Greeting Folks AP3X here with a look at Cursed Mountain on the Wii.
Let me open by saying while I own a Wii, I don’t really think of it as a serious gaming platform. I mainly use it for party games and fun multiplayer games that I can enjoy when I have some company over. I hardly expect to play my Wii on single person games that aren’t of a fun quirky variety, with the exception of No More Heroes which I loved.
However it seems lately that developers like Deep Silver are hell bent on proving me wrong with games like Cursed Mountain. Cursed Mountain is a survivor horror game that follows mountain climber Eric Simmons on his quest to find his lost brother Frank Simmons. Frank Simmons took on a mountaineering job with Edward Bennett to scale the “cursed mountain”, after which the game is named, and recover a mystic artifact. Though the mountain isn’t cursed when they first set out. In their search something goes wrong and the pair angers the Goddess of the mountain. Eric Simmons tries to retrace his brother’s footsteps so he can find him, but the mountain holds many secrets and many dangers. Ghosts and spirits abound and all you’re armed with is your mystical ice axe and resolve. Can you make it up the mountain?
The Good:
-Cursed Mountain follows a solid innovative story. It weaves together the Tibetan Monks and eastern philosophies well through its mystical tale of ghosts and spirits. Too many survivor horror games these days seem to come up with monsters and enemies and then cobble up a story to make it fit together. While Cursed Mountain everything fits together very nicely from the time period to the actual setting. There are no guns here. Just your mystical ice axe and the abilities you’re taught by the monks of the mountain. While it’s not the scariest story around it certain is spooky and there are times where I literally jumped.
-For a Wii game it has some pretty impressive visuals, but the sound effects are where this game really shines. Horror games are all about mood and theme, and the audio on this game comes through with flying colors. It’s a small thing, but I really like the use of the speaker on the Wii Remote. It comes through walkie talkie like and really adds some atmosphere to the overall game.
-While the game play isn’t that great (see below) I do like the fact that they added some Wii motion controls into the mix. I find myself disappointed with Wii games that don’t make any use of the Wii remotes motion capabilities. I mean it’s why I bought the Wii. Though I admit all motion control can get a bit tiring. Cursed Mountain has got a nice balance of motion and static controls. Things like shooting with the ice axe are great as you just point the remote at your adversary.
The Bad:
-Game play is somewhat stiff and linear. There are a lot of places you can’t go and on an enormous white mountain you’ll find yourself hitting invisible walls pretty frequently. The controls are pretty basic stuff, and as is usual with the Wii remotes some of the movements you have to make don’t always take on the first time around. Holding a button is used to run and believe me you’ll be using it, though carefully, as running attracts ghosts. Which is a cool idea in theory, but walking everywhere makes the game move by soooooooo slowly at times.
The Ugly:
-This is a dark game. No I don’t mean mood or theme or even humor wise, I mean even with the brightness all the way up I still couldn’t see certain areas. It got a bit frustrating after a while. Especially since you want the game to be a bit dark cause it is after all a horror game, but seeing your environment when you’re playing a game helps. Especially if game play is a bit stiff (see above).
The Verdict:
-Cursed Mountain is an interesting little spin on the survivor horror genre, and a good game for the Wii. The problem at least for me is just that. Good for the Wii is not the same as good for some of the other more “hardcore” gaming systems. Though it is a solid effort, and if the Wii is the only gaming system you own, this is a game by all means you should check out. I feel like this game could’ve really kicked it into high gear on another platform. And while this game and a few others are starting to tear down the “Wii is a kiddy fun system” mentality, it still needs a bit more to go. I give this game a 2.5 out of 5 stars with the main issues being stiff and somewhat sluggish game play.