Oops – Now with the RIGHT video (heh)…

I haven’t done a horror games article in a while, but it’s probably because of late I’m in the wrong mindset to dip into something that’s going to have me playing halfway under the couch and sleeping with a baseball bat propped against the bed. That said, when I dug up my copy of Clock Tower while looking for another game, something made me pop it in and see if the game still had the power to scare me silly after all these years. It most certainly does, and even though I only sunk about two or so hours in (getting one of the not so good ending in the process), it made me think about how many of the more recent (and so-called) horror games in the genre pale in comparison when it comes to being actually scary…

You play as Jennifer, the survivor of a horrific event where a serial killer known as Scissorman killed off all your classmates during a school trip gone very wrong. The confusing thing here is those events took place in ANOTHER game called Clock Tower that was released only in Japan on the Super Famicom (and later remade for the PS1). In Japan, the sequel to that game is called Clock Tower 2 there and the game after that is Clock Tower: Ghost Head (but we won’t get into THAT game, known as Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within here, as it’s completely unrelated save for being totally insane in terms of story and quite scary where it counts). The bizarre intro you see when the game boots up will only make any sense if you’ve played the original Super Famicom game or PS1 remake, as it’s never explained just what Jennifer is doing crawling away from a massive, slug-like thing crawling up a steep slope after her.

As your mind is reeling from that, the tone shifts to a seemingly routine mystery plot that very quickly transforms into an all-out horror adventure where you have no weapons and very little means of defending your characters once the killer is on the prowl. Yes, it’s VERY dated in terms of looks and oh yes, it’s got some laughably stupid playable characters who seem to make the wrong choices at the wrong times. However, those elements are all part of the horror genre and part of what makes the game such a memorable ride. Multiple endings (there are ten, if I recall correctly), most of which depend on which of the characters you play as (and what choices you make in the prologue) mean that even if you get the shortest finale, you’ll be back for more once you’re hooked into finding out everywhere the tale takes you.

Great, creepy sound effects and intensely frightening music are used to near-perfect effect here, as whenever Scissorman is around, the theme makes every part of your body jump up and want to leave the room. You only have a few seconds to run and hide, briefly defend yourself or keep moving to new areas and hope that the creepy guy with the massive hedge trimmers loses your trail. There are also weird environmental hazards that can kill you if you’re careless, so you need to pay close attention to certain hot spots in the stages and not get caught off guard in a room with a trap and Scissorman on your tail. Tension is the main thing the game leaves you with, particularly when you end up with a doomed character who gets a gory (and usually quite abrupt) ending.  The cool thing is that even if you’ve played the game to death, you can whip it out and get someone else totally freaked out by handing them the controller and seeing how long they last.

It’s too bad Human Entertainment went under, as Capcom got the rights to the series after that and with Sunsoft and famed Japanese film director Kinji Fukusaku made Clock Tower 3, which was interesting, but more action oriented, somewhat less scary and definitely not connected to the original Clock Tower at all. Another game that has the “feel” of a Clock Tower game (but without the name) is known as Demento in Japan and Haunting Ground here in the US. I recall reading that it started life as a potential Clock Tower game, but that obviously changed early in development. Eh, maybe I’ll get to that game one day, as it has some cool scary moments and a great AI dog that makes for some really unique gameplay. Until then, I have a hiding spot that damn Scissorman will NEVER find me in… I hope…