by Jody - July 25, 2003

Like most fans of the survival horror genre, the thing we like most--aside from getting a good scare--is the survival aspect of the game. It�s always a treat attempting to get the hero out of a horrific situation and games such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil have more than made this craving a real joy. And now the third outing of the Clock Tower series has come to offer something a bit more different. Is this a game that takes gamers by the hand for a terrifying jaunt into the darkest corners of a world where the spirits of the wrong beg for release while the servants of evil pursue you? You better believe it.

Wow, this is quite impressive.

The Clock Tower series has never risen to the same popular status as many of the classic survival horror games but its small cult following has allowed for Capcom to present another trip into the supernatural. This one follows Alyssa Hamilton, a young English boarding school girl who receives a cryptic letter from her mother. Obviously worried about her mum, she heads back home only to find one of her mother�s boarders, a mysterious fellow known only as the Mysterious Gentleman. From there, the story takes several startling and supernatural twists that have Alyssa finding out her true calling . . . to battle murdering spirits in order to release the tormented souls of their victims. One thing gamers will notice right away is that the game does away with the health status bar and replaces it with a Panic Meter. When something appears that seems to frighten young Alyssa, the meter will fill. In her encounter with the first maniac, bringing down his sledgehammer down on Alyssa doesn�t hurt her but it does raise the meter. When the meter is full, Alyssa is in the ultimate state of panic. Suddenly her vision is distorted and she�s hyperventilating and hard to control. If she gets hit again during this time, she is as good as dead.

The game also has a few rough parts that show its ugly face early in the game and during boss battles. For one thing, the camera often becomes a bit troublesome since its position is often not in the best of places. Unfortunately you can�t fix the view when you want to check out that cabinet that is slightly obscured by the angle itself. Secondly, the boss battles turn into a sometimes tedious event, especially if you�re trying to shoot a Spirit Wood Arrow into them. The Panic Meter is gone during boss fights and is replaced by the standard vitality bar.

Without going too much into the details of the story--and might I add that the story itself is the game�s strongest element since it is well-craft and original--Alyssa�s search for her true nature and her mother takes her through different periods in time. The game begins in her modern time, setting the game in motion. Then, at one point, she finds herself in England of 1940 to solve the murder of a little girl who is a piano prodigy. During this stage, Alyssa must piece together a series of clues as to defeat the evil spirit that had slain her . . . in this case, the spirit of a crazed maniac wielding a giant sledgehammer.

The point-and-click interface of the first two Clock Tower games have been done away with, in favor of a more Capcom-ish style of play. Of course, that means, altering camera angles, and flimsy control schemes best suitable for...well, nothing. Picture the Devil May Cry control scheme -- where you move the analog stick in the direction your facing to move forward, but having it disorient you when the camera angle changes -- and now imagine that you're on the run from a homicidal maniac with pretty much nothing in which to protect yourself. Yeah.

The developers haven't gone very far to adorn the environments with rich atmosphere, and then throw some stupid-looking killers at the player doesn't help matters. Worse, the crazies who are after you are dumber than a box of rocks. Michael Myers can find anybody anywhere, and Jason Voorhees isn�t that shabby at that either. But the killers of Clock Tower 3? No such luck. We don't see any reason for Alyssa to be worried. Duck behind a half-transparent curtain when the killer is sticking to your behind, and he'll suddenly have no idea where you went. Hide behind some huge-ass fish aquarium, and watch him look you directly in the eyeballs, then turn around and leave the room. Ugh.

Admittedly though, there are a few hiding spots that are rather clever, though there isn't nearly enough of them, so you will find yourself in trouble more often than in past Clock Tower games. Also, killers tend to show up much too often, sometimes only a minute or so after getting rid of them, so be sure you know going into Clock Tower 3 that true exploration isn't an option.

Compared to Clock Tower 2, this makes Resident Evil 1 look like Silent Hill 2.

Visually, Clock Tower 3 doesn�t rise up to great heights like in Silent Hill 2 or the recent Resident Evil games seen on the Game Cube, but its still a visual treat nonetheless. You�ll be amazed how nicely detailed the environments in this game are featured and how lighting is done so perfectly at each dimly lit hallway will have you thinking that at any moment something dreadful will appear. The best visual trick in this game is when the Panic Meter is full. Alyssa�s vision is slightly distorted during full panic and you can see the full effect on the character herself down to rapid rising and falling of her chest and the disoriented look on her face. The animated cut scenes are also the best I�ve seen in a game for a long time and blend camera angles and lighting just as good.

All the eerieness

The sound found in this game is phenomenal and it sets the mood perfectly. The score is hauntingly cinematic and becomes intense during moments of panic or when the stalkers and spirits make their appearances. Then there is eerie silence as you make your way through building our outside. The sound effects in this game are also astonishingly detailed. Glass crunches underneath Alyssa as she moves through war-torn England during WWII and the ghost of a murdered little girl plays the piano that can be heard in the far distance. The voice acting is also top-notch.

This game scared me.

Capcom has added an element where you get to "save" spirits; putting the murderers' victims at peace. In past CT games, the main character was surrounded by victims who get picked off one-by-one, but in Clock Tower 3, dead bodies are just kind of strewn about the environments with a blocky, dumb-looking floaty thing that is supposed to pass for a ghost flying about. Upon saving these spirits, they will leave behind items that will help Alyssa stay alive longer.

Puzzles are fairly easy, and there are only a few places in which they require a lot of thought or backtracking, which is good, because in a game like this, it's integral to keep moving the story along. And not surprisingly, many of these puzzles contain some heavy Capcom influences.

Clock Tower 3 CANNOT be related to Clock Tower... it just cant!

I never really got into the Clock Tower series at all. I hated it so much. A few years ago, I bought Clock Tower for about $10. After playing for awhile, I ended up using it as a Frisbee. The game really sucked. A little bit later, Clock Tower 2 came out and I was not going to play it. I read a couple of reviews and it said that it blew, so I stood clear of it. One day I was at EB, and I saw it in the bargain bin for $2, so I decided to buy it just to see how much it sucked. Once I bought it, took it home and played it, I ended up breaking it also. It was a waste of my $2. I hated Clock Tower 2 just as much as I did the first � they both were not scary, they are stupid. Not too long later, Clock Tower 3 came out! I ran away. I was NOT going to even look at it, but somehow I ended up getting my friends to force me to play it. I have to say that I�m glad I played it, because Clock Tower 3 is A LOT different than any of the past games. Clock Tower 3 was actually scary and suspenseful, unlike it�s predecessors. If you hated the Clock Tower series, give Clock Tower 3 a try. If you somehow liked the series, I�m sure you will be quite impressed with how much better 3 is than the other ones.

Somehow, Clock Tower 3 is a really good game.

With a horrific story that will hook you right in to the very finish, Clock Tower 3 is a satisfying game albeit a short and sometimes flawed game. The controls, for instance, could have been handled a bit better during boss fights and other little things, but they are a big improvement from the last game. Survival horror fans -- or those gamers that like a disturbing, macabre story -- will find this game delivers the chills quite well.