So what
is up guys, Musical Anti Hero saying words and doing things with you my sexalicious audience
and welcome to a Halloween edition of:
Where I take a look at the games I'm playing and answer the question of:
As today is the day of all Hallow's Eve, I thought this time it might be a good idea
to take a look at a horror game that helped defined modding history in video gaming.
Today we'll be looking at the psychological thriller known as Cry of Fear.
Released in 2012, Cry of Fear is a deeply disturbing game revolving around Simon Henriksson,
a 19 Year Old Pewdiepinesian who awakes in an alleyway shortly after being hit by a car.
Accosted by the survivors of Neogaff's fatal fires, Simon flits between the real world
and a twisted nightmare realm as he journeys deeper into the city in hopes of curing his
severe case of, "I'm the Hero So Of Course I Have Amnesia."
Aside from some of the painful, "tortured soul," monologue tropes and an opening dialogue
that is not delivered well, Cry of Fear's story is handled mostly through cinematic
cutscenes and flashbacks.
These are dropped at the beginning and the end of the game's several chapters, though
several narrative hints are laden throughout messages you receive on Simon's cellphone
as you progress.
Despite some of the lackluster writing…
Cry of Fear narratively takes a few surprising and dark twists as its story progresses onward,
managing to successfully pull off multiple optional endings to the plot, all of which
feel unique and satisfying, even if they aren't necessarily the best ones for our protagonist.
Oddly enough, that description rather fits the whole game.
Cry of Fear is actually unique in its construction because it's based off of the assets and
engine for the original Half-Life, one of the FPS genre's pioneering games.
Prior to its release as a full stand-alone game, Cry of Fear was planned to be launched
as a mod for Valve's forever-duology.
While this makes it standout as a testament to the passion of modders and the creativity
of PC modding, Cry of Fear is also shackled to the design issues and problems that stop
Half-Life from holding up in the modern era.
Starting with the visual design, the game is a relatively low-graphic endeavor; while
levels are reminiscent of the low-poly style of the original Half-Life, models in the game's
cinematics are fully rendered in-game, and possess enough mapping to fully emote and
convey expression, something that makes Cry of Fear standout from its source material.
This is due to a minor upgrade in the engine, taking the custom renderer from Paranoia,
another mod for Half-Life
However, like the headcrabs of old, enemy design is primitive by modern standards, let
alone the standards of 2012 when this game came out.
While yes, these enemies can be intimidating in the dark recesses of the game, this is
not due to their particularly terrifying design.
In fact in some instances, they can look down-right hilarious in average lighting.
While creature designs are about as disturbing as a kinder-kid with more crayons up his nose
than on his page, their graphical design hinders them to a severe detriment.
From Michael Myers fans to tentacle bed monsters the low poly textures cause their scare appeal
to be hit or miss.
Several of these behave in similar manners, subscribing to the school of, "Run and scream."
However several of the game's later entries actually contain a few creative ideas such
as damaging Simon when looking them in the eye.
These "improvements" are limited severely by the game's design and engine, and with
no telegraphing of what is occurring they often become far more frustrating than innovative.
However, what really sells some of the earlier terrors is the game's glorious sound design.
Without a doubt, Cry of Fear's golden apple is the beauty of its soundscape.
Each type of creature possesses a unique and equally horrific sound, depraved and disturbing
with each new enemy type.
The soundtrack is soft and subversive, often using silence to draw out moments of tension
or build-up scares of varying degrees.
When there is music, it carries several stressful soundtracks that call back to franchises like
Resident Evil and Silent Hill, with lower, barely controlled notes, belaying Simon's
tenuous grasp on sanity.
Which brings me to the gameplay, which at several points had me barely grasping on for
sanity.
Coming with both a singleplayer and multi-player campaign, traversal through Cry of Fear is
comparable to Resident Evil 4.
Simon has a limited inventory as he explores the town, his pockets able to quickly fill
up with key progression items, weapons or morphine syringes to restore your health.
During my playthrough I had no difficulties managing my meagre inventory; melee weapons
are quickly replaceable with guns in difficulties beneath hard mode as ammunition is incredibly
plentiful.
Morphine was used almost on pickup due to some of the arguably cheap methods that enemies
can ambush you in game.
Enemies are quickly put down in these lower difficulty modes by any firearm or gun, rarely
becoming a hindrance and detracting from the horror as you progress into deeper chapters.
The only times enemies cannot be defeated by gunfire are when they have a special property,
and it's not often that the game telegraphs these properties appropriately, resulting
in more than one instance of aggravating trial and error gameplay.
This all culminates in what may be the most frustrating part of the game, that took me
and a friend five hours to beat.
Chapter 5 is one of the penultimate levels in Cry of Fear, requiring you to venture across
the city, dodging enemies that frequently ambush you and solving terrible missing part
puzzles.
It is also the LONGEST level in the game, made up of segments from the previous chapters.
As such, item drops and locations are tied to what you've picked up previously in the
game.
If you picked up ammunition in Chapter 3, for example, it will not respawn in Chapter
5, nor are there additional spawn points EXCEPT for MUCH later in the level, after you leave
the city.
This left us, on normal mode, with the most asinine part of the game.
After taking damage from an ambush, we were left with only five percent of our health
remaining for the rest of the level.
And why?
Because morphine syringes were used to counteract OTHER ambushes in the game and none were available.
Furthermore, when opening up the console to generate syringes, it's been disabled in
the game's files, leaving you high and dry when you want to save yourself.
So, for most of the level, I was forced to move from save point to save point, dying
and memorizing the level with Dark Souls style efficiency, punished by Nuk'tuq the Moose
God for our hubris.
Even as you progress in the level, there is not ONE fucking morphine drop until you reach
Chapter 6, after an entire section where you are forced to fire into the dark at enemies
that NAVIGATE BY SOUND AND SHOOT PROJECTILES BACK AT YOU!
FUUUUUUUUUCK!
Sadly, most of the game is as clear as that; while the artistry and direction can be visually
pleasing, the game design is muddied by this to a point of bare-tangibleness.
Direction to the player is not translated well, and interaction with the environment
and enemies can lead to frustration more often than not.
Descending into the 'nightmare' portion of levels often only enhances the misdirection,
delivering scenarios that often seem unwinnable and would frankly translate better to a movie
set-piece than to a video game.
Despite being a mostly linear game, I needed a WALKTHROUGH just to get through to the basic
ending of Cry of Fear, and it's the first time I've needed one since I played Dark
Souls 2.
Despite all of the hell I give Cry of Fear, it is still a competently put together experience
that sadly suffers from the limitations of the engine it's based on.
While a labour of love on the part of the developers, it is anything but forgiving to
gamers that can pick it up and get invested in it.
Looking past the crusty exterior and the incredibly unforgiving game design, Cry of Fear is built
on good concepts and sound ideas.
The story, despite some of the less than stellar dialogue, is complemented well by the dingy
and dark imagery, bonding you intimately through Simon's trauma.
While the game at times can be incredibly unfair, the gameplay is sound and firm, delivering
a tense and stressful atmosphere.
But despite all of the potential rays of sunshine, they cannot pierce the glass ceiling of the
game's design problems.
If Cry of Fear were remastered in a newer engine with all of the issues fixed, I would
gladly recommend it to any gamer out there.
Currently the game is free on Steam, but I'd willingly pay ten to twenty dollars for a
full remaster.
The ideas here are not bad ones, but their execution is often so far from stellar it
often leaves you wondering what the hell is supposed to be done next.
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