"19-year-old girl rescuing a hapless dog which then acts as an AI companion for the rest of the game, trying to protect the primarily defenseless girl."
Same general idea in both, but with vastly different execution between them.
Rule of Rose is a difficult one to properly form an opinion on, because my general philosophy in judging games basically states that if one accomplishes what it set out to do, then it's a good game. If it fails, it's a bad game. There are always exceptions to any rule (of rose... ha!
), of course. But while this one isn't necessarily an exception (it certainly isn't bad), it really seems intent on tearing your opinion in two different directions, between the two most basic components of any videogame; aesthetics and gameplay.Rule of Rose's main goal is to present a very surreal, not-quite-linear, multi-layered story with lots to analyze around every turn. And in aiming for that particular goal, it succeeds in a very big way. It's absolutely one-of-a-kind from an aesthetic standpoint. It really does look and sound unlike anything else I've ever played, and the story is insane to the point of brilliance. It could have benefited from a larger budget, of course, but considering the small development studio it came from, the presentational aspects come off as pretty damn remarkable. The story will inevitably leave you scratching your head over most of it, but there definitely seems to be an explanation behind almost everything. I'm still trying to figure it all out; the final chapter supposedly offers clarity if you properly explore the environment, but I was quick on the draw and just rushed to the end, leaving me a bit dazed and confused (there must be a sex joke in that sentence somewhere...). I'll have to go back one day and properly explore the last chapter to understand things better.
However, while the story, visuals, and sound were all developed with a pretty extraordinary level of quality, the gameplay doesn't really fare so well. It's competent, in that it allows you to run from story point to story point with relative ease. But that's just about where the competence ends. The combat feels entirely forced in to pad things out, or rather to allow the game to compete with rival survival horror titles. It feels like a complete afterthought; you can swing a weapon, but there's never much guarantee that you'll hit anything. You can try to stomp enemies that you've knocked down, but chances are best that you'll miss them entirely (single most useless stomp attack in the history of gaming). More than anything, the combat forces you to run circles around your enemies, occasionally stopping to weakly swing a knife or stick before continuing on with your manic sprint. It isn't fun at all, and more often than not it'll just frustrate you. It hurts the game in a pretty big way, and at one point near the end, I was almost ready to just give up on the game. And I've never been one to rage-quit. This might not all sound that much different from many other survival horror titles, but the implementation is definitely at a much lower level.
I think the one bright spot in the gameplay involves Brown, the dog you rescue early on. The game basically employs a system in which Brown can sniff out items for you based on the scents of items you've already found. For example, if you need to find a specific character and you happen to have something that they dropped earlier on, Brown will be able to sniff the item, then lead you directly to that character. It's incredibly simple and almost acts as an in-game hint system, but it works well and it makes you appreciate the hell out of Brown (which is important, since his involvement ends up being pretty central to the story).
But really, that's only a very small bright spot in comparison to the otherwise pretty dismal gameplay.
So, as I was saying before, it's like the game tears you in two directions; It'll make you fall in love with the visuals, sound, and story, but at the same time make you absolutely despise the half-hearted combat gameplay. It accomplishes its aesthetic-based goals with flying colors, but fails in just about anything else.
In the end this really, truly, utterly is not a game you play for "fun"; it's a game you play to feel satisfaction out of an intelligently challenging story (such a rare sight in gaming).
This is a warning and a recommendation all in one.
Haunting Ground, however, is downright quality in almost every way. It's vintage Capcom, circa 2004-2006. I genuinely feel that Capcom produced some of their greatest games ever during that short couple of years; Resident Evil 4, Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, Devil May Cry 3. And amidst all of that excellence came Haunting Ground, unfortunately played by few, but still containing the quality that one would expect out of that bright, shiny point in Capcom's history.
I've personally been looking forward to this game for years. I took note of it back before its release, but somehow never managed to procure a copy when it was still new. It finally came back to mind this year and, despite carrying a pretty heavy price for a used game, struck me as something I ought to get now, lest I never get to play it at all.
And my oh my, what a great decision that was.
As could be expected from Capcom around that time, the game is absolutely gorgeous to look at; even now, with all the flash of newer HD graphics and all the explode-y spectacles that tend to arise from them, Haunting Ground still looks downright beautiful, thanks very much to a strangely "mature" sense of art design. Sure, the protagonist might be a buxom blonde college student graced with a very generous case of the bouncies, but her design feels kind of old-fashioned in a way. It's distinct without going over the top, and in a way actually feels very classy. The rest of the game follows suit of course, whether we're talking about retarded doll-obsessed gardeners, flip-shit demented maids, or the environments themselves.
Story-wise the game works just fine, though I did feel that it leaves blank spots in a few places. Obviously the actual presentation of everything is excellent, as was Capcom-standard at the time; the voice work is solid, the cutscene direction is great, and the sense of mystery pushing the game forward is very effective. Problem is, I don't think the story is properly revealed by the end. I think a greater abundance of findable text documents could have been beneficial (such as diaries, letters, that kind of thing), but they're strangely pretty few and far between. By the end of the game, I didn't feel like I really understood the antagonist's intentions very well, nor did I know much at all about the backgrounds or origins of the very, very few characters you come across (there are really only about 6 characters in the entire game). And this actually bothered me a little; I thought the story could have been utterly excellent -- maybe even classic -- if only there would have been a bit more elaboration. Shouldn't have been hard with so few characters.
Of course, there's also the possibility that I just didn't find every bit of story-developing info in the game. But I took my time with it, so I doubt that's the case. It's more likely that the details just... aren't there.
Either way, the gameplay is the exact opposite of Rule of Rose; it's tight, it's responsive, and it feels smooth as hell. "Fighting" isn't really required with this one; Fiona, the protagonist, is very much helpless in the face of the crazed, stalking enemies she comes across, so the best option is of course... to run away.
As I've been mentioning elsewhere, Haunting Ground may have begun as an idea for the Clock Tower series, and the gameplay is the main element that reflects that. As you explore rooms and solve puzzles, you'll occasionally be met by one maniac or another, stalking you for their own devious intentions. Your best course of action is to turn tail and dart the other way, hopefully putting enough distance between you and them as possible before finding half-sanctuary on a designated "hiding spot." Spend too much time in the vicinity of one of these stalkers, and Fiona is likely to start panicking, which results in the screen going high-contrast while Fiona desperately tries to escape, independent of the player's input.
You do not want this to happen.
The whole setup is wildly effective in creating tension and fear. If I'm entirely honest, the basic concept itself -- that of a veritable "chase and escape simulator" -- is one of my favorite in all of gaming. Not many games do it, granted, but this is the best I've ever seen it done. I want to see it used more.
Along with all of this, Fiona also befriends a white German Shepherd named Hewie, and with his presence comes a cool little "dog training" mechanic that's relegated entirely to the right thumbstick. Pull down on the stick and Fiona tells Hewie to come to her; press up, and she tells him to attack or investigate something; press right, and she'll praise him for a job well done; press left, and she'll scold him for not listening. It's very fun to play with, and as the game progresses, you'll actually notice that Hewie's AI is slowly altering itself as he learns to obey Fiona. Very subtle, but also very cool. Being a PS2 game there are a few hiccups here and there (I generally try not to expect too much out of heyday AI), but on the whole it's a very, very good idea, and the implementation is great for its time. It really does make it feel like Hewie is independent, and not just a second character you're directly controlling.
Maybe it's just that I haven't played an old Capcom great in so long, but this one hit me pretty hard. I absolutely loved the hell out of it. The runtime is a little on the short side; only about 8 hours on the first time through. But that's pretty much in-line with old PS1 horror games, so I can't hold it against it all too much. All I know is that by the end, I really wanted to just play it some more. I really wish Capcom were still in the business of making slightly smaller, less-bombastic games like this one. This is the kind of game that truly deserves an HD port, not just because it would look absolutely phenomenal if upscaled like that, but because more people should play it. This should be a classic, but it's been relegated to obscurity.
Damn shame.
