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Curse: The Eye of Isis
by Jolex Del Pilar
Wednesday, December 17 2003
Though Curse may look like Resident Evil, it's actually a little more well-thought out, if not slower paced.
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Title:
Curse: The Eye of Isis
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Platform:
Xbox
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Publisher:
Dreamcatcher Games |
Developer:
Wanadoo |
#
of Players: 1 |
Genre:
Action/Horror
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Origin:
Europe
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Expected
Release:
December 2003 |
Grapevine:
Instead of a mansion within the wilderness, this time you must navigate the Museum of Great Britain. |
Resident Evil started a trend when it was originally released on the Playstation in 1995. It popularized a new sub-genre within gaming appropriately called action/horror. Though Alone in the Dark preceded it on the PC in 1992, Resident Evil was the first to truly expose the genre to the masses.
Now it's 2004, and many have treaded where Resident Evil have before including luminaries such as Eternal Darkness, Shadowman, and, Dino Crisis. The newest entry into this ever growing collection of action/horror games is an interesting title from Wanadoo called Curse: The Eye of Isis.
The subplot to this game is not exactly unique, though it isn't outright plagiarized. Instead of a mansion within the wilderness, this time you must navigate the Museum of Great Britain. You play the game as either one of two characters, Darien or Victoria. At the beginning, Darien tries to meet up with Victoria at the museum to preview the new Eye of Isis exhibit, unfortunately, thieves during the night tamper with the exhibit and unleash a curse upon the whole building. Darien eventually finds out early on that the curse is somehow linked to him and his father, and it's up to Darien and Victoria to help reverse the curse and lock away the evil released by it forever.
Curiously enough, Curse features a very similar menu system to the Resident Evil series of gaming. You collect things like weapons, including guns and the limited ammo available for them. You also come upon letters, and diary entries that help illuminate the solution to reversing the curse, as well as to the whereabouts of the patrons of the museum who were affected by the curse. Though the gameplay is solid enough for our standards, there was a certain "I've seen this before feeling" that permeated throughout the game during our review. Curse doesn't push innovation, though few games actually do.
One thing about the game that will be noticable after a few hours of play is that Curse is markedly slower paced than other games of the genre. In Resident Evil, the thrills and chills if you will, were a dime a dozen. In Curse, the evil encounters happen at a much slower, and spaced out pace. Though this does give the gamer a lot more time to concentrate on solving puzzles, it seems at some points that Curse is plagued by uncomfortable spots of boredom as you move your character from room to room looking for the door, key, lever, or switch that will allow progress. Though we weren't expecting Devil May Cry, something to break the monotony would've been a welcome sight. Again this illustrates how important the pacing within a game is.
There are a few aspects where Curse actually surpasses Resident Evil, and that is in its control mechanics and its slightly cleaner camera "track" system, as opposed to the wall camera system of Resident Evil. The Camera in Curse seems to run along a track that traces through the entire museum, room to room, meaning that you won't get stuck in (as many) annoying situations where you won't be able to view your enemy as it tries to end your existance. The control mechanics are also slightly cleaner than in Resident Evil. The movement is less jerky, and the transition from shooting to running is a lot more smooth, which helps in the (few) situations you will be forced to use your guns.
Curse was originally released on the PC earlier in 2003, and it seems the transition from the PC to the Xbox has done the game quite a bit of good. Curse always seemed like a console game in the first place. However, with the competition on the consoles as tough as it is, distinguishing a title from another is a difficult task and Curse, for all its positives, is still a game that integrates many game aspects from previously successful games, failing to innovate much itself. Though it is solid, don't expect anything beyond what you've already seen in the genre that past couple of years.
--- Jolex Del Pilar
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