If it's true that everything eventually lives up to its name -- let's pause for a brief moment to remember the Edsel and Tila Tequila -- what then to make of Obscure: The Aftermath (Wii, PSP), the horror sequel to Obscure, a 2005 game that scarcely registered on the horror-game radar?

Guess you'd say it's well on its way, but not quite there yet.

I'm willing to wager there aren't many It's All Game readers who played through the first game, a sort of homage to The Faculty in which a bunch of horndog teens discovered that their high school principal was using a black-flowered plant to turn students into gooshy, light-fearing mutants in a quest to find a cure for his doomed twin brother.

I actually liked elements of the original game -- in particular the way that, if one of the teen teams got gobbled by the monsters, the action and control would shift to another one in a entirely different part of campus, who would then have to pick up the mystery. It was like any other game in which you had a certain limited number of lives -- except that in this case, each one of the lives had a name, a preconceived gender/racial stereotype, and stylish clothes. Sort of like all the shows on the CW.

Some of those teens survived Obscure, and they've moved to a nearby college (Seriously? You wouldn't move as far away as possible?). Obscure: The Aftermath keeps the swapping feature -- and the preconceived stereotypes -- intact. Again, each character has a certain handy skill: You've got beefy stud Kenny (move those heavy objects!), Corey, your limber skate punk (climb those walls!) and Mei, the Asian hacker chick (work that PDA!)

While they're all masters of dopey, sex-soaked dialogue and impeccable cool, none of them really reacts appropriately to the horror of their situation. Strolling through a frat-house where most of the pledges have been turned to hamburger or hulking, bulbous creatures ought to evince a little more than the occasional statement of fact or cry of surprise. I found myself thinking of and wishing for Cthuthu: Call of Darkness, which blurred your perception and hand-eye reactions when something spooked you out of your skin. And wouldn't you think that the survivors from the first game would have a few things to say about undergoing the same nightmare a second time? Especially when the new craze on campus is kids taking hits from a certain familiar black-petaled flower? Man, where's Final Destination's Ali Larter when you need her?

Maybe she's helping the developers fix the game's camera, which, as in so many games in this genre, is often scarier than the enemies. In the PSP version, it's especially bad: Not only is hard to line up your character's sights with objects you'll need to click on to get information, but lining up your bats, golf clubs and stun guns to take out creepy-crawlies is utter frustration. Horror is often about the terrified dread of not being able to see what's about to get you. Not being able to blast a monster because the camera angles, um, obscure your view? That's just annoying.

Word is that a third Obscure title may be in the works. Frankly, I'm not sure whether to be scared or hopeful.

Obscure: The Aftermath

Playlogic

(Wii, PSP)

Rated: Mature

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