HorrorTober 1 - Rise of Nightmares (Xbox 360) Quick Review (Sort of...)
Are you guys ready? Because I sure am. The month of horror themed games is finally upon us! HorrorTober, a feature that is going to happen every October on the blog and YouTube channel. All month long I'll be reviewing games that are of the horror genre, and I'll even try throwing in a couple Let's Play's and LiveStreams as well. I've always had a soft spot for horror games my whole life, and lately I've seen a resurgence in actual horror in video games with all the stuff the new generation of consoles can do. There was a gap where a lot of horror games just weren't that scary. They took subjects that were supposed to be scary, but didn't do much for making your heart race. So I decided to take a handful of games, throw them in, and see if they're actually worth being called horror games. But we'll get to all that later, right now let's dive into our first game. It's the first M-Rated game to be featured on Xbox 360's Kinect, Rise of Nightmares.
Because of simple nature of the controls, it makes this review a bit tougher to write. There isn't a whole lot of substance to it so fleshing out a full review isn't really possible without talking in circles just to get more words on the page. Instead what I'm going to do is a sort of extended Quick Review. I'll discuss the good and bad points of the game, but I will try to go into more detail than I usually do on those. So let's get to it.
- Manual or Auto Movement. The biggest requirement for the Kinect in general is you need to have space to use it. A lot of the Kinect movements require you moving forward or backward or doing any number of crazy things so your on-screen representation can mimic you. Rise of Nightmares actually helps you out with this too. Your main way of moving forward or backward is by sticking one foot out in front of the other (or behind) and you'll move in the respective direction. But if you don't have the space to do so, or just aren't really feeling it, you can hold up your right hand and the game will Auto move you like an on-rail game. There are some areas where you can't cop-out and use the Auto Movement, but for the most part it's available to use and it helps a lot.
- Passengers From Train Return. This one gets pulled from a good portion of horror movies/games/shows etc. The people you meet tend to come back. Once your in the mad scientists grasp, you learn that he's the one creating all the zombies, and some of the passengers from the train become part of his dream. It's not a huge detail of the game, but it's just nice to see a classic "horror move" play out in this game, and to also see what crazy experiments they all become.
On The Fence
- Wonky Kinect Controls. This was a tough one to place, but ultimately the best place for this note was right here in the middle. Honestly, some of the Kinect controls are really well done. There's doors you need to push open, and others you need to slide open, and the Kinect can register both motions so if you're trying to push a sliding door, nothing will happen. Even the fighting is well done. Some enemies come with metal pieces on them so you have to attack differently so you don't hit that area, and it registers the angle you attack from. But at the same time, some of the controls have to be massively over-exaggerated and even then, they barely register. At one point you have to run across a section of the train before it falls into a river. Simply running in place won't do it. Your best bet is mimicking Naomi Watts's dancing in this scene from King Kong. So again, hard to place this one because some of the controls are great and fun, and some are just so damn frustrating.
- Slow Moving Story. It takes an awfully long time for the actual plot details of this game to unfold, and it makes playing it that much more boring at the beginning. I personally love playing horror games for their story. Yeah, the blood and gore is cool, but it gets repetitive if there isn't a real reason for it. When the story does finally come out, it's really cool and interesting. But through the prologue, the first two chapters and most of the third all you're doing is fighting for your life not knowing why.
As for horror? This games definitely got it. Forcing you to literally fight your way through hordes of zombies is what does in the scare level. You'll be out of breath, hoping you're done with everyone around you, and next thing you know you're getting swatted at from behind. Or you'll be walking down an empty hallway, and from behind you a door will open and a zombie will be trying to make you it's next meal.
The Story
The story begins when Josh and his wife Kate are on a train ride going on vacation. Kate starts to tell him something important when a flask falls off of Josh. Agitated, Kate storms out of their cabin, hinting at a drinking problem that Josh promised he was going to give up. He goes to wash his face off and when he returns to their cabin, finds a note from Kate apologizing for how she acted and asking him to meet her in the dining car. On his way to it, Josh comes across all the other traveller's on the train. Eventually he makes it to the dining car, only to find it covered in blood and a man at the front of the car in a strange suit holding Kate over his shoulder. A couple Romanian generals who were on the train try to stop the man, who shoots out a long chain and rips one of them in half before jumping off the train with Kate and causing it to derail. Josh scrambles off the train finding another of the generals, and they find their way to another group of survivors. While they're grouped together, one of the girls wanders off into a dungeon and begins screaming about corpses moving. Josh goes down to investigate with her and the bodies begin to fully reanimate and attack everyone in the group. He tries to escape but Josh is eventually grabbed and knocked out by the strange man who took Kate, next waking up tied down to a chair with a crazy scientist named Viktor standing over him. Viktor appears to be in control of all the zombies and upon leaving the room orderes the zombie nurse nearby to kill Josh, but before she can another survivor comes out and saves him at the last second. Now, Josh must fight for his life, and try to escape the mad scientists project with his and his wife's lives intact.The Controls
Rise of Nightmares is a game that not only uses the Kinect, but requires it. So therefore you are the controls. Every single thing in the game that you have to do must be mimicked by you. Need to slide a door open? Stick your hand out and slide it the way the door needs to open. Need to duck under something to get past it? Crouch down in your gaming space. Under attack by a zombie? Start throwing punches. Stuck in a stream and have to get out? Pinwheel your arms like crazy to swim to shore. Even walking and exploring are done like this. Walking is done by sticking one foot in front of the other, and the further you do so, the faster you move. Exploring and looking around can be done by turning your shoulders side to side. There is no controller option available for this game so it's all about you and what you do.Because of simple nature of the controls, it makes this review a bit tougher to write. There isn't a whole lot of substance to it so fleshing out a full review isn't really possible without talking in circles just to get more words on the page. Instead what I'm going to do is a sort of extended Quick Review. I'll discuss the good and bad points of the game, but I will try to go into more detail than I usually do on those. So let's get to it.
The Good
- First M-Rated Kinect Game. When the Kinect launched, it came with some sports games and some cutesy kid games like Kinectimals and Kinect Joy Ride. Rise of Nightmares was the first title to stray away from that and bring something more mainstreamed to the Kinect. It plays a bit like the arcade shooter House of the Dead, only you are the weapon instead of a plastic gun. It was definitely a big step for the Kinect, going from cartoonish games to something overloaded with blood and gore, but it took a chance to get the gaming peripheral some more attention.- Manual or Auto Movement. The biggest requirement for the Kinect in general is you need to have space to use it. A lot of the Kinect movements require you moving forward or backward or doing any number of crazy things so your on-screen representation can mimic you. Rise of Nightmares actually helps you out with this too. Your main way of moving forward or backward is by sticking one foot out in front of the other (or behind) and you'll move in the respective direction. But if you don't have the space to do so, or just aren't really feeling it, you can hold up your right hand and the game will Auto move you like an on-rail game. There are some areas where you can't cop-out and use the Auto Movement, but for the most part it's available to use and it helps a lot.
- Passengers From Train Return. This one gets pulled from a good portion of horror movies/games/shows etc. The people you meet tend to come back. Once your in the mad scientists grasp, you learn that he's the one creating all the zombies, and some of the passengers from the train become part of his dream. It's not a huge detail of the game, but it's just nice to see a classic "horror move" play out in this game, and to also see what crazy experiments they all become.
On The Fence
- Wonky Kinect Controls. This was a tough one to place, but ultimately the best place for this note was right here in the middle. Honestly, some of the Kinect controls are really well done. There's doors you need to push open, and others you need to slide open, and the Kinect can register both motions so if you're trying to push a sliding door, nothing will happen. Even the fighting is well done. Some enemies come with metal pieces on them so you have to attack differently so you don't hit that area, and it registers the angle you attack from. But at the same time, some of the controls have to be massively over-exaggerated and even then, they barely register. At one point you have to run across a section of the train before it falls into a river. Simply running in place won't do it. Your best bet is mimicking Naomi Watts's dancing in this scene from King Kong. So again, hard to place this one because some of the controls are great and fun, and some are just so damn frustrating.
The Bad
- No Artificial Edges. If you're using the actual moving controls and not the Auto ones, be careful when you approach ledges. I was playing and just exploring one particular area and I figured because of it being a Kinect game, it would have a force-field stopping me from walking off to my death. Nope...I kept going and died. It's kind of annoying because the Kinect controls, as I stated above, definitely aren't perfect. Knowing that, if they'd put in something to help you it would've been nice. Even a simple "jump back" prompt for a last moment savior would've been better than just bumbling off the edge and dying.- Slow Moving Story. It takes an awfully long time for the actual plot details of this game to unfold, and it makes playing it that much more boring at the beginning. I personally love playing horror games for their story. Yeah, the blood and gore is cool, but it gets repetitive if there isn't a real reason for it. When the story does finally come out, it's really cool and interesting. But through the prologue, the first two chapters and most of the third all you're doing is fighting for your life not knowing why.
Final Verdict / Horror Level
This game is far from perfect, but it's still pretty fun. Having an M-Rated game on the Kinect is pretty cool. When I first saw this game, that was honestly the main reason I picked it up. Having played it now, it might not have been fully worth it, but I'm still happy to have this one in my collection. It's a cheap $5 pickup at your local GameStop, and while it might not earn a top spot among your most favorite games, it's definitely worth the money.As for horror? This games definitely got it. Forcing you to literally fight your way through hordes of zombies is what does in the scare level. You'll be out of breath, hoping you're done with everyone around you, and next thing you know you're getting swatted at from behind. Or you'll be walking down an empty hallway, and from behind you a door will open and a zombie will be trying to make you it's next meal.
