A survival horror game, modeled after teen horror flicks, at a price every pimple-faced gamer can afford: The idea sounds tantalizing, but who actually likes these movies? Now, instead of screaming "Don't open the door, you idiot!" at the screen, Obscure allows you to be the idiot, willfully hurling yourself at the bloodsucking, ankle-munching ghoulies that prowl the hallways and classrooms of Leafmore High School. The game's cut-rate Resident Evil-meets-Myst premise forces you into crazed puzzle-solving illogic. For example, rather than stepping away from the padlocked door with the monster growling behind it, you have 30 seconds to pour sulfuric acid into a paper cup, erode the rusty lock, and turn what could possibly be your last doorknob. And you know what? You deserve to die.
After setting the tone with a clever mock-Buffy The Vampire Slayer intro, Obscure assembles a tag team of several students stranded in a decrepit high school of the damned. Each member of this Breakfast Club has an endearingly ordinary special ability: One lunkhead can pick locks, the brainiac gives helpful tips ("Let's check this place out!"), and the jock can run a few feet before getting winded. As they soon discover, a science experiment gone awry has resulted in a school overrun by grotesque, light-sensitive creatures, as vulnerable to a flashlight beam as they are to pump-action shotgun bullets. Flashlights and guns are scattered all over the place, and you're encouraged to tape the two together for maximum firepower, though you'd be well-advised not to waste precious ammunition. Meanwhile, you collect clues to unmask the perpetrator behind this evil scheme, but the problem-solving isn't terribly sophisticated. (Hmmm… Perhaps this scrap of paper with numbers scribbled on it could help unlock the safe in the adjacent room. Eureka!)
Beyond the game: To quote Stan, the would-be suburban gangsta with Josh Hartnett eyes: "Everything up in this piece is wack!" Word, Stan. Word. Though the game's creepy atmospherics set up the frequent shock effects nicely, the characters speak and act just like the numbskulls in a bad teen slasher movie, which may be an example of hewing too closely to the source of inspiration.
Worth playing for: The bone-chilling moment when you discover that one of the creatures can suspend itself from the ceiling, wrap a long tentacle around your neck, and hang you. And when you finish the game, each surviving character gets an unlockable outfit, which seems like a fair trade for saving humanity.
Frustration sets in when: If you run out of ammunition, you're screwed. The combat options are already a thousand moves short of a Tekken game (point and shoot, basically), and supplies are limited, so a few errant shots might leave you defenseless in the long run. And if you save your progress while you have two measly bullets left in the chamber, you're really screwed.
Final judgment: The price is right.