Not the smoothest climb, but it’s far from being a treacherous one

by Shaan Ali Khan

Fun factor: Average

Worth to: Rent

Deep Silver’s Wii effort offers a unique, atmospheric horror game, but it just falls short of greatness due to some glaring flaws.

The Wii gets left out of a lot of genres. Strategy, shooters, RPGs, only now do they seem to be coming to the system as it approaches its third year anniversary. Well it seems the horror genre doesn’t want to leave the little white box untouched with Cursed Mountain.



The originality of the game is a breath of fresh air. Removing itself from the typical creepy towns, zombie-infested streets, dank corridors, or haunted mansions that the genre is known for, we are instead put out in the Himalayas. It’s a greatly refreshing setting, and the emphasis on the supernatural angle of Buddhist lore provides fertile ground for some interesting new scares.

Creepiness ensues

You play as Eric, a renowned mountaineer that needs to find and rescue his brother who went on some sort of expedition on the cliffs of Chomolonzo, and has gotten lost along the way. The game is set in the late 1980’s, and without certain technology that seems commonplace amongst climbers today, the only way to get this job done is by doing it yourself. In your pursuit, you encounter an old Buddhist monk who informs you that your brother may be much more lost than you think. Apparently, the spirit of the mountain has become angry and vengeful, and your brother Frank has gotten in the way of her wrath. You then are faced with a host of angry spirits and lost souls, making this whole rescue attempt much more complicated. Creepiness ensues.

And the game is quite creepy. Cursed Mountain does an excellent job of presenting an isolated and always uneasy atmosphere. There’s constantly this unsettling feeling to whatever you’re doing. I’d walk down the empty street in a mountain-side village, seeing shadows moving off in the distance, making me guess whether or not I ever saw them at all. This isn’t a game you want to play at night...



But then there’s the actual gameplay. The game’s formula doesn’t stray too far from the Silent Hill formula of exploring creepy, isolated environments. You’re basically going through fairly open areas, searching for clues and diaries, progressing until you hit a dead-end and are told to go find three seals, or speak to this person, or some other pretty basic task. It doesn’t necessarily feel like padding, but there are times when it doesn’t feel very necessary either. This isn’t anything new, frankly. Other games, like Silent Hill, have climbed these cliffs before, and nothing’s really added to set this apart.

A slow, Zen-like experience

Combat against the spirits is interesting to say the least. Early on, you’re armed with a spiritually blessed ice axe (no, I’m not joking...) from which you can fire blasts of religious energy third-person style (ala. Gears of War). You can also perform melee attacks, or finish off enemies by exorcising them with meditative poses by the use of gesture control. While the idea sounds sort of neat, it doesn’t play out as well as it should. Eric moves too slowly most of the time, and it doesn’t help when you’re surrounded by ghosts that want to tear your face off and leave you dead in the snow. To make matters worse, the motion controls register only about half of the time, and that can make all the difference in certain situations. Just be thankful that these spirits seem to like breakdancing towards you before they start the killing.

Eric’s slow movement does fit the pacing of the rest of the game though. It’s largely a pretty slow game, and it can start to drudge on if not for the fact that it clocks in at maybe eight-to-ten hours. Although to be honest, there’s not enough variety to fill the game much further beyond what’s already there.



The story’s form of exposition through still-frame animatics with a heavy grain filter doesn’t do the plot justice. The story is genuinely quite interesting, and the various plot threads you find through diaries seem well developed. Voice acting is appropriate, and there’s a feeling of authenticity to the whole experience due to the use of Tibetan lore. Some of that spiritual background and history is pretty neat, but it’s too bad most of it is presented in a pretty straight-forward manner as opposed to the subtler way it would be done in a game like Metroid Prime.

The overall art design is great. Looking off into the vistas and seeing the mountains really places you in these vast locations, and the solid art direction does an excellent job to nail the moody atmosphere of the settings. And the calm, serene, and haunting soundtrack does a fine job as well. It may not push the Wii the farthest, but it still looks quite good, and the moments when you peer into the spirit world are fantastic due to some great effects.

Summary

Cursed Mountain wins points for its original setting and refreshing context through Buddhist lore. But its overall gameplay isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before, or better. It doesn’t help that frustrating Wii controls can be a bit of a damper. You can’t help but feel that it relies a bit too much on its setting than it does its gameplay. It’s not a bad experience, largely thanks to the absolutely fantastic sense of atmosphere. But it still may only justify a rental for most people. Some more polish to smooth the game out would have helped. If you’re looking for a horror game, it may be wise to just wait and see how Silent Hill: Shattered Memories does this holiday season. Cursed Mountain’s unique setting do help differentiate it, but a few missteps keep it from reaching the top.