 |
The original Clock Tower on the Super Famicom was hardly an exciting experience. The concept was certainly good enough: you are being chased by a psycho who wields an oversize pair of scissors. The chase takes place in a tower and your goal was to escape from the lunatic with your skin intact. The problem was in the execution. The lofy goals of the producers were higher than what the hardware could handle and it ended up being a plain looking experience with drab graphics crammed into a 16-bit cartidge. Clock Tower was not exactly the cheeriest of video game concepts or experiences but it gave the field some much needed variety in those days. With that in mind, it offers the field some much needed variety today in these fighting-game filled days. |
| Human gives it another go with a sequel on the Playstation, a machine far more capable of offering cinematic experiences and aural atmospheres. In Clock Tower 2, you and your guardian are again being chased by the psychopath with scissors. Nevermind that it is uncanny than you have gotten yourself into the same predicament but you will have to use your smarts to evade the murderous fiend. Your only defense mechanisms are running from danger and devising traps (Tecmo's Deception style) to halt the pursuit for a little while. A new elude mode gives you the ability to dash from danger and death's grip may be denied by quickly tapping buttons Track & Field style. The perspective in the game is from a variety of angles and gives the player a sense of 3-D space and motion. The spookiness factor is very high and the graphics lend themselves to the atmosphere with their drab, dark textures and eerie musical scores and sound effects. |  |
| Human has used motion capture techniques in Clock Tower 2 to render the movements of the characters so that they move realistically. You and your guardian move and run like real humans would. The slight movements and mannerisms of human beings are portrayed brilliantly so the adventure looks great. Your pursuer unfortunately also moves quicker and smoother than most people would be comfortable with but he comes with the territory. Human borrows some cinematic techniques from Resident Evil where cut scenes are shown in key scenarios and in places where a cut scene would work better in conveying a sense of fear or dread than regular text would. Each character has five endings each so there is good replay value in the game. The ending that you receive will depend on how quickly you are able to escape from the tower and the effectiveness of your traps that you bind Scissor Man with. A time attack scenario in the game allows you to play as a third character who also has five different endings of her own. |  |
 |
Clock Tower 2 relies on the simple concept of pursuit. The detailed graphics and motion captured animation make this game a fine visual experience. Return to the NCS 12/16/96 page
|