Very well mates , im here to shed some light on what is somewhat a very misunderstood and overshadowed series by some survival horror "giants". That game series is named Obscure.
Firstly and foremost , we've got the game which debuted the series , Obscure.
ObsCure is a survival horror video game that was developed by french game developers Hydravision (which contains many of the original Alone in the dark coders who left Infogrames to join Hydravision) and published by DreamCatcher Interactive , being launch for the Playstation 2 , Xbox , and Windows.
And !!HERE!! is Obscure's Trailer
Released on the 1st of October , 2004 in PAL version , Obscure is a survival horror game heavily influenced on teen movies , and was one of the first (along side with Resident Evil : Outbreak , also released in 2004) survival horror games in which you're not "stuck" with surviving the game with a single character , but instead you get to use two characters at a time (one of them being controlled by AI , OR by a second player who can join in at any time - if playing alone , you can switch characters on the fly in game , unlike Resident Evil : Outbreak).
Obscure is the story of the strange incident that took place at Leafmore High , which in survival horror tradition is naught but a fictional typical american high school. Four teenagers (((Josh Carter , the shy and reserved reporter for the local school paper , seems to suffer from Jimmy Olsen syndrome , as he is always looking for a scoop , his special ability is (using his sharp insight) sensing if theres items in the room to pick up ; Kenny Mathews , the stereotypic jock , blessed with athetic speed and strength ; Ashley Thompson , a cheerleader and THUS , Kenny's girlfriend , has the ability to rapid-fire most weapons , thus making her a very powerful "fighter" character , and Shannon Mathews , Kenny's youngest sister , who dresses very provocatively to take the focus away from her brains , she gives tips on solving the various puzzles on Obscure and is a great healer. ))) set out to search for their missing friends , they’ve found themselves locked inside the school overnight, and they now have to get to the bottom of the strange occurrences.
You'll take control of the five (((you later on the game encounter the last student , Stanley Jones , a bad boy who gets stoned a lot and slacks classes and is keen on lockpicking even the toughest locks and hacking the toughest firewalls))) desperate teens as you explore the massive school and battle a number of different types of students , which are hideously mutated into deformed (not to mention gross!) killing machines , devoid of any conscience.
I wont go further on the plot so as not to spoil it for those who are thinking about playing it.
Obscure can be beat with every single one of the teenagers having surviving the ordeal , as it can be completed if some have died (which makes the game somewhat harder , obviously) . With that said , even if one or two of your teens go and meet their ancestors , it is still possible to complete the game , albeit harder , especially if you lose the top fighter characters , and getting worse endings per teen that dies on you.
Overall i'd give Obscure a 7 out of 10 , its a very fun game , but its puzzles arent really that taxing (im talking RE style puzzles here) , which are quite a turn off for me.
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And now for Obscure 2 :
Obscure 2 takes place 2 years after the Leafmore Highschool incident , the kids who have survived the ordeal are now living normal lives......or are they...?
Released in 2007 , Obscure 2 , as i've stated , picks up where Obscure left from. It generated much controversy , and many retailers got as far as refusing to stock the game on their shelves because it depicts the very first in game teen suicide cutscene. A north american version was released this year , under the name Obscure: The Aftermath (which i reckon its Obscure 2 , but with more weapons and such? who knows.)
For Obscure 2's Trailer , click here (i love the music in the background , its so kick ass)
Anyways , its been two years after the events of Obscure, the survivors have had to move on with their lives. Shannon and Kenny are now enrolled in the nearby Fallcreek University, while Stan is making ends meet as a pizza delivery boy. As the story begins, a new drug created from a strange flower is quickly spreading its influence over the University's populace. Soon enough, a small group of students along with the Leafmore High survivors have to face a horde of mutants and stop the spread of contagion before the situation becomes critical.
One thing i really liked about Obscure 2 was on the Fallcreek Hospital level, partway through the game, the player must pick up a magnetic card. If the card is examined, the player can see that the card is assigned to a "Herbert West," a nod to the main fictional character of the H.P. Lovecraft short story "Herbert West—Reanimator" , and being a die hard H. P. Lovecraft fan myself , that counted as a plus.
The gameplay itself stay true to the original Obscure. The main difference from the first game is that some of the characters that you get to play to advance plot HAVE to die , so the plot thickens further on , for example one of them disappears only to have you find him/her as he/she is suffering a very disturbing death.
Overall it gets an 8 out of 10 , because once again it fell on the puzzles being somewhat challenging , if you're an 8 year old...
Phew , thats it , if you got to read EVERYTHING , you've got a lot more patience than i do.
Ta.