Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within
Score: 93% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Agetec Developer: Human Entertainment Media: CD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure
Graphics & Sound: The graphics in Agetec’s latest creation, Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within, are not exactly hi-res, but they don’t suck. Character models and background details stand out, and the click-and-point makes it simple to see what objects you can and can’t interact with. The voices are done well, and even though characters sometimes stray into cheesy territory, it never damages the story. Music is in all the right places, and fits well with what’s happening on screen. Plus, the sound effects add to the general creepiness. No fancy special effects or lens-flare here, but you’ll be hard pressed to find breaks in those polygons!
Gameplay: If Clive Barker had written a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book that became a video game, it would look exactly like this. I’ll admit that at first I found myself wishing CT2 could have been a third-person action game like Resident Evil, but that wore off. I also thought it might play like Myst or Riven, but that wore off as well. The main character of Clock Tower II is a young girl, Alyssa, who goes to visit her Aunt and Uncle, only to find them in the throes of some kind of demonic possession. But, this doesn’t bother her so much since she has two personalities herself, and in times of trouble becomes possessed by one “Mr. Bates,” who may or may not be a homicidal lunatic. The end goal is to unravel the mystery and survive it. I’m not making this up. Though it seems weird at first, Alyssa’s other personality works a lot like Raziel’s physical/spiritual duality in Soul Reaver 2: Legacy of Kain. When there are areas of the game that would defeat Alyssa, Mr. Bates can often get her through. This is the main reason The Struggle Within is set up for point-and-click. At different areas in the game, making one choice over another may affect subsequent events. And be aware, you don’t get a little menu. There are 13 different endings, and I got the first one after only 2 hours. Granted it was a bad ending, but the point is I had to go back and do things differently to get all 13 endings. There is only one perfect ending, and as you play through each of the three scenarios, you’ll have many chances to go back and try again. For some, this may prove frustrating, but I had a blast. It’s a mystery in the truest sense.
Difficulty: Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within is not an easy game, but twitch-game aficionados will not have much to sink their teeth into. Remember, it’s point-and-click. Moving around and interacting with stuff is not tricky, but using the old noggin’ to figure out where to go and what to do can be tough. Put it this way: If you thought Resident Evil was too frantic, but lost interest in Riven after the fourth disc, CT2 is the perfect game for you.
Game Mechanics: Again, point-and-click. One thing I really liked was being able to move around with the D-pad or analog stick, and select the click-point with either L1, X, or L3/R3. As more companies keep working that L3/R3 into games, we’re bound to see more complicated interface and complexity of control, which is a good thing. There’s nothing too complicated about control in Clock Tower II, but a few things deserve mention. Controlling the menu system is crucial -- much like an RPG -- as most objects can only be used in certain ways. The option to have the menu hidden at the top of the screen is nice, because you don’t have to push any special buttons or use Start/Select to get your objects. Moving around in a pinch can be a little tricky, because instead of moving the character, you click on where you want the character to move to. Even though it sounds simple, when you’ve got a demonic child with a butcher knife chasing you around the house, it’s easy to get confused. There are hints hidden throughout the game, and it pays to search items two or three times for these. Be careful what you search, however, because certain items are dangerous. The main thing is to search anything and everything, because in CT2, exploration pays off. Any fan of the Olde Skool problem-solving in text games like Zork or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will be in love with Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within, but those hoping to blow away hordes of zombies with a rocket launcher should invest in Resident Evil 3. And don’t blame me if you get the bad ending...
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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