E3 2011 Hands-On: Rise Of Nightmares - Preview
by Alex St-Amour , posted on 12 June 2011 / 4,303 Views
Tucked away in a small corner at the SEGA booth at the Electronic Entertainment Expo was a game that immediately stands out. Not because it was being demoed in a ‘dungeon’, not because there was a mock electric chair set up to take pictures in and not because you were being filmed the whole time and people could see your goofy actions. No this game was a standout because it looks like it could be the first ‘core’ game for Kinect to A) not be on rails and B) be a true survival horror experience. So does Rise Of Nightmares impress or is it actually a nightmare.
The level that was demoed for Rise Of Nightmares has the player trying to escape a dungeon filled with traps and zombie-like creatures. After a lengthy intro (why is the first five minutes of a demo a cut-scene?) you can finally start moving around. Move your leg forward to move forward and behind you to go backwards. To turn your body simply tilt your shoulder Kinect in the direction you want to turn. You interact with puzzles and doors by simply pointing at them. Combat is handled by swinging your hands as if you were holding a bat or weapon.
This all works well... in theory, in reality well it’s a bit hard to tell. The Kinect sensor seemed to have trouble detecting more subtle movements, now whether that is the games fault or the fact that it was being shown in a dark room (not really a good idea for Kinect games) is up to debate, but the demonstrators seemed to have some difficulty with sharp turns and as a result were quickly overrun by enemies. As a side note, when you die in Rise Of Nightmares the screen goes black and a bloody ‘You are dead’ appears on screen, a nice nod (or complete theft) to the Resident Evil series.
Visually the game looks, well scary and gory for one. In fact some of the horror scenes had me cringing at the level of gore that was going on. Secondly I’m afraid to report that Rise Of Nightmares is definitely not a looker. Both the environments and character design seem uninspired and bland, with most being grey and not much else. Here’s hoping the developers can touch up the graphics a bit before the game launches, unfortunately that is coming up soon as the game is scheduled for release in July.
Rise Of Nightmares is an interesting concept, not many developers have taken the time to explore making a Kinect game where you are in full control of your character, let alone a survival horror game and I do hope it goes on to do well to show people that not all first person games on Kinect need to be on rails and that they can still make ‘traditional’ games without the need of a controller.
Stay tuned to gamrReview for all the latest previews straight from E3 2011.
