Obscure: The Aftermath

By Dene Benham

Two years ago we got the chance to play a nostalgic little third person puzzler called Obscure. It was one of those games that you either 'got' or you didn't. It was a survival horror, it was a teen slasher movie, and (last, but not least) it was an episode of O.C. If you got it, it was a cool little romp that deliberately touched on a wealth of popular genres, situations and conventions. If you didn't get it, it was unoriginal, derivative and at least ten years out of date.

But now the kids from that first game - well, those that survived - have graduated high school and landed in Fallcreek University. This time they aren't up against a mass murdering principal; they are faced with some strange, halluciagenic flowers. A couple of bad trips later and our student body come to the collective realisation that their dreams are not constrained to the dream world; their dreams are real and deadly.

In Obscure II you choose from a cast of six characters. Among them are skater Corey, smart Mei and Kenny the jock. Each character has specialised abilities. These abilities range from climbing, to shifting heavy objects, to hacking. It is in the organisation and use of the different personalities and abilities that Obscure II makes good use of co-operative game play. In-game switching between characters is quick and effortless. Essentially, you control one character and choose a sidekick to be controlled either by a mate, or the game's AI. Working together was a great aspect of the first game and looks to be an equally enjoyable part of Obscure II.

However, like its predecessor, Obscure II has inherited some of the worst problems associated with the survival horror genre. But, apart from the particularly dodgy AI, the frustrating camera angles that historically plague third person shooters have thankfully been cleaned up. This, together with an uncomplicated interface and an uncluttered screen, should help to make the whole experience enjoyably immersive. The school settings are familiar, but atmospheric. There are stacks of weapons lying around the school waiting to be found and utilised. Music enhances the mood nicely and the voice acting is pretty funny, in a b-movie kind of way.

We all know that survival horror games may have reached their use by date. If there is one thing that stands out about them recently it's that they aren't scary anymore. Every situation is familiar to the point of being clichéd. But that's not where Obscure II is coming from. Obscure II knows we know and simply winks and invites us along for a fun, funny and familiar ride with heaps of gross monsters, plenty of grisly deaths and maybe, just maybe, a few shocks and surprises.

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