of a game that searches in the dark corners of the human mind, unearthing dark truths and frightening realizations of just how close to madness each of us truly is.

Instead, we got zombies.

Could they have made a great game? Of course, the elements were all there. Of course, some people would get mad that the main character is a girl who almost never fights. If they had put a little more time and effort into it, taken the zombie concept out and replaced it with something else, maybe made a simpler, more user-friendly battle system, they would have come up with something to rival even Silent Hill. So why the big score, if the game sucked? Well, I'll tell you now.

Graphics: 7/10
These really weren't all that good, but what can you do? It's a PlayStation. I'm sure, if they redesigned it now, they could do so much more with it. And I truly wish they would. But for now, mediocre graphics is what we have to deal with.

Sounds: 8/10
You have to listen carefully to appreciate the full impact to the sounds, preferably with no background noise and a dark room, but the proper atmosphere can have the sounds sending chills up your spine. I probably would have given a higher score, if it weren't for the voice acting. From what I hear, the Japanese voice acting was superb. Well, unfortunately, the US got the short end of the stick in that respect. The lines are stilted and seem forced, and the majority of the lines are emotionless and too casual for the situation. Perhaps the voice actors should have watched the cinematics before they tried filling in the sounds. The saving grace is Mr. Bates, whose deep, rough voice is a gem in the dull gray of the dialogue. Hail the voice actor.

Controls: 6/10
Well, what can I say? It's a point-and-click adventure and you control Alyssa this way. The pointer changes when you switch to Mr. Bates, and the pointer changes some more when you point to something of interest. The battle system, however, is also point-and-click. And that is not a good battle system. It would be nice if they managed to switch to, say, a Parasite Eve type battle system for when you deal with enemies; I would even mind a turn-based RPG system! But the current system sucks.

Story: 9/10
Well, okay, with the exception of the entire zombie thing. If you can overlook that, and see what they were really trying to do, you can tell that this game's storyline was actually quite interesting, if you like psychological thrillers. Which I do.

Replay Value: 7/10
Well, it has 13 endings. Unfortunately, about 12 of them are ones where you die, but still...

Overall: 8/10
If you want the game, get the Japanese version. I mean it. It makes a big difference. And you should probably get the mouse, too.

If you're disappointed about the new storyline, instead of the Scissorman one, then you should stick with the older games. Trust me.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/16/03, Updated 06/16/03