1/7/2024 0 Comments Obscure 2 controlsTaking place over a 36-hour period at the eerie Leafmore High School, Obscure starts off promisingly with a creepy exploration of a hidden basement found below a tool shed, and continues to build steam as the early investigation segments unfold. The storyline is a little disappointing too. Sadly, most of them rather useless because as long as you have a "hint" persona in your active roster (Josh, Shannon) alongside your lock-picker Stan, you'll have all you need to succeed for the remainder of the game. But in an effort to make them more compelling, Hydravision has provided each protagonist with a special ability not unlike those of Resident Evil Outbreak so that you'll have a reason to want to use them. Because of these obvious typecast personalities, however, it makes caring about them extremely difficult. Totaling five in all, the teenage survivors hit every stereotype in the book - from the shy but beautiful younger sister type to the well-meaning dopey stoner that comes complete with a dirty skullcap. At the forefront of these issues is the character lineup. Unfortunately, Obscure runs into a couple of roadblocks that keep it from becoming reaching the classic status of a Silent Hill or Eternal Darkness. When coupled with the cool co-op goodies mentioned above, you could see why Obscure could be a compelling pick-up for horror fans. ![]() There's even a handy quick-select menu system that allows players to bring up weapons and items independently on the fly (no need for sloppy menus anymore). Other little details, like the more realistic recovery items (first aid kids, energy drinks) and an interesting light boost feature (a way to attack a swarming cloud of darkness with your flashlight to keep enemies away), add a distinctive flavor to the game that I haven't really seen anywhere else. The dated and frustrating typewriter save system made popular by the Resident Evil series has been nixed too, in favor of a much handier 'save anywhere' system that's only limited to the number of discs that you find to use it. In a nod to DOOM 3 players that were begging for a feature just like it, for example, users can tape flashlights to their weapons so that they don't have to switch between illumination and firearm to see what they're killing before pulling the trigger. Some additional bits of gameplay have pushed the envelope as well. Moreover, I'm also happy to report that the development team didn't just stick with the co-op as its sole differentiating feature. As I said earlier, it's not always as effective as it should be (especially in rooms filled with junk and other obstacles), but it's a whole lot better than the typical loss of sight and movement affiliated with most co-op adventures.Īshley's the hot-tempered, hot-bodied one of the group. This means that if your lead character Kenny is running for his life around a pesky stack of boxes while leaving his balding comrade behind him off-camera, the guy controlling Dan can tap the leader button and immediately switch views so that he can catch up with Kenny before being eaten by something that would make even the guys from Iron Maiden feel handsome. This solution is a simple 'leader' command that allows players one and two the ability to switch designations as the camera's primary target. Luckily the development team at Hydravision has discovered an interesting fix for this problem that may not be 100% foolproof, but does help the "lost buddy" problem rather effectively. It's kind of like how modern medicine continually fails to eliminate the common cold, only we're left with flared tempers instead of flared nostrils. A bizarre circumstance that traps one character off-screen while the other one explores the game world, companion misplacement will likely be a problem with hotseat play no matter how many technological advancements we make. Of course the same nagging issue that's plagued most single-screen co-op games is a problem here too, which is that oft dreaded phenomenon known as companion misplacement. ![]() The end result is a pretty fluid and fast-paced escapade that can quickly turn into a great two-person party game. ![]() This simultaneous "one-screen system" works a bit like a buddy cop movie: with one protagonist providing backup and another one trying to complete an objective at the same time. In this adventure, Character A won't have to stand on the secret switch while Character B acquires the Sacred Gem of Amara - they'll have to decide what to do together and just go out and do it. But unlike past titles that have tried to benefit from a leapfrog system when approaching the concept of two-player survival, Obscure goes a more practical route by making everything simultaneous. Though the idea certainly isn't new, the heart of Obscure's innovation is its two-person co-op gameplay.
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