Cursed Mountain

When this game was first announced, it very quickly harboured talk of it being the scariest game coming to the Wii. Naturally, being a Resident Evil and Fatal Frame veteran, I took this without much consideration, believing there was no way it could rival them for fright factor. Then I saw the advert, did some research and found that they really were genuine people, not actors, so when I saw the game I thought I'd best give it a go.
The first thing I noticed was the name of the game, Cursed Mountain, which as you can see, isn't very scary at all. Not even a little. So I turn to the game itself to see what's what, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The very essence of CM, is that of a survival horror game, but underneath that label is very clever uses of psycology designed to exploit you in the moments where the game knows you'll be most vulnerable. To top it off, developer Sproing, have garnished the frights with extra portions of top quality adventuring, which flows with the horror incredibly well.

The story is one you might expect. It's about a mountain that has had in recent times evil spirits wiping out whole villages, and while most of these spirits are indeed hostile, some intend to help you release their soul from limbo, the premise of the fighting system, more on that later on. The story revolves around Eric Simmons who is looking for his missing brother after he is lost on a climbing expedition some time ago. To help him is the man who Eric was climbing with when he was lost, Edward Alexander Bennett, who sent Eric up the mountain to look for a relic, a task soon passed on to Eric as he tries to survive against the spirit world and the high altitude of the mountain.
As you progress through the game you'll encounter Tibetan Monks, Shamans and discover the truth behind the frequent flashbacks the game likes to spring on your character when he least expects it. The way you do this is by finding diary notes and inscriptions by the locals that describe what is happening or, what has happened and why everyone has gone. It's a lot like Metroid Prime, in that you can scan things and learn about them, but you don't need to if you don't want, if you're the type of gamer prone to speed runs then you can bypass much of this game in favour of progress.

What makes this game such a joy to play is the sheer level of depth Sproing have gone to to create such a nice place to be. The mountain lines in the distance, the falling snow, the wind blowing it all a certain direction, the localles decorative ribbons as they flap in the breeze, the deserted villages, the spirits... it's all simply wonderful. When you play this game you might get frustrated with the slow speed Eric moves and the frankly awful melee combat he produces with his ice axe, but the game more than makes up for it when it comes to spirit combat.
When you meet the monk for the first time, he'll show you how to use the Third Eye, a way of looking into the spirit world. While in this form, depending on the ritual item you have equipped at that time, you can fire beams of energy (or heavenly light as someone suggested) at the spirits to weaken them. Weaken them enough and you can either straight kill them, or perform the Compassion Ritual. When you see a symbol appear on the weakend spirit, you press (A) to begin the ritual, which involves various gestures with both the Wiimote and Nunchuk. Do them all correctly and you'll release their soul from Limbo, in return getting some life back as well. It certainly beats hammering the (B) button until they explode.

My personal favourite part of this game, is the amount of atmosphere created, it's simply unparalleled. The way an area will drain of colour when there are spirits about, the way you know something bad is going to happen and yet it still scares you, the boss characters and the way you have to destroy protective symbols in order to progress an area all make this one of the best games I've played on the Wii. The graphics and what little music there is also make this one very good example of the types of games we're missing on the Wii.

And finally, the presentation. The games manual is done like a mountaineers logbook, the frame in which you select the game to play on the Wii Homepage is creepy as hell, and the no-nonsense menu makes you believe, even without playing the game, that this is going to be something just a little bit special. The opening of the game as well, is very well thought out. You play as Frank to begin with and learn of how he went missing. Genius! Overall, the presentation is the key thing I look for in a game. If it isn't presented well, then I will tend to avoid it, but this game fires on all fronts, leading you into one of the best experiences you can have on the Wii. If you're into psycological horror games, or even films like 2001 and CUBE, then this is the game for you!

It's different, it's filled with horror, it's atmospheric and overall, it's wicked sick. Enough said.

Score: 9.0