Resident Evil might have gotten the survival horror genre rolling, but the secret was the game got a wide release. The adventures around Raccoon City was released around the world at about the same time. One year earlier, a game that was only released in Japan was a little more true to the survival horror model. Clock Tower, created by Human Corporation, was an exercise in terror where you are stalked by a monstrous killer.
Jennifer Simpson is an orphan in Norway in the early nineties. She and three other children are adopted by a wealthy benefactor who lives in a mansion with a large clock. Mary, the woman who brought them to the house, goes to find their new father. Jennifer goes out to see what is taking so long. A scream. Jennifer goes back to the main room to find the other girls missing. She will then be confronted by a deformed boy wielding a pair of enormous scissors. Jennifer will have to explore to find out what is going on, rescue the other girls and escape from “Scissorman”.
Clock Tower is a point and click adventure. Jennifer has to find different objects and interact with her environment. She must also run from Scissorman, who pursues her and jumps out like a demented Jack-in-the-Box. There are no weapons to find, your only defense is to find hiding spots. When things get too intense, the game enters into “panic mode” Jennifer might slow down and even trip while fleeing. This makes the experience even more panic inducing. The consent “snip” as your pursuer comes closer and closer might give you a panic attack.
Clock Tower owes a lot to filmmaker Dario Argento. His films, such as Suspiria and Phenomena, involve young women forced to confront horror cut off from the rest of the world. The game was the homage to these types of movies. Scissorman needs no backstory, he is there to kill you. Jennifer is forced from nightmare to another as she tries to live. Clock Tower seems to suggest that morals do not matter, you might just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The fact that the game has eight different endings makes you want to play again and again.
Clock Tower deserves to be played by fans of the horror genre. the game came to Western audiences, thanks to Playstation, Nintendo and different emulators. The game is scary, even with the 16-bit graphics. The game would have a few sequels, but as any horror fan will tell you, the first one is always the best.
