Haunting Ground

It's a dog eat dog world for Logan Booker.

Survival horror? Love it. It’s one of the few genres that can effortlessly mix elements of action and adventure, usually bringing out the best in both. In fact, adding a new ingredient to the formula of this already damn near perfect creation, and making it work, would be a laudable achievement.

 Yet, if anyone could give it a go, and do it right, it would be Capcom, father to the Resident Evil series. Cue Haunting Ground. It’s quite a departure from the expected.

 The main character, Fiona, isn’t what you’d call a master of unlocking. Quite the opposite; your attractive 18-year old protagonist is completely at the mercy of her environment with her only means of attack being shoving, dodging and hiding. Struck with amnesia and lost in a sprawling castle, most of the game is spent uncovering your past, avoiding the chateau’s resident man beast and training a sprightly dog named Hewie.

 It is with Hewie that the core gameplay rests. Somehow, among the scares and shadows, Capcom has built in a basic Tamagotchi game mechanic.

 Using the right analog stick, you can order, placate or discipline your furry compatriot. The orders change depending on your situation. In combat for instance, you can direct Hewie to attack or back down. Depending on how well you treat Hewie, he’ll be more or less responsive to your commands.

 Sadly, this mechanic proves to be annoying. While the unreliable nature of Hewie’s relationship with the player can make for some tense moments, those moments quickly evolve into ones of frustration. It’s never clear if your order wasn’t heard or if it was ignored, making it hard to know when you should discipline Hewie or simply move closer to him. Although the game never gets as hairy as something like RE, the uncontrollable element introduced with Hewie detracts from the game as much as it adds. The little guy also has a habit of getting lost, which is fun, in the same way that glassing yourself with the shattered remains of your TV screen is fun.

 An awesome improvement is the use of special effects to refl ect Fiona’s state of mind. In an early part of the game there is blood smeared on a pillar. On seeing this, the controller vibrates and the screen blurs and starts to ‘pulse’. It’s interesting how this small addition improves the intensity of the game, and it is in this effect that most of the tension is developed. Otherwise, many of the scares are ineffectual and won’t bother the reasonably courageous.

 Haunting Ground is a noble attempt to evolve the genre, but it won’t satisfy the needs of the die-hard survival horror fan. It would serve as a good introduction to the genre for the less stalwart gamer.