I don't think I can describe this game the best that I can, it's like a tribute to old school tank control action games, but it does so much more. With contemporary updates to the formula, and undoubtedly one of the craziest survival horrors out I've played after Signalis.
It might not be as atmosphere rich, but it sure knows how to create a large of number of jack-in-the-box moments, and asking me to use my brain a lot of the times too. If you're super into classic game designs, this one is a superb treat. I wanted to unravel the mystery around this closed park, interact more with its characters, unlock new areas, and maybe not have a headache with the puzzles.
Yes, that last part is something to keep in mind. It gets trickier to play, making me choose who to shoot or run away from, as ammo is also scarce. Not everything just involves shooting it to death, either, and that's thanks to the traps I can use to take the monstrosities down.
Exterior. Crow Country Parking Lot. Day. Mara Forest enters into the park with a slight feeling of unease yet vigilance as she puts herself into the investigation of Edward Crow, a missing person that is somehow probably inside his closed down theme park, Crow Country.
One can only imagine the unspeakable horrors that awaits, with only a pistol to take out any posing threats, she finds an injured journalist with a camera photo, showing a blurry image of something monstrous, before taking him to her car for safety. Continuing on to the job, only finding more puzzling things and certain things that don't fit an abandoned park.
The ambience is haunting, the crows are munching on some dead flash, there are animatronics just quietly shut, this takes place somewhere in the 90s, and yet everything about it seems to sing the tune of abandoned real estate where the demons of hell have started to take over. In fact, it might already be too late, because of what follows later on. Ammo is scarce, healing items are found in abundance, I wondered why till I found my first encounter.
This is where the survival horror starts to sprout. I took my shot at a few undead coming towards me, and I had a few rounds left, I've been pondering about whether this is a test or not, whether I'll be ambushed by more and wasting ammo is all I could do, but also be stuck in vain.
What I got ahead instead was a document, closed cargo door, and the room besides that, taking me to the lodging of the main founder for the park. I saved the game by interacting with a fireplace, and continued looking around the room. There's quite a lot to uncover, and riddle in-between as well. I tried playing it with KB/M, but the game was right, suggesting the controller was better.
It was here when I started to backtrack around that all the creepy crawlies show up their faces. It's not difficult to shoot, since the right analog moves diagonally to the face. Mara can shoot hanging chandeliers, electrical circuits, explosive barrels, etc. It's a good way to save munition without unloading on the monstrosities that are blocking the path. Just getting them there is tricky.
This game doesn't have an objective indicator, I have to find the map for each individual areas, so looking around for things do often give me something to use. And it is important to have a keen eye, because of the puzzle solving involved as well. Lots of puzzle solving.
Hey, you remember this Resident Evil puzzles where you have to figure out a number, do some math, align geometry and all that? Well, this one took a look at all of it and thought it was a children's game. These puzzles are real head scratchers, there are number decoding for computers, elaborate mechanisms to be interacted with, and worst of all, the risk in going somewhere new and facing off against these things. If sheer numbers don't terrify, them being tanky will.
Yes, so the tomb encounter where I had to change the heads on top of each tombstone while avoiding getting shot, turned out to be a funny joke because that gun wasn't real. That jumpscare really did get me, though. There are moments where it's subversive, and then terrifying.
This isn't what I would call a combat focused game, these things are interesting obstacles on the way. But then comes the weird poison traps, and I had to use cures to fix that. Which, they aren't that many to look at. If you could test someone's patience and intelligence, this game would be that barometer for both. It's headache inducing, but rewarding to solve things and unlock new areas.
Plus the inventory management, the surprises like some Mars alien looking thing popping out of a hole on the side, then there's his big friend there. Enemy variety is plenty here, I've faced against long-legged stick ones where grenades don't phase them, fast running little critters I had to maneuver around, and then there's those that are like cactuses.
The story isn't terrible, heck I'd say it's one of the most intriguing facets of the game. There's a giant conspiracy about how the founder dug up something he shouldn't have, and hell has followed him since. There's literally the number 2106 scattered everywhere, notes and diaries talking about people from other timelines, and some top secret experimentation resulting in all kinds of haywire situations to follow. One guy kind of knew what was up, but he shot himself in the head.
It's not all serious, there's humor to be found. Like this one detective that was actually called to investigate instead of Mara. But the guy is aloof, scared to his pants, and pretending to stand up straight to show bravado. One of the big reason why I pushed forward, and that's because Mara is a mary sue, not the obnoxious kind. She literally played pool better than her BF before he dumped her.
She literally does almost anything well here. Well, provided I'm the one who has to figure it all out. I would load up the game and get lost on what I was supposed to do. So I try recalling back, and the map areas being unlocked have indicators too, thankfully. Everybody else is freaking out.
It does suck though that I managed to get only around 4 types of weapons, including a shotgun and flamethrower, an automatic would be nice, but that would ruin the precision based combat. They are also upgradable through little mushroom guys from those Final Fantasy games. Not really, IYKYK. This is a really fun game, tons of great moments. No one makes it like this anymore.