It is safe to say that this gen has been a terrible one for the survival horror genre. In fact possibly the worst gen since the genres creation. You see a game known as Resident Evil 4 was a sequel to a popular survival horror franchise and this game decided to change the formula of its game. Now dont get me wrong I do think survival horror was in need of a change but when you change you can turn into something that goes against your original intention. Resident Evil 4 was a TPS game not a survival horror, I'd argue this point to my death bed and any survival horror fan will do the same. Now with resident evil 4 it obtained mass critical and commercial success which prompted other companies to try this new method of survival horror. It resulted in the genres near demise. Series such as Silent Hill tried it and this ruined the games overall feel. In fact this gen unless you live in japan you better own a ps3 because the only good survival horror is Siren Blood Curse, however now on the wii (a console getting a lot of support now from traditional survival horror titles) has a new authentic survival horror game called Cursed Mountain.
So what is Cursed Mountain about? You play as famous mountain climber Eric Simmons as he climbs up Mt Chomolonzo (which will now be called Mt C for the rest of the review due to its difficulty in spelling) to find his brother Frank who was hired by a man named Bennett to retrieve a special item on mountain summit. It's the general idea for survival horror that your character has a really important reason for being in that area as this will destroy the question why doesnt he just leg it? The story is told through journals and cutscenes that have a picture like feel to them (original red steel style cutscenes). The story is good, you get the relationship between Eric and Frank being not the best and you experience a population in terror through the journals (which are really well written) and manage to see the controversial methods bennett and frank are willing to go through. But there is one plot hole that doesnt get explained and some elements werent explained well enough. but overall it's an original story mixed with great buddisht lore.
Now on to the gameplay, while playing as Eric you will move rather slowly. This is used to create suspense as the game goes on, you'll see ghosts walking by and it feels more taunting knowing you cant catch up with them. The game has a terrific soundtrack it has to be said. The sound is either wind blowing or monks chanting and in a lot of cases it's hard to tell the difference between which gives a great tense feel wondering if you're just imagining things. The game though as a negative point is a bit linear, not as linear as resident evil 4 but a lot more than resident evil 1. To be honest the game reminds me a lot of eternal darkness, your character is not the most agile, the music is haunting chants and it's general process is similar. The game makes use of the motion controls a lot and it has to be said its used to great affect. I need to make this clear because other reviewers have not THE CONTROLS FOR BATTLE DO WORK! When you fight a ghost there are three options one is melee with your ice axe (this involves you getting in close, it's the most dangerous as if you miss you'll likely get hit), Shooting (picture resident evil 4 except having to reload after every 2 shots and your enemies flying all over the place) and rituals (doing commands on screen). Rituals are the most rewarding because pulling one off gets you some health. Now the general complaint Ive heard is the forward thrust doesnt work, this isnt true. in fact throughout the entire game I never had a problem with this. The problem people are having is with themselves because they arent holding the remote upright (like it shows you in the bloody instruction manual). If anything I wish it was harder to do rituals so I could have felt more threatened because near the end the game was feeling rather easy to me however enemies arent as common as say resident evil 4 which brings about a suprise element when one comes. The one area where I had problems with controls was the second time meditating because I wasnt really sure what I was supposed to do. But in battle it actually feels more stressing having to be physical yourself during the game which gets you more nervous being around ghosts. Now I mentioned you can get healed by performing a ritual you also can heal if your health is low enough. Now this may throw a red flag in terms of survival horror because it seems easy to heal, however healing properly is like saving in most survival horror games. You have to use certain areas which can provide problems for users if they try to get to physical with enemies but also provides a great sense of relief when they see a healing place. The game saves using an autosave feature which is really rare in survival horror but is luckily never used wrong. Despite dying probably 10 times the game does feel a bit easy (not ridiculously easy like overlod dark legend but not as challening as early survival horror games).
The presentation for this game is truly fantastic. the design of the buildings and villages are great and show a fantastic art direction. The parts near the end where it's all mountain are also well designed to present a climactic finish. The atmosphere of the game is great because it's one that provides a paranoid feeling. While going through a village in Mt C when I saw a shadow on the ground I instantly looked up only to find a cloth and I did this a lot out of paranoia. Not to mention any misty area I was pretty much thinking a ghost will be here a ghost will here. The presentation is flawless for this game.
And going through the game you will get some frights however these are more apparent at the start than at the end. During the start they position ghosts so well that you dont expect it and get frightened but near the end not so much. What I was hoping for was parts where you could be hallucinating or seeing ghosts and you couldnt tell. This would have been a great feature. But during these 9 hours I spent playing I enjoyed the game.
So in conclusion will you like Cursed Mountain? If you're the modern gamer of toay who cant stand not killing something every 5 seconds then this game is not for you. However if you're a true survival horror fan who can appreciate a game that builds up suspense and wants a great atmosphere then buy this game cause there isnt much of this kind of stuff around.
What could have been done better? Well it could have been less linear for a start and the hallucinating idea I mentioned would have fitted perfectly here. other than that change the cutscenes to normal ones and make it more challenging and this game would be fantastic.
Is it better than Siren Blood Curse? No it is not. I dont mean by a long shot, it's fairly close but siren does it better. Cursed Mountain though is the 2nd best survival horror game this gen so far.
If you like survival horror, especially if you like eternal darkness as this feels like a spirtual sequel to it thne you'll like Cursed Mountain. It is a top notch survival horror which I have no problem calling the 2nd best survival horror game this gen.
Score:
85%
So what is Cursed Mountain about? You play as famous mountain climber Eric Simmons as he climbs up Mt Chomolonzo (which will now be called Mt C for the rest of the review due to its difficulty in spelling) to find his brother Frank who was hired by a man named Bennett to retrieve a special item on mountain summit. It's the general idea for survival horror that your character has a really important reason for being in that area as this will destroy the question why doesnt he just leg it? The story is told through journals and cutscenes that have a picture like feel to them (original red steel style cutscenes). The story is good, you get the relationship between Eric and Frank being not the best and you experience a population in terror through the journals (which are really well written) and manage to see the controversial methods bennett and frank are willing to go through. But there is one plot hole that doesnt get explained and some elements werent explained well enough. but overall it's an original story mixed with great buddisht lore.
Now on to the gameplay, while playing as Eric you will move rather slowly. This is used to create suspense as the game goes on, you'll see ghosts walking by and it feels more taunting knowing you cant catch up with them. The game has a terrific soundtrack it has to be said. The sound is either wind blowing or monks chanting and in a lot of cases it's hard to tell the difference between which gives a great tense feel wondering if you're just imagining things. The game though as a negative point is a bit linear, not as linear as resident evil 4 but a lot more than resident evil 1. To be honest the game reminds me a lot of eternal darkness, your character is not the most agile, the music is haunting chants and it's general process is similar. The game makes use of the motion controls a lot and it has to be said its used to great affect. I need to make this clear because other reviewers have not THE CONTROLS FOR BATTLE DO WORK! When you fight a ghost there are three options one is melee with your ice axe (this involves you getting in close, it's the most dangerous as if you miss you'll likely get hit), Shooting (picture resident evil 4 except having to reload after every 2 shots and your enemies flying all over the place) and rituals (doing commands on screen). Rituals are the most rewarding because pulling one off gets you some health. Now the general complaint Ive heard is the forward thrust doesnt work, this isnt true. in fact throughout the entire game I never had a problem with this. The problem people are having is with themselves because they arent holding the remote upright (like it shows you in the bloody instruction manual). If anything I wish it was harder to do rituals so I could have felt more threatened because near the end the game was feeling rather easy to me however enemies arent as common as say resident evil 4 which brings about a suprise element when one comes. The one area where I had problems with controls was the second time meditating because I wasnt really sure what I was supposed to do. But in battle it actually feels more stressing having to be physical yourself during the game which gets you more nervous being around ghosts. Now I mentioned you can get healed by performing a ritual you also can heal if your health is low enough. Now this may throw a red flag in terms of survival horror because it seems easy to heal, however healing properly is like saving in most survival horror games. You have to use certain areas which can provide problems for users if they try to get to physical with enemies but also provides a great sense of relief when they see a healing place. The game saves using an autosave feature which is really rare in survival horror but is luckily never used wrong. Despite dying probably 10 times the game does feel a bit easy (not ridiculously easy like overlod dark legend but not as challening as early survival horror games).
The presentation for this game is truly fantastic. the design of the buildings and villages are great and show a fantastic art direction. The parts near the end where it's all mountain are also well designed to present a climactic finish. The atmosphere of the game is great because it's one that provides a paranoid feeling. While going through a village in Mt C when I saw a shadow on the ground I instantly looked up only to find a cloth and I did this a lot out of paranoia. Not to mention any misty area I was pretty much thinking a ghost will be here a ghost will here. The presentation is flawless for this game.
And going through the game you will get some frights however these are more apparent at the start than at the end. During the start they position ghosts so well that you dont expect it and get frightened but near the end not so much. What I was hoping for was parts where you could be hallucinating or seeing ghosts and you couldnt tell. This would have been a great feature. But during these 9 hours I spent playing I enjoyed the game.
So in conclusion will you like Cursed Mountain? If you're the modern gamer of toay who cant stand not killing something every 5 seconds then this game is not for you. However if you're a true survival horror fan who can appreciate a game that builds up suspense and wants a great atmosphere then buy this game cause there isnt much of this kind of stuff around.
What could have been done better? Well it could have been less linear for a start and the hallucinating idea I mentioned would have fitted perfectly here. other than that change the cutscenes to normal ones and make it more challenging and this game would be fantastic.
Is it better than Siren Blood Curse? No it is not. I dont mean by a long shot, it's fairly close but siren does it better. Cursed Mountain though is the 2nd best survival horror game this gen so far.
If you like survival horror, especially if you like eternal darkness as this feels like a spirtual sequel to it thne you'll like Cursed Mountain. It is a top notch survival horror which I have no problem calling the 2nd best survival horror game this gen.
Score:
85%
