Clock Tower: Rewind on Nintendo Transfer comes with a large number of bonus pieces for lovers of the unique 1995 unlock. There’s an artwork gallery, a song participant, an interview with the sport’s writer…downside is, I’m now not certain this sport has many lovers.
That’s now not intended as a slight at the sport. Clock Tower: Rewind is a great survival horror throwback, nevertheless it had by no means been launched outdoor of Japan. The majority of Transfer gamers, then, are much less more likely to have an interest within the nostalgia and extra into improvements to make the sport extra fashionable. WayForward’s unlock does include a couple of of the ones, however now not fairly sufficient to earn a complete advice.
The gothic horror starts when 4 teenage orphans are followed and brought to a desolate mansion on the finish of an extended, wooded stroll. It’s by no means a just right signal for orphan ladies when they are able to’t succeed in their new oldsters’ house through automotive, and issues cross predictably south in a rush. The orphanage director, Mary, disappears. Jennifer is going to search for her, best to listen to her buddies scream prior to they, too, are long gone. After a temporary seek and an assault through a peculiarly competitive parrot, Jennifer unearths considered one of her buddies lifeless by the hands of a dude with an enormous pair of scissors. Worse, Scissor-Dude now has his points of interest set on Jennifer.
That proper there’s the entirety you want to understand in regards to the basic gameplay. Jennifer will spend the sport looking out the mansion for Mary and her last buddies whilst uncovering clues in regards to the mansion’s historical past, all whilst being chased through the in particular tenacious Scissorman. Clock Tower: Rewind is, roughly, a point-and-click journey with survival horror components.
I fairly favored that in regards to the sport. I grew up on puzzle-adventures that required you to “save early, save ceaselessly,” so that is my more or less haunted area. Sadly, the console implementation isn’t as pleasant because it might be. The participant strikes Jennifer left and proper in a 2D, side-scrolling surroundings the usage of the L and R buttons. X stops her. That is OK, as Jennifer is vibrant sufficient to chop corners and open doorways routinely. And while you’re being pursued through Scissorman, it’s nice that his supposed sufferer is sensible sufficient to run on her personal. That lets you focal point on hiding spots, however that’s additionally the place issues get dicey.
The participant makes use of the L- and R-sticks to transport the cursor in regards to the display. This, in fact, isn’t very exact. That’s OK while you’re now not underneath force. It’s extremely irritating, alternatively, when you must briefly pinpoint a small merchandise to flee Scissorman. If the builders had widened the detection house of doorknobs, for instance, or applied some form of snap-to procedure, the survival horror components would appear a lot more honest. Because it stands, I stored yelling at Jennifer as a result of she couldn’t work out easy methods to open a door, and I don’t need to be that man…particularly bearing in mind the sport’s Jennifer is encouraged through Jennifer Connelly’s personality from David Argento’s Phenomena. Actually, lovers of ’70s and ’80s horror will certainly need to take understand, as Clock Tower: Rewind’s tale and visuals are at once impressed through David’s works.
Any other downside is that the puzzles are standard of the time frame in that they fairly ceaselessly make no sense; you’ll certainly wish to depend on both trial and blunder or Web and walkthrough. When you’re courageous sufficient to move with the previous, you’ll additionally depend on a lot of backtracking to seek for pieces you’ll wish to transfer issues alongside or to get other endings on next play-throughs.
Even though the controls and random puzzles don’t paintings that neatly, just about the entirety else does. The facility to every so often arrange traps for Scissorman may be very rewarding while you pull them off effectively. I additionally liked that Jennifer’s stamina comes into play; the extra drained she is, the much more likely she is to stumble in her get away makes an attempt. Holding her rested is essential to survival.
In any case, the graphics and “units” are improbable. Even though the mansion is oddly barren, it’s introduced in a perfectly creepy method that—when coupled with the chilling audio results—manages to supply just right, ceaselessly surprising soar scares. The sport could also be designed for a couple of playthroughs. There are a lot of endings to succeed in, and merchandise placement is randomized. Clock Tower: Rewind is a sport you have to revisit every Halloween (or every time the temper moves) and get a somewhat new enjoy every time.
Once more, regardless that, this sort of sport is not going to attraction to everybody. Its controls and option to puzzle fixing are lengthy lifeless and buried, and so they will have to now not be exhumed. And even if the bonus content material is insightful, maximum of it (excluding save states) doesn’t truly push the gameplay ahead. Lovers of nostalgic horror and puzzle/journey video games will likely be rewarded for adopting Clock Tower: Rewind in spite of its intrinsic frustrations, however others will most likely need to go away this one orphaned within the eShop.
