SNES Game of the Week 118 - Clock Tower

[vnisanian2001]

B. Not bad, considering the publisher. Good tense music.

[vnisanian2001]

Am I the only one who thinks the bald Ripley in the game looks way hotter than the actual bald Ripley in the movie?

[dsparil]

I really need give Alien 3 another shot. It's one of those game's I've tried to get into dozens of times, but I've never quite been able to.

[excelsior]

I need a refresher myself and time has been short. I think I will give the next couple of games an extra couple of days a piece so we have a bit more time.

Oct 14, 2024 17:38:17 GMT -5 vnisanian2001 said:

Am I the only one who thinks the bald Ripley in the game looks way hotter than the actual bald Ripley in the movie?

I'm not the best judge, but I find her appearance really creepy in this game.

[dsparil]

I'll have to go with a C. The ambitions are greater than what you normally find in these type of licensed games, but I still just do not find it all that fun. Doesn't help that it's a bit confusing and lacks a map. Probably could have been a nice metroidvania if it was made now.

[spanky]

Oct 14, 2024 17:38:17 GMT -5 vnisanian2001 said:

Am I the only one who thinks the bald Ripley in the game looks way hotter than the actual bald Ripley in the movie?

The only thing I really notice about her is her big noggin in the terminal scenes.

Anyway I had never really played this but color me mildly impressed! The mission based gameplay with an open map really helps it stand out.

It kind of feels like a halfway point between retro "go figure it out kid" and modern "hand holding" game design. YES the game has maps and tells you where to go, NO you don't carry map everywhere with you. YES the objectives are easily identifiable, NO the game doesn't let you know how many you still need to accomplish. YES there are passwords and plenty of places to pick up health, NO you don't get extra lives and continues.

The graphics are appropriately drab and well, alienating. Ripley looks great though, one of the better animated characters on the system. She mostly controls well  though I found myself firing downwards when i wanted to crouch and vice versa. Using a flamethrower on aliens never really gets old either. I remember this getting a lot of good press back in the day and I think it's mostly deserved. A solid, maybe even a high B. 

[excelsior]

I'm going to pass on ranking this one. I'm just finding it really difficult to get going with. I like the atmosphere and it's definitely nore interesting than other games from this publisher, I just find it easy to get lost and start meandering.

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Human Entertainment
• Developer - Human Entertainment
• Genre - Horror
• Initial Release - 14 September 1995

  

  

[excelsior]

A second helping of horror this month. Thread will go mostly on hiatus for the rest of the year following this, possibly with sporadic additions. Thanks for the continued participation.

[spanky]

Once again, thanks for your hard work excelsior.

I've actually never given this an honest attempt...perfect time to do so I suppose!

[dsparil]

With the port out now, I'm going to give that a try once I'm done with Lies of P which should be pretty soon.

[dsparil]

Clock Tower is a game I've tried a few times, but gave up on pretty quickly. There's too much of a hurdle right at the beginning with having to escape Scissorman just a few minutes in without much of a clue of how to do that. Once you do clear that, Scissorman is such a nonissue. He's also too silly looking as a "monster" which kinda takes me out of the horror element to a degree.

For the core adventure gameplay, it does mostly better. It is fairly puzzle light with the focus more on exploration which you have to do since there's an element of randomization. What I didn't like so much was how the multiple endings are handled. It's based too much on "hit these triggers, get this ending" versus it feeling like a natural progression of events. I'm being vague for spoiler reasons, but it reminds me of how in the first Police Quest if you don't inspect your car before heading out you'll lose because it'll have a problem, but if you do inspect it like you're supposed to you don't actually find anything. 

Within the specific context of SNES games, it'd still go with an S. It's a unique, well made game on the system and very influential too. 

[cj iwakura]

My biggest problem is how vague the mansion layout is, and it's really hard to go back to a room you want, but I appreciate that Scissorman, as said, isn't a big issue, and thank GOD there's no need to look for health items.

And the game is SCARY, which is impressive given its age.