Finaly, it comes to an end…

Only two more weeks left for this course, until this very moment, I found myself not only enjoy all the information earned in each lecture and tutorial, but rather in some kind of immersion. Me, myself have long history in interacting with video games. I still remember my first game console was a NES; it provided me with lots of fun. Anyway, just few days ago, I found a game which relates to almost 80% of the course materials and arguments. I am, proudly present you this master piece in surviving horror genre, Clock Tower.

In my opinion, this game has a lot of excellent features, but the one I am going to high light first is its countless amounts of possibilities. Some of them, through interaction, could ultimately change the ending. In the world of gaming, multiple endings seem like a quite common choice for the development team to include in their products, and of course, to hopefully increase the reply value significantly. Sometimes, the situation is never too simply in some given case; in the course readings, it was mentioned quite a few times about which ending is leaded by which given choice. It has something to do with the participant’s moral valuation in some games, such as in Condemned: Criminal Origins (2005) , at the last, the participant is forced by, or in a better description, is empowered by, agency, to choose from whether terminate the serial killer for justice and revenge, or simply arrest him. Back to Clock Tower, the ending of this game is no long as simple as others; the percipients have options all the way up to 7 choices; although all of them are oriented into two directions, whether the protagonist Jennifer is alive, or died, but what surprise me is how the consequences made by Jennifer’s decision, and to its extend the decision made by the participants, could change the destinies of certain characters. For example, in the case of choosing which character you want to save, Ann or Laura (just for additional information, the participant cannot save them both, because it is not allowed by the agency)? However, the decision which links to the “cross road” is not at the end, but through the progress of game playing. If in game, the participant triggers an event that kills one of them, then the other one lives, and so it is verse-vice. And if the events which kill both of them are trigged, then the participant will get the third ending. I heard, there are people who play hours after hours, but still cannot find all endings.

Previously, I mentioned there are seven endings in the game, but they are only the endings which count as completion, and which means if sudden deaths count as bad endings, then the total amount of ending in Clock Tower could easily rise up to a two digits number. Following are some examples of sudden deaths. At the beginning of the game, there is a mirror in the host room, however, if Jennifer does not have enough health, then without doubt, she is going to die because of the hands come out the mirror trying to strangle her. Late in the game, as Jennifer enters a bathroom, if she locks the door for the purpose of self protection from the evil scissorist, the participant will be shocked when the scissorist jumps out nowhere, and kills Jennifer in her escaping, because she locks the door earlier and now resulting in time deficiency at unlocking the door. There is also consistency involved in such situation. Somehow, once Jennifer gets caught, and then threw into a cage along with a starving man, if the participant does not take the ham from kitchen, then Jennifer will be eaten alive as food, but if the participant dose has the ham, for exchange, the man will gives Jennifer some extreme valuable information. So in one sentence, death or alive, it is your hand. Choose carefully, otherwise you the participant will regret later.  

So who is this Jennifer? And how is she relating to the narrative? Jennifer is 14 years old girl, who lost both his parents and then ends up at the orphanage along with her friends, Lotte, Ann and Laura. Yes, we have seen some female protagonists in other video games, and yes, we have seen female protagonists in other survival horror games, such as Clair Redfield in Resident Evil franchise, but never the less, this kind of helpless and defenseless. In game, she doesn’t have anything to provide aggressive defending, not even a kitchen knife. There only thing she can do, or the only thing the agency allows the participant to do, is just run and hide. The player must always pay attention to where is she going, because it could be a dead end, the road and Jennifer’s life. This definitely helps player with their affective immersion. The participant must think as both the protagonist Jennifer and the scissor midget, in order to get away fast and spot the potential danger (This son of bitch always his ways to stunt; if hiding inside a box is such a cliché, then how about inside a manikin? If jumping down the ceiling is no longer creative, then how about enter the house though the roof failing.) In this game, it is true which is unusual to have a girl to be the protagonist, but her existence is still stereotype of female representation, as weak and helpless. The weaker the protagonist the stronger the enemy, and the stronger the enemy the more affective in engaging with the narrative, is a basic understand among gamers and programmers. I really want to say more about Jennifer and the story, but I am afraid it may ruin someone’s interest.

This is the game I would call it “the epic”, if you haven’t play it, I recommend you all to play it. Even Clock Tower is a side-scrolling 2d game, which lacks of cinematic similarity; however, it does not mean that, the story cannot provide the participant with cinematic experience, especially if you are narraologist. If you are a ludologist, then the gameplay should able to fully immerse you. You can play it over and over again, time after time. It is not addiction, just simply a faithfully respect to a well designed digital spatial world.