I like that you're teaching your "little one" the joys of playing games. It's cool that you can bond together like that.
My Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2015 #09: Slender: The Arrival
On 10/09/2015 at 10:33 PM by NSonic79 See More From This User » |
Being one of the few (and I mean few) PC titles I tried out back in years past, Slender was a unique choice for me to have on a prior top 11 pick. I’m not much of a PC gamer, despite actually having a PC that can handle PC games, I was tempted to try out this little freeware title when I heard the rumors and stories about how this internet urban legend came to life. The tipping point for me wasn’t from all the “Let’s Plays” that were being shown online about this game but the fact that an internet urban legend like “Slender Man” could take off so well despite it being nothing more than the end result of an online photo group horror contest.
But the premise of the creation was simple enough: a mysterious individual who seemed far taller than any normal man, who would appear in the background of photos that usually involved the disappearance of someone within that photo. Sometimes children went missing, sometimes tragic events happened within the area or so as the stories went on. So I had to give “Slender” a go on my PC and found myself enjoying it far too much than I’m sure it was warranted, jump scare moments notwithstanding. So when I learned that “Slender” was getting a certified sequel I couldn’t wait to see how it would turn out. Though I did have to wait for a while, thanks to PC to the console conversion, I finally had the chance to see if Slender: The Arrival on PS3 off PSN did more for the titular character like what was done in the free version on PC. Well suffice to say it was worthy enough to earn itself a place in my top 11 Octoberween Game titles of 2015 as a digital release but as for it meeting, or beating, expectations of its prior title is a matter of debate.
Slender: The Arrival tries to do what Slender didn’t: give us a coherent story. In Slender you were just an unnamed female character trying to collect 8 pages scattered a gaming environment as the “Slender Man” stalks you, complete with dramatic music and jump scare moments as he seems to appear like a creature from your nightmares. Though The Arrival keeps to that formula of the first game, complete with a re-telling of the first game in chapter 2, they try to add more in the way of a plot to give you an understanding on who Slender Man is and why your player character is there in the first place. Instead of running around in the woods for who knows why, you find yourself visiting an old friend who wishes to sell her mother’s secluded home out in the woods. But as you arrive you find your car disabled just by the long driveway leading to your friend’s house. As it grows dark, you make your way on foot to the house only to find out that something isn’t right as you find it completely empty along with weird drawings on the walls of the house of a rather sinister man who happens to look a bit slender…
From there it plays out like the first game with its roots as you look thru the house, finding clues which help you gleam more into what has become of your friend, what exactly they stumbled upon and the mystery that surrounds the Slender Man. Folks who wanted a little more lore and story behind Slender Man will find here but not exactly in what they’d expect. Instead of an origins story of sorts, Slender Man is described as a local bugaboo that your friend accidently stumbled upon like anyone would when one pokes their nose where it doesn’t belong. The gist is you don’t learn about this till about halfway thru the game as you gather clues in the forms of notes, newspaper clippings and crude drawings from individuals who had the misfortune of being stalked by Slender Man. As a story standpoint it is light years ahead of what was offered in the first game but how it’s told is a mixed bag given how you have to actually find all of these clues to be able to piece together the story. You miss something during gameplay and you just might only get part of the story and thus miss out on the full immersive experience. For the game this is a plus for it as well as a minus against it since one of the fascinating aspects of Slender Man is how exactly we know very little about him. It’s what made Slender Man a great boogie man to being with, the little unknowns about him is what made him all the scarier given how we didn’t know what to expect. The game tries to add a few more elements into him to make him more menacing but the overall effect ends up diminishing his role because we know a little more about him. Though they never exactly go into exact detail on who or what Slender Man is, what we are offered ends up making him a little less scary in my opinion. More so in later levels when he at times is delegated to secondary status.
The controls to the game I found to be better given how I’m use to a control pad than I am with a keyboard and mouse set up. Though there isn’t exactly any complex control schemes to memorize but it’s nice to use dual analog sticks to move my character around instead of the keyboard’s key functions. Using your flashlight button, action button and sprint button were no problems for me and the addition to be able to remove the camera window on the screen was a nice addition. Though I never understood why the camera window was necessary, because it gave the impression that the player was holding a camera up against their face during the whole ordeal, I can only assume it was meant to play off as if it was one of those “found footage” type narrations much like one chapter flashback where someone investigates an abandoned farm house in hopes of finding paranormal activity. It would help explain why the screen starts looking like you’re losing a video signal when you get too close to Slender Man, but makes less sense when I doubt you’d keep your camera attached to your face as you flee from mortal danger.
At least the game does the first game one better by offering more than one area to play around in than a fenced off wooded area. Instead you get to explore your friend’s house along with the surrounding back area of the house, the forest itself, an abandoned mine and other eerie locals like a burned out house and some flashback scenes to add some variety. Originally you start out following the clues as to what’s going on with your friend but it later turns into a battle for survival as you are being stalked by The Slender Man along with his familiars. It’s here where the game starts losing some of its spook factor. The the makers of this game did their best to give us more of what we got in the first free game, but ended up making some presentation choices that end up weakening the scare factor that Slender Man originally offered. I’m not sure if this was done intentionally, to help players keep their anxiety levels lower, but instead of Slender Man “appearing” on screen as if from the corner of your eye (complete with unsettling jump scare music) he just presents himself as if he were put in via jump cut. There were times I swear he just appears in a blink of an eye like he teleported in. Other times he was so far away that I didn’t really know it was him until the screen started to derezz, thinking him a light source. Because of this Slender Man’s sudden appearances doesn’t feel as “organic” like what you’d expect in your nightmares. Instead of the game having Slender Man appear from the corner of your eye as you turn your head to that viewing perspective, it feels more like a jump cut. It’s a bit hard to explain unless you’ve had one of those dreams where you turn your head and the thing you were trying to get away from just happens to enter your line of sight from the corner of your eye.
It eventually gets more annoying than scary when he will just appear out of nowhere in front of you in later levels to give you an instakill. Though the game does it’s best to try to make Slender Man more menacing by giving him static moments where you’ll find him watching you as you progress in certain areas (as if preparing for a photo op to show that you are his future eventual target) the addition of his black tentacles ends up making him more laughable to me. Even my “Little One” found him less scary by calling him “Tentacle Man” because of it. But the biggest strike against Slender: The Arrival is the addition to the concept of him being able to use individuals as minions to do his bidding. In the game you’ll learn of other disappearances of individuals by Slender Man who he’ll use to stalk you in his place. Though the idea of other supernatural creatures stalking you besides Slender Man himself sounds appealing on paper, it doesn’t help out much in practice when they end up playing a more focal point in certain chapters than Slender Man himself. It gets very annoying during the mine level where you have to try to turn on 8 generators to power an elevator, all the while getting “mugged” by one of his abducted victims that Slender Man has driven mad some time earlier. Though the tension factor does go up as your only means to defend yourself against this creature is to focus your flashlight on it and simply running away, your stamina can drain fairly quickly thus making the level more of a chore than a game of deadly keep-away. At least with this creature you get 3 encounters before you die, unlike ol’ Slendy who will still kill you with an instakill if you happen to be running away from these minion encounters and into him.
So by now I’m sure your wondering why I would add this to my Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2015 when it sounds like it was such a letdown for me. Well despite some of the games shortcomings it’s still able to deliver a relatively entertaining experience as a spooky adventure game. The addition of a plot is helpful to keep you engaged in the story and it flows rather well despite missing a document or two on your first play through. The game does give you a sense of foreboding as you search the dark areas of the game, making you really rely on your flashlight to see where you going just like in the first game. And despite having open air areas to explore, you’re still given enough of a claustrophobic feel as if you’re still trapped in the narrow corridors of a house or cave. The atmosphere and chapter settings help very well in creating the anxiety you’d expect if you happen to be walking around in the forest, be it in the day or at night. I’ll even admit that the daytime settings, while welcoming at first, do tend to get a bit creepy when you realize that you are alone in them. And despite Slender Man’s less organic means of appearing in the game, there are moments that do make you cut and run if you happen to get too close to him. It may not be as scary as the first game, given what we’ve come to expect from Slender Man in that game, but it is enough to make you want to try to pause the game if moments get too tense for you to handle. And though it might seem I’m rather hard on the addition of Slender Man’s minions, like in the mine level, the farm house chapter plays out very well with one particular minion that makes you want to check behind you when you happen to exit certain areas around the farmhouse.
Slender: The Arrival is still one of those atmospheric games that you have to try out when then sun goes down and you’re interested in a jump scare. Perhaps even better if you happen to play it with stereo headphones. I was actually able to enjoy it as my “Little One” watched me play beside me. She was still scared by the Slender Man moments that she wanted a blanket close by in case of close encounters, but we were able to still poke fun at the game as if it were watching a cheesy slasher flick or if we were filming ourselves with running commentary for a “Let’s Play” video. Though there really isn’t much of an incentive to replay the game after you beat it the first time (the ending was a real let down for me), it does give you trophy/achievement support where you can try to speed run the game, as well as play the game on a higher difficulty settings. I will admit that it was a nice touch for the game to have chapter 2 randomly regenerate the locations of the 8 pages you have to find when you replay that level, either in a brand new game or from death/restarting.
In the end Slender: The Arrival ranks fairly high on the list as one of my picks for my Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2015. Not exactly cutesy or Halloween theme enough to be harmless fun like prior titles offered on this list, but it really can’t hold its own with what is to come later in this year’s Top 11 countdown. It may not be able to deliver the jump scares like the original Slender nor be considered over the top cheesy bordering along the lines of parody, but it has enough of a mixture of both to be entertaining on any Octoberween gaming night. Consider it a nice primer to be played in short spurts as you enjoy other gaming titles throughout the month of Octoberween. Though it can easily be beat in one sitting, it’s one of those games that you shouldn’t rush through until you’ve beaten it for the first time. I happen to get this game at 50% off when it was on sale on one of PSN’s weekly deals. At full price it would be a hard sell even for the most diehard of Slender Man fans at $14.99. So despite my interest in Slender Man and the Internet Urban Legend he has become, I really can’t recommend it at that price. But if you happen to stumble upon it on sale later this Octoberween, you couldn’t do no worse with $7.99 or cheaper.
Ta-ta
“N”
My Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2015
11) Zombie Panic in Wonderland – 1000 Wii Points
10) Trouble Witches NEO - $9.99 + $1.99 DLC character
09) Slender: The Arrival – on sale $7.49
BONUS VIDEO
In this episode of “Camera Obscura”, Claire tries to use her grandfather’s connections in the police department to help shed some light on the recent spree of murders. Will she succeed? Enjoy!
Sleep well tonight…….
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