Haunting Ground Review - PS2

What do the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series have in common? From a basic perspective, just about everything. Sure, they’re both absolutely brilliant series, but not often have we had the ability to stray from the sluggish controls and repetitive monster-bashing that they present us with. That is, until now. The obscure Haunting Ground, publisher and developer Capcom’s latest product, delivers a survival horror experience brimming with innovation.

Haunting Ground tells the story of a woman in the prime of her life, Fiona, who, after a devastating car crash, finds herself in an entirely unfamiliar and surreal location, that being a dark and silent castle. Coming to her senses, she comes to the realisation that she’s locked inside a rusted cage in a grimy laboratory, a deformed and ogre-like yet convincingly human creature named Debilitas bent over a bench carrying out menacing acts of dismemberment. Within moments, the creature is distracted and waddles through an archway and up a dark flight of stairs, giving Fiona ample time to escape from her cage and set off into the depths of the castle.

Gameplay

Heather, the protagonist in Silent Hill 3, was strangely able to use various weapons including shotguns with ease and wasn’t at all shaken by her gory surroundings. Fiona of Haunting Ground, on the other hand, is - much more realistically - near useless with all due respect. This cleverly falls into the gameplay, however, making for a more tactically-oriented survival horror outing.

The most prominent of these factors is the fear system, which transfers Fiona’s fear to the player. This fear can be instigated by minor things such as a gory display of blood or, more practically, being chased by an enemy - Debilitas, for example - which is a common occurrence and, uniquely, a substitute for mindless fighting. As she is filled more and more with fear, the colour on-screen will desaturate and stutter in time with Fiona’s heartbeat. At the peak of her fear, Fiona will run for her life, stumbling often and making your time keeping control over her much more difficult.

Exploring the castle is made simple by the absence of loading screens between rooms and areas; even going through doors is a seamless process unlike in the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. Doors can also be opened and closed, useful when being chased to destroy evidence of your path. Movement is simple considering the inclusion of a standard third-person control scheme, and aside from walking and running Fiona is able to crouch in order to decrease her visibility, kick and tackle enemies and of course, examine objects. Again, with all due respect, being a girl Fiona isn’t too useful during what little combat is present in the game. Subsequently and cleverly, Capcom has intertwined a dog named Hewie into the storyline, who befriends Fiona and provides one of the biggest innovative features that the game bears.

Hewie, when acquired, follows Fiona closely provided his stamina is high enough; he’ll often get (continued next page)