[The third of a multi-part series devoted to horror games on the Wii and the films that inspire them.]
Report
Developers: Sproing, Deep Silver Vienna
Price: $10
Rating: M
Release: August 25, 2009
Sales: 141,000
Recap
Impetuous mountain climber Frank Simmons disappeared while searching for a Buddhist relic hidden on the sacred mountain Chomolonzo, leaving his equally-skilled brother Eric to scale the mountain in pursuit of Frank. What Eric doesn't realize is that the peak holds a Goddess whose mystical energies keep the souls of monks and climbers trapped in our plane. If he wants to find his brother, he'll have to both fight ghostly enemies and avoid the mountain's natural threats: avalanches, depleted oxygen, hypothermia...
The game makes the most of Wii's graphical abilities.
Review
Cursed Mountain plays in the tradition of survival horror while ignoring the more titillating side of the genre. Instead of big guns, you have a pickax equipped with mystical attachments. Instead of medical kits or mixed herbs, you meditate with incense sticks. Instead of bloody mutants, you battle grey spirits. The reverence for Buddhist mythology and folklore inspires, and the game offers plenty of accurate details (there's a real Chomolonzo mountain in Tibet). Yes, the overall blueprint is familiar, but the differences accumulate into a truly unique presentation. Much of Cursed Mountain is about its attitude toward horror. Words like classy, eerie, mature, and admirable come to mind.
However (God, I hate that word), Cursed Mountain flubs a lot of details, both small (hard-to-read on-screen text) and significant (problematic motion control*). The biggest flaw: I never sensed the danger of mountain climbing. The game includes pre-ordained slip-ups, but, excluding a few moments, there's no real feeling of precariousness. No feeling that I could slip on ice and fall to my death, or that my pickax could hit a rock incorrectly and fly out of my grip. There's a natural tension to this game's situation that never completely materializes. Given the mode the game works in (linear, cinematic gameplay), this too-safe feeling may be unavoidable, but it mutes my appreciation for Cursed Mountain. The game's identity is both its greatest virtue...and a bit of a gimmick.
B-
This controller prompt appeared in my nightmares.
45% Kwaidan - Given the heavy Buddhist angle, it's hard to not think of Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan. That film (one of the great horror anthologies) featured two stories that evoke this game. "The Woman in the Snow" carries the same combination of death-by-cold and death-by-languishing-spirit. "Hoichi the Earless" features an ascetic contending with ghosts in a Buddhist temple, and many levels in the game feature the same trappings and eerie approach.
35% Pulse - The ghost, dark grey, moving with the deliberate speed of inevitability, strongly echo Kiyoshi Kurosawa's use of ghosts in the masterful Pulse. Even switching into the Bardo state produces a ghostly-looking world that resembles the muted browns and greys of Kurosawa's film.
15% Touching the Void - Granted, this isn't a horror film, but it's still one of the most terrifying films I've ever seen. Two climbers fall under attack from the weather, and one has to make the agonizing choice of whether or not to cut the rope that's keeping his friend from falling into a crevasse.
5% Onibaba - Because there are demons in this game that look a lot like the demon mask from Onibaba. Which is a good movie. If you're not busy playing video games, you should check it out.
*Apparently I'm not the only one frustrated by the controls. If you buy the game (and for $10, it's worth the purchase), control the vertical motions during the "Compassion Ritual" by holding the Wii controller directly up and punching forward.
Earlier Entries:
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition - A
Dead Space: Extraction - B
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