Rating:   78 Ratings     12345  

     Alyssa Hamilton is uncovering a terrifying side of her heritage that she never knew she possessed. Only she has the ability to destroy the evil forces that threaten to immerse the world into eternal darkness. Her destiny is to end the brutal crusade of the wicked servants, foul spirits who thrive on the trapped life force contained in the souls of their sacrificed victims. To save herself and these tortured innocents, Alyssa must unlock the mysteries surrounding the death of each lost soul. However, the habitants of the dark world won’t go without a brute fight. Alyssa must summon the sacred weapons necessary to defeat these demonic creatures to the nightmare realms that spawned them; all before the clock tower strike midnight.

      Although many may not be familiar with the Clock Tower series on the original Playstation, Human Entertainment and Sunsoft have been releasing a series of these non-zombie survival-horror games since the mid ‘90’s. Many may also not know that this long-running series is highly successful in Japan and the third chapter will convince you why. Unless you were part of the cult following you may have been baffled to see Clock Tower 3 slapped with a Capcom logo and being displayed out of the blue with other Capcom titles such as Resident Evil.

      Most are afraid that Clock Tower 3 is nothing but a cheap Resident Evil clone. This is an incorrect assumption. As a player the antagonist does not fend off maggot-infested zombies with a rusty old 12-gauge or visit blood filled realms of hellish unexplored freights. However most survival-horror games are the same in the effect that you’ll be pitted against a nightmarish world of mystery, surrounded by strange creatures, a heavy amount of macabre to shroud the background, and enough gore to make the game somewhat edgy, and eerily inviting at the same time. Clock Tower 3 has accomplished this with an entirely different and respectful version of a macabre-filled realm of unexplored freights of an atypical kind.

      Unlike its predecessors, the third addition in the series abandons the point and click controls and adopts a full control scheme, which works rather well. However, some people may find some trouble with the camera angles in certain areas since the direction of your character will change in the new camera angle if you begin the let off the direction you were pushing in. If you keep pressing down, you should have no problems. The story line to the game is filled with questions, answers, and simple puzzles that anyone with little education is bound to figure out. Basically, controlling your character is a somewhat frustrating bout at times, and you can expect to pick up a scattered bunch of clues, and their consequences through a number of dim-witted puzzles.

      One creepy trademark to the game is that the attackers can come after you at random so you must stay on your toes at all times. The panic meter helps add to the suspense of the game because if you are attacked or when you are hiding, and the subordinate is near this hiding spot, it will raise. If your panic meter reaches full, Alyssa will run faster but also be harder to control and will have trouble with shaking and tripping. The intense energy while playing the game will produce a rage of heart pounding, that pleases the player, not annoys. Another tricky aspect to the game is the only weapons you have are holy water and hiding. That’s right hiding is your best bet.

      Clock Tower 3 defies the typical survival horror throwing most heavily used elements out the door. Visually the game is very detailed and the sharp graphics enhance the creepy atmosphere. However, my biggest complaint is the length of the game. There are only 5 chapters, each with a virtually painless boss battle. That’s it. Period. All in all were talking 4-6 hours of playtime, with no re-play ability. Definitely an eccentric gaming experience, that at the very least is worthy of renting.

-Christine Beals 11/09/03