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Pogi's Horror Review: Cursed Mountain
15 years ago
General
as usual, there are spoilers, if you don't want the plot ruined please don't continue reading. Foul language ahead, I don't have much good to say about this game.
Cursed Mountain
This is one of those obscure horror games released for Wii, in the same sense as Juon: Haunted House Simulator and "The Calling", but not some weird first person view like those games, like being perpetually in the apartment from Silent Hill 4: The Room.
That doesn't make this game any less of a "meh" title. I first heard about it sometime ago, and people said it was a promising title. as usual it's release snuck up on me and I never noticed till I found a used copy at Gamestop. It's made by Deep Silver, and the fact that I have never heard of them before probably should have said something. Not to mention that no one talked about it again after it's release.
Setting
Let's start with the setting. You play as Eric Simmons, a world renowned mountain climber who's looking for his lost brother, Frank Simmons, who's also a world renowned mountain climber. Let's ignore the fact that Eric is American, Frank is British, and there's like 20 years age difference between them, because they're brothers. c.c
The mountain your climbing is called Chomolonzo, or something like that, in the himalayas. if you think that's a hard name to pronounce, get used to it, it's not the only hard name to pronounce here.
Characters
Aside from Eric and Frank, there are also Paul, a mountain guide, and Bennet, the one who had organized Frank's expedition. These are the only english names in the entire game. Everything else is a very long and complex buddhist name that you'll never remember and never be able to pronounce, so to make things simple, let's refer to the other characters as the Shaman, the shaman's assistant, the monk, and the other monk. Then their is the goddess. The towns are very stereotypical, their populations full of superstitious buddhists obsessed with ritual. It doesn't help that a lot of these rituals seem to involve debauchery or some form of blood sacrifice, so it doesn't really portray buddhism in a good light.
But let's back track for a second and talk about Frank: Frank is an asshole. You really have no sympathy for this character, and it baffled me as to why Eric goes to so much trouble for him. As you play through the game you get to figure out how Frank is selfish, deceitful, a glory hound, and self-righteous, not to mention he rapes somebody in a 'tantric ritual' that appears to be the game's shallow attempt at being edgy.
Graphics
Cut scenes. There aren't any. Not any full motion CGi ones anyway. you either get lousy stills like a photo slideshow, or in game footage. The only thing these slideshows do that are somewhat interesting is how they would show disjointed images in 'visions' or 'flashbacks' that would make you think certain things happen, that get cleared up by the story as it goes along. And speaking of in game graphics... they're okay. not good or great, not bad or terrible, just okay. Then again the ant-sized text is usually a clue that the game was meant for hi-def (on a non hi-def system, will never understand that) and I'm using a standard definition TV. so take that as you will For a horror game the original area you start in, the city, does good for atmosphere, the narrow alleys and the spooky lighting and sounds making you feel like something could jump out at you at any minute. Later on in the game when you're actually climbing the mountain, you really get a sense of scale for this thing... because you end up spending a LOT of time climbing. That mountain is huge. But not in a good way. it's not very engaging on the way up, you find yourself asking the game "are we there yet?" during that final climb to the summit.
Combat
We're going to have a lot to say about combat. Firstly, let's start with the simple stuff: character movement. It makes sense that Eric looks old, because he moves like he has a walker. You can press Z to jog, but he doesn't move much faster, and it certainly doesn't help your patience any when you're climbing that mountain. BTW, for a mountain and ice climber who is so good, it is kind of strange that he shows up to climb this mountain with no gear. Sure he has a backpack, but all he has in his inventory is a tape recorder to record his journal. You have to find the rest of the gear as you go along. Another weird thing, BTW, is how they give you like 10 inventory slots but you're only ever carrying no more than 2 or 3 things.
Anyway, the first thing you find is your brother's ice axe, which apparently is blessed. Let's not ask how Frank's Ice Axe got in a city at the foothills of the mountain, and blessed no less, because the explanation the game gives you makes no sense and only adds to the confusion. This is your one and only weapon against the ghosts and demons ahead. By pressing B, you can swing the Axe in a melee strike. Then you find "incense sticks" which the game explains are used for healing. Let's stop and talk about healing for a bit, because healing in this game sucks. There's only one way to really heal: using an incense stick at an altar. I guess it calms the nerves and relaxes you and that's how you heal, I don't know and don't really care, I just hate having like a sliver of health and no damn altar to light my incense at. Why can't I just light it right here and stick it up my nose? Resident Evil and Silent Hill both give you means to heal whenever you need it, but anyway, moving on.
After you meet your first ghost you get taught how to heal at an altar, as well as taught how to use the "third eye", a buddhist technique that more than likely takes years, if not lifetimes of dedication and meditation in real life, but Eric learns it in a minute because the monk teaching you says " Everyone can do it". Again, this game shits on buddhism. But anyway, the third eye adds a lot to combat, just press and hold C to use it. When using the third eye, you can fire spiritual energy from your blessed ice axe to harm your enemies. Different mystical attachments to the axe changes what the spiritual attack does, and allows you to interchange them as necessary later on. The spiritual energy needs recharging from time to time, so you can't do nonstop fire. BTW, while you're using the third eye, you can't move. It's like Resident Evil, except at this point no one likes the "stop to shoot" idea anymore. Cursed Mountain should have known better. The third eye also allows you to see ghosts a little better, as they're ethereal and usually cloaked in a cloud of smoke. though later on when you're high in the mountains with driving snow in your face, you're most times so blind you can't see the ghosts until they're right on top of you, even with the third eye. Which sucks, BTW. You can see places that are possessed by evil with the Third Eye as well, and use a ritual by clicking on the evil core followed by on screen waggle controls. If you harm an enemy enough their core will glow as well, and you can purify it in the same way resulting in the enemy being instantly defeated, and restoring a small portion of your health. Enemies defeated this way also cause other ghosts to stumble slightly, giving you some breathing room. If you hit an enemy enough times it will die anyway, but without these benefits. The problem is that the waggle is extremely finnicky, and often times it won't accept your input and the ritual fails. You may figure this is no big deal, just beat on them till they die and don't get hit, but later on as the enemies get more powerful and more aggressive it becomes where pretty much the ritual is the ONLY way to defeat a ghost. and it is the only way to defeat boss demons. Needless to say this adds a lot to the frustration. I don't know what it is about small 3rd party companies that like to add a shit ton of waggle that doesn't work.
PLot
After a short and boring segment where you play as Frank, you get to be Eric. You start out in a city, looking for Bennet who might have a clue of Frank's whereabouts. You quickly realize this city is abandoned and haunted, and after you get your weapons and a small lesson in the third eye, you find bennet, who ditches you, and make your way to a town to the north to speak to the shaman, who will hopefully be of more help. Instead she tries to kill you. so far people aren't too nice, huh? fight your way out, then you go to a temple, where you meet the monk again, and he has you do essentially a bunch of pointless actions that were probably thrown in just to add length to the game and more frustration. Then it's on to an even bigger temple, and to the other monk, because the first monk didn't feel like telling you everything. the other monk tells you to find your brother's soul in the 'bardo' which apparently is basically pergatory. so you go through this dream world that looks like places you've visited all twisted and weird. You don't find your brother's soul there, though, so again, more pointless actions. On your way to base camp, you fall down a ice ravine, and find a walkie talkie, at which point Paul helps you find your way out. It's strange that paul knows exactly where you are and what you see, something that even Eric takes note of in the game. and Paul isn't some mystic, he's just a regular joe, which makes it even more confusing. You make your way to the base of the mountain (which is higher apparently, I'm confused.) and you learn from Paul that your brother had disrespected the people's rituals and the mountain goddess raping the shaman's assistant who was supposed to be aiding him in performing the rituals, thus causing the land to be cursed. Told you he was an asshat. Then bennet shows up and turns into a demon, which makes no sense, and kills paul and fights you. He had hired Frank to get an ancient and powerful artifact from the mountain, but once Frank found it rather than coming back down he went all the way to the summit, angering the goddess even more. you kill bennet, then make the long, arduous and time consuming trek to the peak, fighting ghosts all along the way. then you fight the goddess to free your brother's soul, you win, and she tells you "the curse is lifted, go in peace." Thanks lady, fuck you too.Of course after going through all that shit for your bro, the asshat DIES. dammit.you leave the artifact with his corpse because the world "isn't ready for it's power". and climb back down. game over. Bad, cheesey dialogue, confusing, pointless plot, It's like the game's story was written by Stephenie Meyer. Much of what you find out isn't even from in game dialogue or action, so much as journals you find throughout. Which I guess I can't really complain about, Resident Evil does that all the time and it works for them.
It was 8 hours straight through, which is a lot for a supposed horror game, but the mountain climbing parts artificially inflated the game time, not to mention particular areas of frustration where the game's shit controls and sluggish movement made things take longer. I paid 18$ for it used, and I felt I got overcharged. 15$ might be okay, but I've paid less than that for much better games than this. (RE1 for Gamecube, 12$ used) If you want a mountain climbing simulator that stresses the arduousness of the task, this game gives you that plus ghosts! If you're looking for the niche horror game this was supposed to be... you're better off looking at Juon: Haunted House Simulator or The Calling.
Cursed Mountain
This is one of those obscure horror games released for Wii, in the same sense as Juon: Haunted House Simulator and "The Calling", but not some weird first person view like those games, like being perpetually in the apartment from Silent Hill 4: The Room.
That doesn't make this game any less of a "meh" title. I first heard about it sometime ago, and people said it was a promising title. as usual it's release snuck up on me and I never noticed till I found a used copy at Gamestop. It's made by Deep Silver, and the fact that I have never heard of them before probably should have said something. Not to mention that no one talked about it again after it's release.
Setting
Let's start with the setting. You play as Eric Simmons, a world renowned mountain climber who's looking for his lost brother, Frank Simmons, who's also a world renowned mountain climber. Let's ignore the fact that Eric is American, Frank is British, and there's like 20 years age difference between them, because they're brothers. c.c
The mountain your climbing is called Chomolonzo, or something like that, in the himalayas. if you think that's a hard name to pronounce, get used to it, it's not the only hard name to pronounce here.
Characters
Aside from Eric and Frank, there are also Paul, a mountain guide, and Bennet, the one who had organized Frank's expedition. These are the only english names in the entire game. Everything else is a very long and complex buddhist name that you'll never remember and never be able to pronounce, so to make things simple, let's refer to the other characters as the Shaman, the shaman's assistant, the monk, and the other monk. Then their is the goddess. The towns are very stereotypical, their populations full of superstitious buddhists obsessed with ritual. It doesn't help that a lot of these rituals seem to involve debauchery or some form of blood sacrifice, so it doesn't really portray buddhism in a good light.
But let's back track for a second and talk about Frank: Frank is an asshole. You really have no sympathy for this character, and it baffled me as to why Eric goes to so much trouble for him. As you play through the game you get to figure out how Frank is selfish, deceitful, a glory hound, and self-righteous, not to mention he rapes somebody in a 'tantric ritual' that appears to be the game's shallow attempt at being edgy.
Graphics
Cut scenes. There aren't any. Not any full motion CGi ones anyway. you either get lousy stills like a photo slideshow, or in game footage. The only thing these slideshows do that are somewhat interesting is how they would show disjointed images in 'visions' or 'flashbacks' that would make you think certain things happen, that get cleared up by the story as it goes along. And speaking of in game graphics... they're okay. not good or great, not bad or terrible, just okay. Then again the ant-sized text is usually a clue that the game was meant for hi-def (on a non hi-def system, will never understand that) and I'm using a standard definition TV. so take that as you will For a horror game the original area you start in, the city, does good for atmosphere, the narrow alleys and the spooky lighting and sounds making you feel like something could jump out at you at any minute. Later on in the game when you're actually climbing the mountain, you really get a sense of scale for this thing... because you end up spending a LOT of time climbing. That mountain is huge. But not in a good way. it's not very engaging on the way up, you find yourself asking the game "are we there yet?" during that final climb to the summit.
Combat
We're going to have a lot to say about combat. Firstly, let's start with the simple stuff: character movement. It makes sense that Eric looks old, because he moves like he has a walker. You can press Z to jog, but he doesn't move much faster, and it certainly doesn't help your patience any when you're climbing that mountain. BTW, for a mountain and ice climber who is so good, it is kind of strange that he shows up to climb this mountain with no gear. Sure he has a backpack, but all he has in his inventory is a tape recorder to record his journal. You have to find the rest of the gear as you go along. Another weird thing, BTW, is how they give you like 10 inventory slots but you're only ever carrying no more than 2 or 3 things.
Anyway, the first thing you find is your brother's ice axe, which apparently is blessed. Let's not ask how Frank's Ice Axe got in a city at the foothills of the mountain, and blessed no less, because the explanation the game gives you makes no sense and only adds to the confusion. This is your one and only weapon against the ghosts and demons ahead. By pressing B, you can swing the Axe in a melee strike. Then you find "incense sticks" which the game explains are used for healing. Let's stop and talk about healing for a bit, because healing in this game sucks. There's only one way to really heal: using an incense stick at an altar. I guess it calms the nerves and relaxes you and that's how you heal, I don't know and don't really care, I just hate having like a sliver of health and no damn altar to light my incense at. Why can't I just light it right here and stick it up my nose? Resident Evil and Silent Hill both give you means to heal whenever you need it, but anyway, moving on.
After you meet your first ghost you get taught how to heal at an altar, as well as taught how to use the "third eye", a buddhist technique that more than likely takes years, if not lifetimes of dedication and meditation in real life, but Eric learns it in a minute because the monk teaching you says " Everyone can do it". Again, this game shits on buddhism. But anyway, the third eye adds a lot to combat, just press and hold C to use it. When using the third eye, you can fire spiritual energy from your blessed ice axe to harm your enemies. Different mystical attachments to the axe changes what the spiritual attack does, and allows you to interchange them as necessary later on. The spiritual energy needs recharging from time to time, so you can't do nonstop fire. BTW, while you're using the third eye, you can't move. It's like Resident Evil, except at this point no one likes the "stop to shoot" idea anymore. Cursed Mountain should have known better. The third eye also allows you to see ghosts a little better, as they're ethereal and usually cloaked in a cloud of smoke. though later on when you're high in the mountains with driving snow in your face, you're most times so blind you can't see the ghosts until they're right on top of you, even with the third eye. Which sucks, BTW. You can see places that are possessed by evil with the Third Eye as well, and use a ritual by clicking on the evil core followed by on screen waggle controls. If you harm an enemy enough their core will glow as well, and you can purify it in the same way resulting in the enemy being instantly defeated, and restoring a small portion of your health. Enemies defeated this way also cause other ghosts to stumble slightly, giving you some breathing room. If you hit an enemy enough times it will die anyway, but without these benefits. The problem is that the waggle is extremely finnicky, and often times it won't accept your input and the ritual fails. You may figure this is no big deal, just beat on them till they die and don't get hit, but later on as the enemies get more powerful and more aggressive it becomes where pretty much the ritual is the ONLY way to defeat a ghost. and it is the only way to defeat boss demons. Needless to say this adds a lot to the frustration. I don't know what it is about small 3rd party companies that like to add a shit ton of waggle that doesn't work.
PLot
After a short and boring segment where you play as Frank, you get to be Eric. You start out in a city, looking for Bennet who might have a clue of Frank's whereabouts. You quickly realize this city is abandoned and haunted, and after you get your weapons and a small lesson in the third eye, you find bennet, who ditches you, and make your way to a town to the north to speak to the shaman, who will hopefully be of more help. Instead she tries to kill you. so far people aren't too nice, huh? fight your way out, then you go to a temple, where you meet the monk again, and he has you do essentially a bunch of pointless actions that were probably thrown in just to add length to the game and more frustration. Then it's on to an even bigger temple, and to the other monk, because the first monk didn't feel like telling you everything. the other monk tells you to find your brother's soul in the 'bardo' which apparently is basically pergatory. so you go through this dream world that looks like places you've visited all twisted and weird. You don't find your brother's soul there, though, so again, more pointless actions. On your way to base camp, you fall down a ice ravine, and find a walkie talkie, at which point Paul helps you find your way out. It's strange that paul knows exactly where you are and what you see, something that even Eric takes note of in the game. and Paul isn't some mystic, he's just a regular joe, which makes it even more confusing. You make your way to the base of the mountain (which is higher apparently, I'm confused.) and you learn from Paul that your brother had disrespected the people's rituals and the mountain goddess raping the shaman's assistant who was supposed to be aiding him in performing the rituals, thus causing the land to be cursed. Told you he was an asshat. Then bennet shows up and turns into a demon, which makes no sense, and kills paul and fights you. He had hired Frank to get an ancient and powerful artifact from the mountain, but once Frank found it rather than coming back down he went all the way to the summit, angering the goddess even more. you kill bennet, then make the long, arduous and time consuming trek to the peak, fighting ghosts all along the way. then you fight the goddess to free your brother's soul, you win, and she tells you "the curse is lifted, go in peace." Thanks lady, fuck you too.Of course after going through all that shit for your bro, the asshat DIES. dammit.you leave the artifact with his corpse because the world "isn't ready for it's power". and climb back down. game over. Bad, cheesey dialogue, confusing, pointless plot, It's like the game's story was written by Stephenie Meyer. Much of what you find out isn't even from in game dialogue or action, so much as journals you find throughout. Which I guess I can't really complain about, Resident Evil does that all the time and it works for them.
It was 8 hours straight through, which is a lot for a supposed horror game, but the mountain climbing parts artificially inflated the game time, not to mention particular areas of frustration where the game's shit controls and sluggish movement made things take longer. I paid 18$ for it used, and I felt I got overcharged. 15$ might be okay, but I've paid less than that for much better games than this. (RE1 for Gamecube, 12$ used) If you want a mountain climbing simulator that stresses the arduousness of the task, this game gives you that plus ghosts! If you're looking for the niche horror game this was supposed to be... you're better off looking at Juon: Haunted House Simulator or The Calling.
