Looking Back: Clock Tower (1995)

Clock Tower, released in 1996 by no more than a team of 30 people over at Human Entertainment overseen by original series creator and visionary Hifumi Kono, is often considered to be one of the finest examples of getting horror so right. Everything from sound design, to holding back the scares, building tension and introducing arguably one of the most terrifying video game antagonists since Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2. But has it stood the test of time? Today, I'm going to look back over the game as a complete package, and also touch upon some of the more interesting trivia taken directly from quotes by Hifumi-san and what I've discovered myself through material such as the drama CD, Japanese game guides and the choose-your-own-adventure novel series. So, please enjoy!


Part 1: Background of the Company  
Human Entertainment were not always associated with the iconic Scissorman and Clock Tower series. In fact, the beginnings of the company, were originally rooted in sports games. The majority of staff began their very early careers creating and contributing towards projects such as Sepentrion, otherwise known as SOS in the West which was released on the Super Famicom in 1993. Hifumi himself was also involved in the production and creation of Human Grand Prix 2, also known in the West as F1 Pole Position. As a whole, Human Entertainment has had it's fingers in many different pies over time. Some being more impactful on the market than others. 

See here for F1 Pole Position

However, internally the company suffered with difficulties, more often than not due to clashes in how to proceed with certain ideas and disagreements over approaching situations. Hifumi comments on this briefly in one of his interviews:

It was different than that. Like, between planners and graphic artists, they couldn’t understand the work the other person was doing throughout the day. Every person thought they were the best in the company. There was a real pride thing going… people just didn’t get along well.

Fortunately this in-house drama would not seem to have a knock-on effect on production of their titles, though due to Hifumi remaining tight lipped on the entire affair, it's interesting to wonder if it extended towards the production of Clock Tower also. Unfortunately, no material seems to indicate that internal problems within the company was ever something that extended throughout the development cycle of either First Fear, Clock Tower or Struggle Within. 

Also of note, Hifumi would later go to work on Japan only release, Neko Zamurai, which would lay the groundwork for Ace Attorney's objection system many years later. Essentially, Hifumi partially gave birth to one of the series' most well received elements. 


Part 2: Conception of Clock Tower 

With the company history out of the way, we can now move on to the most interesting part of the company's history, and the purpose of this piece - the creation of Clock Tower for the Playstation. As previously mentioned, the company had a history with creating, almost exclusively, sport titles, and wanting to break out of that cycle and move towards putting out new and interesting projects was a key motivator for staff. In fact, the very concept of Clock Tower itself was created through a competition where team members would try and come up with a game to submit to the higher ups, in hope of swaying them. Hifumi comments on the submissions briefly:

Sadly, I wasn’t able to see the other submissions. Everyone submitted to their bosses, and the pitches were evaluated in a closed environment. I don’t even know who in particular I was competing against.
After Clock Tower proved to be a hit, Human’s regular staff were allowed to create more weird, experimental games on a regular basis.

It's interesting to see that Clock Tower was basically used as a stepping stone towards Human Entertainment being given the freedom to create more niche, out there titles - whether or not this gamble paid off, who can tell. The company eventually folded but creators of the game would go on to work on different games over the years, and Hifumi himself recently returned with a spiritual successor to Clock Tower in the form of NightCry, which I may touch on in a later piece - since I don't hold it in high regard and it doesn't necessarily have a place here.

Hifumi also cites Alone in the Dark as being inspiration for Clock Tower, something of which Capcom would also use as inspiration themselves for the classic title Resident Evil. Interestingly enough both games also feature dual protagonists, though Alone in the Dark treats each story as standalone, Clock Tower weaved the playable characters threads throughout the story. The game was also never released outside of the West, or localised into Japanese, Hifumi did however play the English release.

           Harris, one of the more unusual and sinister characters in the game. 


Onto one of the most iconic horror villains to ever grace the medium, Scissorman. The background history of his conception is an interesting one, originally the inspiration for his design was pulled directly from Phenomena, a film by Italian horror movie director Dario Argento, which also starred Jennifer Connelly most famously known for her role as Sarah alongside David Bowie in the Tim Henson movie Labyrinth. Interestingly enough, Jennifer Connelly was also the direct inspiration for Jennifer in the original Clock Tower game, First Fear. If anyone knows of any other ties between the two sources, please feel free to get in touch! 

                   Scissorman, in one of his many different forms over the years. 
  

                     Comparison shot between Conmely, and First Fear Jennifer 



With all the pieces in place for what was set to be a fantastic horror experience, the game was finally released on December 13 1996, the North American release to follow 10 months later, and the European release in February of 1998.

Part 3: Reception, & Human Entertainment post Clock Tower 2

Sales wise, Clock Tower 2 was a success and made close to half a million dollars, which I think was more than Human Entertainment were probably expecting really. Especially considering the project basically started off as something to simply break out of doing the tedium of sports titles, they not only managed to release a fantastic horror game in it's own right, but also inspire similar games in terms of crafting atmosphere, and use of music - or lack thereof, which is even mentioned in the games manual by the sound designer as being a purposeful choice. It certainly paid off. Critically the game was also a success, reviewers at the time, and post release many years later complimented the game's horror icon Scissorman, and the overall tone and feeling of dread. 

       Considering the limitations of the engine, the graphics still held up

Reviewers, however were quite critical of the voice acting presented in the game. This is an interesting case where the English release suffered from woefully bad, borderline comical delivery of lines and plain wooden acting, broken up by long pauses between sentences and the general impression the voice actors were really not interested in putting effort towards their roles. However, the Japanese release, also has English voice acting for it's cutscenes, and I must say, they held up well all things considered, and do a much better job at both delivery of lines, and general effort gone into the performances. I would recommend, looking for a Japanese copy of the game if at all possible and playing through it for the voice-acting since it really is a step above what the Western release ended up with - either that, or look up clips on YouTube for comparison. 

Japanese VA Example

English VA Example


Issues with voice acting aside, Human Entertainment, and by extension Hifumi were pleased overall with the reception of the game. Though, Hifumi has also, slightly blamed the release of Biohazard for the lower sale numbers due to them being released so close together, and it does make me wonder what would have happened if Clock Tower 2 had been released in a world where Biohazard didn't exist, and if the profit turnover would have led to the milking of the franchise - though some can speculate that was the case when Capcom published, and developed Clock Tower 3.

                                  Final nail in the franchise coffin?

It was also noted that Clock Tower 2 opened up a newer, more casual audience due to the simplicity of the point and click interface. However the great reception towards the game wouldn't save the company, as eventually Human Entertainment were declared bankrupt, after consultants decided they should branch out into other areas outside of video games - essentially, expanding into other business areas. Such as theme parks, arcade games and education programs - imagine a world where a Clock Tower theme park would have possibly existed, or better yet, an arcade game. Sadly these would never become a reality, and the studio would eventually fold due to desire for expansion - Hifumi, however had a contingency plan, to go indie, and produce his own games, which is where his company Nude Maker would originate.




Part 4: Additional material 

Due to the large success of the game in Japan, a number of related products were released alongside it. One of which, being the drama CD based on the game. Originally part of a series of radio dramas that would allow listeners to call in, and vote on particular events that would occur in game, the CD releases followed shortly afterwards - the first three games would be the focus. First Fear, Clock Tower and Struggle Within. The radio drama took place across five years at the TBS radio show "The Game Drama Night of Koyasi and Hikami. Discs are relatively well sought after too, so if you have one of them, hold on to it!


Also released around the same time, were a series of choose-your-own adventure novels based around Clock Tower 2, in what feels like a more complete story than what was offered in the game. Several events in game are altered or completely different, depending on chooses made throughout the experience - Jennifer's scenario in particular can end in a very unsettling manner if you reach the 'bad end'. Certain characters who meet a grizzly end through Scissorman's sheers are also given more time to be fully fleshed out, which is kind of odd considering they're still such fleeting cameos. If you can stumble across a translated copy of the book, I do suggest reading it. Especially if you're a huge fan, there's plenty of interesting interactions between characters which help elaborate on a few key events from the game. 

The Wolf Among Us - Impressions

Coming from a long background of playing adventures games through the years, all the back to Gabriel Knight and the Monkey Island series, through to Myst & Broken sword, the point-n'-click genre has been a huge part of my gaming life. Naturally the key ingredient that acts as the glue for these games (Perhaps less so for Monkey Island since they're created on a foundation of puzzle solving over storytelling) is the characters and the world they inhabit and shape as the games progress. The Wolf Among Us carries on what has gone before from the point-n'-click genre by taking what was great about those games, and working them into a pre-existing world taken from the 'Fables' series of graphic novels in which famous fantasy tales characters are living out lives inside a seedy, Noire-esque city filled with rich and vibrant and locations, but at the same time still maintaining the impression that this world is very much an unpleasant place to be in. I won't be going into spoilers or story specifics since I've already had many earlier plot-threads spoilt for me, as well as returning characters from previous episodes and cliffhangers. Instead, I want to focus on how I feel about the game after playing through the initial set of episodes, and why I think TellTale Games might have tapped into a series more tightly focused than The Walking Dead or the abortive Back To The Future games.

Of course, every story needs a hero, and here we're introduced to Bigby Wolf, formerly the Big Bad Wolf and the sheriff of Fabletown, the setting and focus for the story. As a rule of adventure game protagonists, you're on a fixed perspective, you're playing through their eyes and looking out, the decisions they're making don't reflect your personal ones in how you'd handle situations and events. What Telltale Games do brilliantly is allow you to break free of these chains and place you inside the character and define what kind of person they become, and who they influence and how; You aren't seeing the world through their eyes, you're directly altering the narrative to a degree that makes you feel as if you're having a impact on the world Telltale have set up. This becomes apparent through the many choices and conversations you make through the story, of which there are many, and very rarely ever seen black and white. There never is a right or wrong decision, but only because the game doesn't allow such a thing to take place. Whether you feel a choice was correct is something you have to look at yourself and wonder in that situation, is if that is how you would deal with such a thing. It's a fantastic study in world influence and shaping a character that reflects you as a person, and it was done, I feel better in The Wolf Among Us vs something like Mass Effect where decisions..never really felt as if they carried a great deal of weight, but purely because I didn't feel as I resonated with those characters and events taking place - Note I only finished the first two games in the series, and given the backlash against the third game, I find myself hard pressed to go back and finish that trilogy off.

Overall I feel TellTale Games have a winner on their hands here. After three episodes, I can safely say I'm comfortable with this being one of my GOTY candidates, based purely on the writing and the design of the world. I haven't touched on the puzzles for good reason - this game doesn't rely on them or indeed punctuate them in a way that would come across as jarring or frustrating. You simply locate a item, and on nearly all occasions so far, the puzzle solution is within a few feet away. This pulling back off the puzzles and focusing more on the narrative I feel is where the series is at it's best, when you let the puzzle elements take a step back in favour of what TellTale does best, you end up with something more cohesive and tighter than your average point and click adventure game.