/vr/ - Retro Games

Survival horror is my favourite genre but I'm not a big fan of Clock Tower. The game has just too many issues.

Gameplay consists in solving typical point&click puzzles that don't have any goddamn sense and to run hide in the only 2 hiding places that do work each time you encounter Sicorman.
Not to mention that the puzzles that do make sense are flawed too. For example "the box&bird nest" puzzle. You arrive at the end of a corridor, in front of you is a box, behind is a bird nest. So, the box is just in front of you, so you check it. Nothing. Then you check birdnest, nothing happens. So you leave.
Turns out that you have to check the birdnest FIRST and then the box or it won't work, except that since the box is just in front of you you check it first of course and think you can't do anything with it, and it's not like you didn't see the birdnest without checking it when youre just next to it. Also if you check the nest, leave the room, check the box: that won't work either.

The game is very slow paced, and if you run you run out of stamina so quickly that it means dying against Scissorman in most cases if he happens to catch you unexpectdely. Waiting for Stamina to regenerate is also very long.
Don't get me the "slow pace = atmosphere" bullshit, there is no atmosphere in this game, no music, nothing's going on, it's just empty.

Also both the Super Famicom and PSX versions don't support their respective console mouses. You'll have to play the Jap only PC version if you want to use the mouse.

Game had a groundbreaking gameplay and is major for the survival horror genre but it's just full of the typical point&click senseless elements and the survival elements didn't go far enough for my taste.

>>1135989
FYI the game was also released on PC (windows 95) and Wonderswan, but only in Japan.

While the Wonderswan version is unninteresting (same game but in black&white), the PC version is probably the best simply due to how you play with the mouse. The graphics are slightly different too. Pic related.

>>1069713
There should at least have had some small ambiance sounds around.

Another design flaw are the chase scene. The problem is that there is only a couple of safe spots to hide during a chase scene. In other words, it gets VERY repetitive very fast : Scissorman appears, you run to one of those 2 save spots that do work, wait for a few seconds, and repeat. There should have been more spots to hide from, or more interactivity during the chase scenes.

Finally, nor the Super Famicom version neither the PS1 version support the respective mouses on those consoles. A shame for a point&click game. The only version which supports mouse is the PC version but it's in Chinese only. It does play a lot better with a mouse though (pic related).

Fun fact #1 : This game was based on a movie. Anybody seen it?
Fun fact #2 : There is actually a Wonderswan version of the game. It is however essentially just the same game, but in black&white with lower resolution and no translation avalaible.