If you like exploring on a creepy mountain while fighting off ghosts, this game is for you!
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It's time for the Cursed Mountain review! For the Wii!
Oh, well now, isn't that picture lovely? (Link at the top!) :) I wanted to review this game because for one, I haven't reviewed an M rated game in a while, and two, I thought I'd have a good time with it. So, let's find out.
This game is about Eric Simmons, a well renowned mountain climber who has gone looking for his younger brother Frank, on a mountain in the Himalayas named Chomolonzo, which monks have claimed to be, "The Sacred One." As Eric arrives at a town near the mountain, he discovers that everyone has deserted the place. The reason? Ghosts. So now your journey begins.
This is a survival-horror game. As you proceed through each area of the mountain, you will have to fight off ghosts. To do this, you'll have to perform melee attacks with your pick axe, but you only have to do this in the beginning of the game. It won't be long until you learn to use your third eye which allows you to see the ghosts more clearly, and shoot energy at them from weapons you will find along the way to, ahem, "kill" them. When you damage a ghost enough, a symbol will appear on it to which you can point at and press A. When you do so, one, or multiple gestures of the Wiimote and/or Nunchuck will appear on the screen. Performing these gestures correctly within a small time limit will not only kill the ghost, but will also add a small portion of health to you.
Speaking of health, incense shrines will be scattered throughout the game. These shrines can restore your health quite a bit, provided you have incense sticks with you. One stick will not heal you all the way if you're really low on health, so don't neglect any if you find them. Actually, isn't that just as important in virtually every game? You can find incense sticks in breakable pots and killed off ghosts.
Killing off ghosts and surviving is one aspect of this game, but the other is just about exploring and trying to find your way. This is a slow game. For those of you who need high-paced action in your games, this one is not for you! However, if you're looking for a change of pace, and like exploring, then this is a game for you!
I wouldn't say this is a scary game, but more creepy than anything else. The environments throughout will send a chill up your spine, but that's about it. If you're looking for a scary game, you'll have to look somewhere else. Now there will be moments where you'll probably jump back and get startled, but I'm going to guess for most people, the most you'll get is a shot of adrenaline piercing your heart.
Throughout the game, you'll find MANY pieces of writing! From notes about the mountain itself, to pages from Frank's diary, there is a lot to read! Now, you don't HAVE to read any of it if you don't want to, but I think it makes the game more enjoyable! There was one annoying thing about reading the notes though, and that is the font of the letters is too small! Well, it is easier to read them on a bigger TV, but I played most of this game on a smaller one and it was usually pretty annoying trying to make out the script.
Another annoying thing was that Eric moves just too slow! Now I know, he's carrying climbers gear, but still, I don't think it would have killed him to move just a bit faster; that's the ghost's job. However, I did notice one little aspect that I did appreciate. Now in a lot of games that I've played, I would notice that the characters would walk or run up a flight of stairs abnormally faster than they should be. Link in The Legend of Zelda is a great example of this.
However, in this game, the developers decided to be realistic and have Eric move slower when he's ascending stairs. I thought this was a nice realistic feature.
The graphics are pretty good overall, however in some places it just feels like the developers were being lazy. It's not a huge issue, but, you know. The look of this game actually reminded me of The Lord of The Rings: The Third Age, only a little less in quality.
The controls were pretty good, when you were walking around. When it came to performing the gestures to kill of the ghosts though, the motion controls would not read my movements correctly every time. Now when you only had to perform slashing movements, it usually worked just fine. It usually didn't work fine however when you had to perform forward thrusts. I really wish the developers fine tuned these controls, because when they would work the first time, it was really fun!
Another annoying problem with the controls, was when you wanted to walk backwards. You would have to press down on the analog stick just right without any direction towards the right or left. Not a huge problem, but annoying nonetheless.
The main problem with the controls was when you slipped while climbing up a ledge. You're supposed to slash down with the Wiimote to catch the wall, but the sensors would not read it correctly a lot of the times and then you would die. Fortunately, there are quite a bit of auto-save points throughout, but it's still very annoying!
And adding to the annoyingness, there were a couple of glitches I ran into. They were one, the game froze up on me once, and two, I fell off a ledge that wasn't programmed for me to fall off of, and then I just fell and fell and fell, without the game realizing that I wasn't supposed to be here. So I just had to restart. Like I said, the auto-save points really saved the day, but it's still annoying.
Throughout the game, you will acquire new weapons and upgrades for those weapons to kill off the ghosts with, such as a spread shot and an energy tether thing which can grab the ghosts for a fast kill.
This game was very fun and kind of addictive, but after playing it for hours, it gets a bit predictable. You could sometimes tell when ghosts would pop out at you. Oh and also, fighting them isn't really that hard. The only way it would become difficult, is if there were about three or more attacking you. Other than that, combat was just a little too easy.
The boss battles were few, but fun nonetheless, because they were usually a challenge! But, like I just said, there just weren't enough of them.
Cursed Mountain is a good game, and can be quite fun to the right people! Pretty good graphics and controls, a creepy atmosphere throughout the whole game, when the motion sensors work correctly, the combat is really fun, a really good story, and the price was only $10! Now, well, this game has been out for some time, but still! $10 for a new copy? This game is definitely worth that price!
However, the downsides were one, some of the environments looked like they could have been worked on more, the motion controls wouldn't work the first time frequently, the game can become somewhat predictable, and the combat was usually too easy.
But still, I really had fun with this game! Now remember, this is not a game for everyone. If you don't like exploring and just need action right away, you'll most likely want to stay away from this game. But if you like these kinds of games, you should definitely try this one out!
This game gets a 3.75/5 with the title of Awesome!
Ratings:
0=COMPLETE AND ULTIMATE FAIL!!!!!
.25-.75=Total Crap!
1-1.5 = Horrible!
1.75-2.5=Bad
2.75-3.5=Good
3.75-4.25=Awesome!
4.5-4.75=EPIC!!!
5=MONUMENTALLY AND SUPREMELY PERFECT!!!!!