Does that line (about Jamie Lee Curtis) even make sense to you considering I'm writing a review about a teenage horror game that takes place in an old creepy school? Well if it doesn't then let me explain. Much of my misspent youth was done watching cheesy teenage slasher flicks from the late 70's and early 80's. In fact as I played Obscure, I was instantly reminded of several horror flicks starring Ms. Curtis. Movies like Prom Night and Halloween II.

Why may you ask? Well for starters, in Obscure, you find yourself running through the halls of a large sinister high school after hours. If any of you have been in a school or hospital late at night, then there is a sense of foreboding that something or someone is gonna walk around that corner. Maybe it's some psychological thing that creeps into the psyche, maybe it's the fact that you are so small in such a large place or that it's weird to be in a location totally alone when you are used to it being crowded with people. Whatever it is, the folks over at DreamCatcher studios must have wandered the halls of a university or school late at night and tried to think of things that might scare us.

Well, I hate to say this, cause I love scary stuff, but the scares that they wanted to try for didn't quite cut it. Obscure involves five differently skilled high school students that find themselves caught after hours at the school they all attend. Since the school appears to have been built over 100 years ago and made for some other dark purpose, I initially was really jazzed at the possibilities this game could have. Each character provides a special ability that is accessible in certain situations; for instance Kenny is the athlete, so he can run faster, hit harder and has more resilience whereas Josh, the school paper reporter, can see all objects and clues when entering a room. So on, so forth.

The controls that the game has are something that may cause some players a bit of frustration. The game is played third-person perspective where the controls reflect direct onto the characters. Meaning ... if you press right on the controller, then the character you are controlling turns right, regardless of what position that character is in. This setup is familiar to those players who have played the Resident Evil series. I actually welcome this sort of setup as I have played darn near every survival horror game out there and they all seem to have it. The inventory system that the game has also has a fairly easy turn to it. Right side covers the weapons (which there are aplenty), left side covers the items you find that are needed to advance the story along.

Now I'm a pretty big monster guy, and the monsters in this game really fell short of what I had hoped for. For one thing, the monsters emanate this black "evil" stuff all around them that only light can penetrate. But to me, I see the monsters merely being hidden by the black stuff was a pretty big let down. And even when you did see the monsters, they didn't look all that nasty. Sure lots of teeth and exposed bone, but it just didn't look all that ... evil. Sorry, but it didn't. Now some of the other graphics were pretty good, the characters facial features were done quite well, and the school itself was designed with great care. Little things like pictures or decay in the walls were clearly designed to make the player feel ill while playing. I mean, the whole school looks badly kept and I'm sure the school district wouldn't stand for the below-par janitorial work.

Now the voice acting was completely laughable. For some reason horror games seem to have the worst voice talent in the genre. Dialogue is merely walked through and the actual dialogue is as silly as any grade "Z" movie. The sinister background music was fairly effective as was the sometimes eerie silence. The growls that the monsters spewed forth was also only average. The game needed to be ratcheted up several more notches in terms of quality sound effects and voice acting. Only the music was on par for a scary atmospheric setting.

Now the game does feature an interesting second-player mode. While playing you often will control a second character that you instruct to assist you. Certain situations require that two characters work together to complete a task. Well, when a second character is found, the game allows a second player to take control of them should you want to. It wasn't as clever as it could be, but I must give credit to the developers for trying something completely different in the genre.

Obscure beckons those fans or horror games to come play in its twisted schoolyard. Sadly, I just don't see but only the hardest of hardcore horror fans playing it to completion.

Gameplay: 8.0
A familiar control setup to those players of the genre. An easy-to-use inventory interface and small tutorials that pop up when new abilities are made available. The players are responsive to the in-game action and it is fairly easy to attack the critters you run across in the game. What I didn't like was the struggling that occurred when a monster latched on to your leg.

Graphics: 6.7
While the monsters are not the most impressive looking things the school sure is. Architecture is very strong and the school has the distinct feel of danger. Which is too bad when you run into a monster. Characters have alright--looking faces but their movements are stiff and forced looking. The goofy looking cutscenes have a greyish sheen to them that makes me think that they were recorded with a camcorder off of a computer screen.

Sound: 6.4
I wonder how much being a voice actor pays? Cause as near as I can tell, they paid the voice actors minimum wage. Was a time where the voice acting in horror games was supposed to be goofy. Now it's just really sad. No longer funny, it's just bad, really bad. The music had a distinct feel to it like I said, I liked it, it made me get in the mood for a really atmospheric experience, but the end result was a letdown.

Difficulty: Medium
It's not really that challenging for those players who are familiar to action-style games. Ammo is scarce, which is par for the course, and being surrounded by several baddies can certainly put you in a bind. But vending machines are readily available, and who needs change when you have a baseball bat.

Concept 6.4
The only thing that this game brings to the genre is that psychological feeling that I talked about earlier. I remember being at my college late, one night, walking the halls just waiting for a zombie to amble around the corner (I'm still sad it never happened, sniff). Otherwise, the game plays just like several other better horror games.

Multiplayer: 7.0
If you got a friend then you've got an asset. The combat in this game is much, much easier when you have two independent people beating the crap out of the monsters.

Overall: 6.7
Merely an average entry in the survival horror genre. I think that the folks over at DreamCatcher may be on to something with the cool location and the introduction of multiplayer play, but the final end product left me wanting so much more.