cursed-mountain-150You might find this hard to believe, but Cursed Mountain is a survival horror game that doesn’t (well almost doesn’t) feature huge monsters, blood-dripping werewolves or terrifying zombies. The only consistent lot of enemies in this game are ghosts. Combine these ghosts with a mountain and Tibetan-Buddhism, and you’ve got yourself a rather unique survival horror game. So to find out if this unique game is as gloomy as a ghost or as rewarding as Tibetan-Buddhism, read on!

As previously mentioned, Cursed Mountain is all about a mountain, a specific religion and many ghosts. Players take control of a fearless mountain climber named Eric Simmons, a 30 year old who looks as if he could be eligible for the pension (it also doesn’t help that he walks and runs at snail’s pace either). The experienced high altitude climber is on a quest in the Himalayas to find his lost brother, Frank. The “renowned and good-looking” Frank – as the instruction manual states, was trapped by a goddess when she discovered that Edward Bennett (a name that you shouldn’t be familiar with) assigned Frank to retrieve a sacred artefact called the terma. The storyline is told by God of War-like cut scenes (less violence and more scares though), in-game cut scenes and also many diaries and recordings found by the player during the game.

Storyline aside, the gameplay along with the occasional scares are pretty standard and predictable. As Eric, players will move from location to location, fighting ghosts, upgrading their ice axe, finding items and talking to a few people who always seem to disappear straight after the conversation (not even NPCs have manners nowadays, what a world). The locations range from Buddhist temples to deserted towns – and of course, mountains. Within each area, players will mainly have to defeat a stack of ghosts – which moves us nicely along to the game’s fighting mechanics. The primary and only weapon in this game is the ice axe (one of the climbing items of Eric’s brother). The ice axe is the jack of all trades in Cursed Mountain; it hacks ghosts, stabs ghosts, shoots ghosts and pulls souls from ghosts. At this point many of you must be thinking, how can one ice axe do all of these magnificent things? Well, my good friends, this particular ice axe just happens to have an upgradable head on it. This adds some complexity to the fighting system as at certain times particular heads will need to be used on a particular enemy in order to defeat them. The only downside of this is that the ice axe is the only weapon in the game, and when you are overwhelmed by ghosts it is often about as useful as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. (I still have to get around to entering one of those… Ed.)

Prompted gimmicky Wii Remote gestures - oh the joys of being a Wii gamer.

Whilst on the topic of the ice axe, the controls must be addressed. The sad thing about Cursed Mountain is that the controls completely ruin the game. The developers (like many others who develop for the Wii) thought that motion controls would be a good idea, and while it may have sounded good on paper, it has been poorly executed in-game. The movement of Eric is fine, but it is during the fighting scenes where the controls make the game unenjoyable. With the ice axe, the player is often required to aim it at enemies using the motion sensor and then rip the souls from them by performing a series of movements with both Wii Remote and Nunchuk. These movements rarely register and often there are way too many actions required to defeat an enemy, an example of this being when players must thrust upwards, downwards, left and right with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and then repeat. Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it gives a rough idea of just how annoying the controls in this game can be. And then on top of this there are the unnecessary inclusions of the Wii Remote’s motion sensing capabilities, for example when climbing up mountains or repeatedly drawing invisible circles with the Wii Remote to apparently get in the right frame of mind (it’s a Buddhism thing). The controls really do undermine the quality of this game and at times make it absolutely unbearable to play.

Oh, and another thing you'll see a lot of in this game is ice. Lots and lots of ice.

Besides the fighting, there isn’t much else going on within Cursed Mountain. The most players will ever have to do is solve some very basic puzzles, such as rotating two pillars at the same time or finding a key to unlock a door. There also aren’t many people around, which may make some players feel a bit lonely and depressed, however it does conform to the game’s genre and adds to its distinct ‘survival’ feel.

On a lighter note, parts of the game’s visuals are very well done. The environments have been thoroughly detailed, and actually make the game stand out from other third-party Wii titles. During the game players will be able to witness beautiful mountain scenery, relatively accurate depictions of Buddhist temples and small mountain-side villages. The only downside with the game’s visuals is that not much effort has gone into anything else. The character models have been decently crafted, but some of the special effects and detail on environmental objects such as pots are very bland.

An example of the game's often stunning in-game scenery.

The sound in Cursed Mountain is typical of survival horror. The game essentially contains no music to enhance the scary atmosphere, meaning the only other sounds you’ll ever hear are from ghosts jumping out of nowhere screaming at you, and lots of windy noises when you are out on the mountain. The sound, like the graphics and storyline, is one of the better aspects of the game.

Cursed Mountain contains a well-written storyline, good graphics (in particular, stunning backgrounds) and atmospheric sound. However, as good as all of these elements are, the game is a complete mess due to the horrible control system that kicks in during the fighting sequences.

By Liam Doolan

Graphics: B+

If the rest of the games visuals were like the scenery, Cursed Mountain would be getting an A+ in this area.

Sound: A-

There isn’t much sound to judge this game on, but the sounds that are present are spot on and fit into the Tibetan Buddhism theme. Maybe the only problem in this department is the main character’s thick Scottish accent…

Gameplay: C+

The gameplay would have been fine if the developers (like many other developers out there) didn’t incorporate motion control gestures merely for their gimmick.

Overall: C+

As good as the sound and visuals are, the gameplay (and in particular the controls) unfortunately brings everything down.