Introduction

About three years ago, I tested a game for a website called Obscure 2. The hype was pretty strong about the first game in France and it had coop, so what could go wrong ?
After six hours of playing, I throw out the CD out of the window. My friend traumatised for life of survival-horror (in a bad way). Retard story, shitty gameplay, god awful save system, etc.

So today I want to know how an "ok" game could have sprouted such as shitty sequel.

Let's find out together ! Let's play Obscure !

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The game

ObsCure is a survival horror video game developed by Hydravision Entertainment and published by Microïds in 2004. It mocks the Teen Movie horror genre (ex: The Faculty) and each character you control is an stupid stereotype. The twist is that you manage two characters at once and each of them has a special ability. The other thing is that most of the monsters are fueled by Darkness, so you need to light them up before you can kill them.

The Plot

Very thin... but what did you expect ?
Five students must fight their way in through high school to stop horrible biological experiments. Like in any Teen Movie, anyone can die. So be careful.

The Characters

Like most of the French kids who grew up in the 90's, Hydravision developers consider shitty soaps like Saved by The Bell or Heartbreak High as their prime source on how schools work in USA (Heartbreak is Australian I know...). So don't expect any kind of veracity in the depiction of the US educational system. Oh and they seem to love South Park.


From left to right : Shannon, Kenny, Stan, Ashley and Josh

Shannon is the smart chick. She is Kenny's big sister. She provides tips on puzzles and heals more effectively (+20%).
Kenny is the jock. He is Ash's boyfriend. Unfortunately for him, he stayed a little too long playing basketball the night the game starts. He can sprint and it can be VERY useful.
Stan looks like Eminem. He is a stoner and a slacker. He can automatically pick locks.
Ashley is the angry black chick. When she uses a ranged weapon, she fires twice (and consumes twice ammo...).
Josh is a creepy journalist wannabe. He has a crush on Shannon. He can tell if there's anything left to do in an area, such as items to pick up, or locations that advance the storyline.

How can you participate ?

We quickly find four characters but I can only control two. So just tell me who I should pick up between each update. And we can always probably kill them arbitrary.
And of course if you feel like it, random contributions are always nice.

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This LP is done mostly in a blind fashion, so it's possible I miss stuff and die a lot.

Videos

Prologue	blip.tv
After Class	blip.tv
Looking for Senor Friedman	blip.tv
Library of DOOM	blip.tv
Cantina del infernio	blip.tv
Jabba (and basement adventures)	blip.tv
Dormitory of Death	blip.tv
Le Grand Final	blip.tv

Time to enter the next level !

The game

Wikipedia says:

ObsCure II is a survival horror video game developed by Hydravision Entertainment and published by Playlogic Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Wii. It is the sequel to the 2004 video game ObsCure. The game was released on September 7, 2007 in Europe, March 25, 2008 under the name ObsCure: The Aftermath[1] in North America and June 12, 2008 in Australia. Later in 2009, Playlogic announced a PSP version and the same was released on September 29, 2009[2].

I wrote (because I was willing to test it) :

Obscure II is obviously disappointing. Hydravison's saga turn from the status of intriguing to boring. All the good features introduced in the first episode were thrown in the trash bin in favour of a more classic and conventional game. Unfortunately, even the still existing cooperative two players game become frustrating, thanks to the colossal difficulty created by confusing checkpoints and unforgiving camera angles. The impossibility to choose (or sacrifice) your character weaken the gameplay even more. Still, the soul of the game tends to be enjoyable with a fantastic soundtrack and a entertaining plot matching the worst b-movies of your youth.

And I was feeling generous this day...

The plot

Crazy immortal headmaster makes experiments on students to cure his monster brother.
Students dissapear, monsters appear.
Students look for dissapeared student.
Students kill monsters. Students get infected with monster plant.
Crazy teacher kills Crazy headmaster.
Monster bro kills Crazy teacher.
Students kills monster bro.

*******

Two years later, the students enter College: shitstorm follows.


The Characters



SHANNON MATTHEWS - One of the survivors of Leafmore High. Her new dark
personality was caused due to Herbert Friedman's experiments. Unlike Stan and
Kenny she was able to adapt the experiments done to her. She now possesses the
ability to suck Black Aura into her body.

STANLEY "STAN" JONES - Another survivor of Leafmore High. After the events at
Leafmore, Stan caused a lot of problems and went to prison, but now he works
as a delivery boy. Unlike Shannon, he needs medication to cope with the
experiments. His ability is Lock-picking.

SVEN HANSEN - Sven Hansen was born in Norway but migrated soon to the US. He
is fanatic to his country's sports such as Golf and Hockey. His ability is
Strength.

KENNY MATTHEWS - Older brother of Shannon who also survived the events at
Leafmore High. After the events at Leafmore, he went to the university of
Fallcreek with his sister. His ability is Strength.

MEI WANG* - Twin sister to Jun. She is a beautiful Asian girl that is
currently in love with Corey, but is also obsessed with videos games like her
twin sister. Her ability is Hacking.

JUN WANG& - Twin sister to Mei. She is a true gamer chick who loves to play
games with Mei.

AMY BROOKES - Amy is a young smart blonde girl. She is aware that Sven and
Kenny are interested in her. Her ability is Decrypting.

COREY WILDE - A skater who is no stranger to pain. When Corey was younger, he
used to climb a lot and break his bones but now he is used to the pain and can
climb just about anything. He is close to Mei and obsessed with his car. His
ability is Acrobatics, mostly climbing and traversing heights.

Videos

PARTY HARD	Viddler	blip.tv
ἄλφα & ὦ -	Viddler	blip.tv
Dead Nems	Viddler	blip.tv
T N T	Viddler	blip.tv
Kenny is a dick	Viddler	blip.tv
Valhalla Rising	Viddler	blip.tv
Last house on the right	Viddler	blip.tv
The end (?)	Viddler	blip.tv
Stupidity's End	Viddler	blip.tv