For instance, one section sees you manually rerouting steam valves then switching to your second character to slowly edge to safety. It's possible to switch between your two characters with a simple tap of a button and this becomes essential during Obscure II's more involving puzzles. Shannon's+special+ability:+dressing+like+a+tart. Thankfully, these hubs are sensibly placed so you're never subjected to endless backtracking when you reach an impasse with your current selection. Each location features an area where all current survivors congregate and, at various stages, you're required to switch around your party to tackle obstacles ahead. Wherever you go, you always have two characters to keep an eye on and, thankfully, when soloing, AI is smart enough to stay out of your way when exploring and get stuck in when you're up against the game's various deadly mutations. Abilities play out as an entertaining mini-game when called upon - whether it's some minor QTE action when clambering along high ledges or jigsaw-style evidence reconstruction - and offer a nice change of pace from the more prominent running around and shooting angry pork chops in the face. In the roster, you've access to ledge-shimmying acrobatics, lock picking, cryptology, hacking, super-strength and, er, ferocious sucking. Each of the game's six characters has their own unique 'abilities' and Hydravision has managed to fashion some incredibly nifty puzzles around each.
Luckily though, there's more to recommend than vague ineptness: Much like the first game, Obscure II's wild card is its co-operative mechanics. Chuck in some hilarious translation clangers - making Resi's "master of unlocking" sound positively Shakespearian - and voice acting not so much phoned in as scrawled in crayon on a Post-it, then mailed Second Class, and there's something almost irresistible about Obscure II's daffy charm. It knows it's a cheesy horror romp and quite happily nicks entire set-pieces from classic movies of yore - there's even a chainsaw-wielding maniac in a wobbly shack, for goodness sake. That's never really a problem though, given how self-aware Obscure II is. This+bit's+good.+There's+a+boat+and+everything. In fact, there are so many brightly lit environments, constant atmosphere-undermining quips and daft enemies, you might as well be playing Big Ted's Adventure in Picnic Land. You might also wonder when the scares are going to start but - spoiler! - they don't. You'll spend most of your time being whisked from various survival horror staple locations - school, hospital, spooky forest and so on - eagerly awaiting the plot to kick in. Obscure II certainly won't be winning awards for its stunning characterisations and earth-shattering plot twists - mainly because it doesn't have any. If that sounds like a fairly generic premise, it is. Of course, in time honoured teen horror tradition, it's not long before the past catches up with them and all hell breaks lose on campus. It was an enjoyable if relentlessly, half-knowingly, naff take on the slasher genre which just about managed to hold its head at shoulder height with the heavyweights of the survival horror genre - thanks, in part, to its entirely co-operative two-player story mode.Īll+hail+the+omnipresent+traffic+cone! Three years on, the surviving students of the first game have returned for the obligatory sequel, having left the accursed halls of Leafmore High behind for the hedonistic delights of recreational drugs and unabashed bonking at Fallcreek University.
In fact, the only game to revisit the heady days of teen dismemberment in an educational setting was the original Obscure - a somewhat low-key title from French developer Hydravision.
Now though, horror's all about psychological terror plus protracted torture - and the videogame genre is no exception. Once upon a time, if you were a college student, the mere act of even thinking about waggling your wand in a lady's magic cavern would pretty much guarantee a visit from your local friendly psychopath for a quick correctional course via a selection of lovingly sharpened blades of justice.