- Kinect Sensor Required
- Publisher: SEGA
- Developer: SEGA
- ESRB Rating: “M" for Mature
- Genre: Survival Horror
- Pros: Controls work well; auto-walk; lots of weapons; cheesy (in a good way)
- Cons: A bit simple; so-so graphics; traps in latter half of game; slow character speed
Rise of Nightmares is a campy and cheesy survival horror story that takes you through a sort of mad-scientist-meets-Hostel story where the protagonist's wife is kidnapped by a crazy scientist so you have to rush off to his creepy, zombie-filled mansion to find and save her. The story is cheesy, and the dialogue is way over the top and usually pretty ridiculous, but that is a where a lot of the charm of the game comes from.
Even though RoN is technically a survival horror game, it isn't actually all that scary. It earns it's "M" for Mature rating through language, a few scantily clad female characters, and a healthy dose of blood and gore.
Gameplay
People have wondered how a "real" game would handle with the Kinect controls (until now we've almost exclusively had dancing, exercise, and simple minigame collections) and many thought more complex games would be impossible with Kinect. Happily, we can say that Rise of Nightmares works just fine.
SEGA
Combat is also straightforward. It is a melee-focused game, so to fight you just raise your arms up like you're going to fight someone, and then punch, or stab, or slice, or bludgeon - whatever the weapon you're holding would require in real life. The game locks onto the nearest enemy when you're in "fight mode", and dispatching the zombie hordes is remarkably satisfying and fun. At least for a while.
There are some other gameplay elements as well, and all of them feature realistic and intuitive motions. Swimming or swatting bugs off your arms, as well as a bunch of other stuff, is sort of crazy because you use the same motions you would in real life. It really immerses you in the game and makes you feel like you are the character unlike any other game yet.
It is also sort of annoying how bland and boring the game world is. You can only interact with certain objects, marked with huge flashing icons, and it would have been a lot more interesting if the game was a bit more interactive. The handful of interactive bits the game does feature are also a bit annoying because you can't just open or door or pick something up. Instead you hover a cursor over the icon for a second or two and then the game lets you interact with it. For all the good the game does in immersing you with realistic motion controls, these moments of flipping switches and opening doors never let you forget you're playing a game. Later in the game there are traps with spikes and guillotines from the ceiling and stuff that are hard to avoid thanks to the slow to respond movement controls. Pretty much everywhere else in the game the movement controls work fine, but when you're supposed to dodge traps and be somewhat agile the game just can't keep up.
SEGA
Visually, Rise of Nightmares is pretty rough looking. Character models are sot of ugly and have stiff animation. The environments are okay, but generic in design and texture work.
Sound
The sound fares a bit better. The dialogue is terrible, but the voice acting is so cheesy and ridiculous it is enjoyable nonetheless. The music is surprisingly good and sound effects during combat are excellent.
Bottom Line
In the end, Rise of Nightmares is a flawed, but still enjoyable, action/horror title that makes good use of Kinect. The Kinect motion controls work surprisingly well, and dispatching enemies in the first-person-melee combat is fun and satisfying. It is a bit on the shallow and simple side overall, though, which means it'll impress you at first and then gets less interesting as it goes on. With that said, however, Rise of Nightmares is still a first-of-its-kind experience that does work well in spite of a lack of ambition, and is absolutely worth playing for hardcore gamers looking for something to play on Kinect. I'd suggest a rental or wait for a price drop before a purchase, though.
