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Have you ever watched a horror film and been stunned by the sheer stupidity of the characters on-screen? I certainly have, and I'm not just talking about things that we, as horror movie viewers know are stupid.
For example, there are plenty of movies where the characters split up when they know there's a knife wielding maniac about. Not a good idea.
Until Dawn's main chapter begins with a group of teenagers - in Hollywood tradition played by actors in their mid twenties - heading to a snowy mountain lodge for a party. That's not daft behaviour in itself, until you consider the fact that there's also an abandoned sanitarium on the same mountain - red light number one. Oh, and last year, they pranked two of their friends who subsequently fell off a mountain ledge - red light number two. Did I mention that their bodies were never found? That's red light number three right there.
Thankfully, that's the only really dumb move the characters make, otherwise Until Dawn could have become a horrible mess of horror movie cliches. As it is, Until Dawn's best described as a horror version of Heavy Rain. It's essentially an 'interactive movie' where you take control of the aforementioned teenagers - eight characters in total - though only one at a time.
The game's split into chapters, each of which is often split into smaller scenes so you can find yourself playing as several characters within a single chapter. Gameplay typically involves wandering around small locations - there's not a great deal of exploring here - clicking on various items, interacting with them by rotating the joystick, pressing a button or whatever. You also sometimes have to swipe across the PS4's touch pad. Yes, Sony is still trying to find an excuse to use the least useful part of the PS4 of controller.
That might not sound like much fun, and it's true that the first chapter is a pretty sedate affair. However, things pick up pretty quickly when you start interacting with other characters and having to deal with action sequences. It's hard to say too much about the story without giving away the plot, but there is a masked man involved and lots of running, hiding, climbing and so forth. The latter involves a lot of 'Quick Time Events' where you have to press a button at the right moment. However, one of Until Dawn's more appealing features is the way that there is no 'game over' screen. If you fail a quick time event you will - most of the time - fall down/fall over and have to do the event again. But on occasions, it will result in the death of the character, and the game will continue with that character dead.
'Hang on' , you might be thinking.. 'Don't I get to try again?' No, you don't. It takes a couple of button press failures to result in a character's death, but that character ends up dying - or sometimes being knocked unconscious. This actually makes the game a much more involving experience since there's no rewinding and fixing things. It's pretty unlikely that you'll finish the game the first time with all the characters alive.
That isn't, however, just down to whether you succeed or fail at the quick-time events. Until Dawn's other significant feature is the 'butterfly effect' system. What this means is that as you roam around the game's locations - all of which look absolutely amazing - you will have to make various decisions. You may have to decide whether you want to talk to another character in a friendly or sarcastic way. Or you might have to decide whether to go after a character who has headed out into the snow or seek safety in numbers with the other characters. The best thing about this is that while the game does offer you 'dumb' choices - such as going off to investigate a sound - there are intelligent choices as well. The characters rarely do dumb horror-movie style things on their own.
That said, the effect of your actions aren't always felt straight away. For example, if you're repeatedly mean to one character then she will, at one point, lock a door on you, leaving you to die at the hands of the game's menace. The characters themselves are surprisingly sympathetic, although there was I wanted to die at the earliest opportunity. This character did die, too, which made me feel strangely guilty. The voice acting is top notch, as is the facial animation system, although there is one exception. Peter Stormare of 'Fargo' fame sounds great, but his in-game appearance just looks 'off' somehow.
The idea of the player's actions having an impact on a game's isn't new - Telltale Games frequently boast that their stories are shaped by the player's choices. Until Dawn, however, actually does this better than The Walking Dead or any of Telltale's other games. Not only is Until Dawn's story superbly written but it actually changes as you go along without forcing you down a single narrative road. It's true that the story still progresses, but your characters can find themselves in different locations, depending upon how you played the game. Or they can end up dead, leaving you feeling rather uneasy as you realise your cast of characters is slowly dwindling.
Until Dawn is an excellent game, with a superb story, great writing and best of all, it's genuinely scary. Unlike a horror movie, where you can berate the characters for making stupid decisions, the characters' fates are entirely down to you. Is it perfect? No. The use of quick time events can be a bit annoying at times. Also, while playing it through a second time does let you change the characters' fates, you already know what the story's about so it becomes a bit less scary. But Until Dawn is still a great game, and a superb example of how to do an 'interactive movie' properly. Well worth picking up.
Pros:
Great storyline.
Excellent graphics.
Your decisions really do impact the storyline.
The game can change on a second play through.
Cons:
The quick time events can be annoying.
It's not as scary the second time around.
For example, there are plenty of movies where the characters split up when they know there's a knife wielding maniac about. Not a good idea.
Until Dawn's main chapter begins with a group of teenagers - in Hollywood tradition played by actors in their mid twenties - heading to a snowy mountain lodge for a party. That's not daft behaviour in itself, until you consider the fact that there's also an abandoned sanitarium on the same mountain - red light number one. Oh, and last year, they pranked two of their friends who subsequently fell off a mountain ledge - red light number two. Did I mention that their bodies were never found? That's red light number three right there.
Thankfully, that's the only really dumb move the characters make, otherwise Until Dawn could have become a horrible mess of horror movie cliches. As it is, Until Dawn's best described as a horror version of Heavy Rain. It's essentially an 'interactive movie' where you take control of the aforementioned teenagers - eight characters in total - though only one at a time.
The game's split into chapters, each of which is often split into smaller scenes so you can find yourself playing as several characters within a single chapter. Gameplay typically involves wandering around small locations - there's not a great deal of exploring here - clicking on various items, interacting with them by rotating the joystick, pressing a button or whatever. You also sometimes have to swipe across the PS4's touch pad. Yes, Sony is still trying to find an excuse to use the least useful part of the PS4 of controller.
That might not sound like much fun, and it's true that the first chapter is a pretty sedate affair. However, things pick up pretty quickly when you start interacting with other characters and having to deal with action sequences. It's hard to say too much about the story without giving away the plot, but there is a masked man involved and lots of running, hiding, climbing and so forth. The latter involves a lot of 'Quick Time Events' where you have to press a button at the right moment. However, one of Until Dawn's more appealing features is the way that there is no 'game over' screen. If you fail a quick time event you will - most of the time - fall down/fall over and have to do the event again. But on occasions, it will result in the death of the character, and the game will continue with that character dead.
'Hang on' , you might be thinking.. 'Don't I get to try again?' No, you don't. It takes a couple of button press failures to result in a character's death, but that character ends up dying - or sometimes being knocked unconscious. This actually makes the game a much more involving experience since there's no rewinding and fixing things. It's pretty unlikely that you'll finish the game the first time with all the characters alive.
That isn't, however, just down to whether you succeed or fail at the quick-time events. Until Dawn's other significant feature is the 'butterfly effect' system. What this means is that as you roam around the game's locations - all of which look absolutely amazing - you will have to make various decisions. You may have to decide whether you want to talk to another character in a friendly or sarcastic way. Or you might have to decide whether to go after a character who has headed out into the snow or seek safety in numbers with the other characters. The best thing about this is that while the game does offer you 'dumb' choices - such as going off to investigate a sound - there are intelligent choices as well. The characters rarely do dumb horror-movie style things on their own.
That said, the effect of your actions aren't always felt straight away. For example, if you're repeatedly mean to one character then she will, at one point, lock a door on you, leaving you to die at the hands of the game's menace. The characters themselves are surprisingly sympathetic, although there was I wanted to die at the earliest opportunity. This character did die, too, which made me feel strangely guilty. The voice acting is top notch, as is the facial animation system, although there is one exception. Peter Stormare of 'Fargo' fame sounds great, but his in-game appearance just looks 'off' somehow.
The idea of the player's actions having an impact on a game's isn't new - Telltale Games frequently boast that their stories are shaped by the player's choices. Until Dawn, however, actually does this better than The Walking Dead or any of Telltale's other games. Not only is Until Dawn's story superbly written but it actually changes as you go along without forcing you down a single narrative road. It's true that the story still progresses, but your characters can find themselves in different locations, depending upon how you played the game. Or they can end up dead, leaving you feeling rather uneasy as you realise your cast of characters is slowly dwindling.
Until Dawn is an excellent game, with a superb story, great writing and best of all, it's genuinely scary. Unlike a horror movie, where you can berate the characters for making stupid decisions, the characters' fates are entirely down to you. Is it perfect? No. The use of quick time events can be a bit annoying at times. Also, while playing it through a second time does let you change the characters' fates, you already know what the story's about so it becomes a bit less scary. But Until Dawn is still a great game, and a superb example of how to do an 'interactive movie' properly. Well worth picking up.
Pros:
Great storyline.
Excellent graphics.
Your decisions really do impact the storyline.
The game can change on a second play through.
Cons:
The quick time events can be annoying.
It's not as scary the second time around.
Have you ever watched a horror film and been stunned by the sheer stupidity of the characters on-screen? I certainly have, and I'm not just talking about things that we, as horror movie viewers know are stupid.
For example, there are plenty of movies where the characters split up when they know there's a knife wielding maniac about. Not a good idea.
Until Dawn's main chapter begins with a group of teenagers - in Hollywood tradition played by actors in their mid twenties - heading to a snowy mountain lodge for a party. That's not daft behaviour in itself, until you consider the fact that there's also an abandoned sanitarium on the same mountain - red light number one. Oh, and last year, they pranked two of their friends who subsequently fell off a mountain ledge - red light number two. Did I mention that their bodies were never found? That's red light number three right there.
Thankfully, that's the only really dumb move the characters make, otherwise Until Dawn could have become a horrible mess of horror movie cliches. As it is, Until Dawn's best described as a horror version of Heavy Rain. It's essentially an 'interactive movie' where you take control of the aforementioned teenagers - eight characters in total - though only one at a time.
The game's split into chapters, each of which is often split into smaller scenes so you can find yourself playing as several characters within a single chapter. Gameplay typically involves wandering around small locations - there's not a great deal of exploring here - clicking on various items, interacting with them by rotating the joystick, pressing a button or whatever. You also sometimes have to swipe across the PS4's touch pad. Yes, Sony is still trying to find an excuse to use the least useful part of the PS4 of controller.
That might not sound like much fun, and it's true that the first chapter is a pretty sedate affair. However, things pick up pretty quickly when you start interacting with other characters and having to deal with action sequences. It's hard to say too much about the story without giving away the plot, but there is a masked man involved and lots of running, hiding, climbing and so forth. The latter involves a lot of 'Quick Time Events' where you have to press a button at the right moment. However, one of Until Dawn's more appealing features is the way that there is no 'game over' screen. If you fail a quick time event you will - most of the time - fall down/fall over and have to do the event again. But on occasions, it will result in the death of the character, and the game will continue with that character dead.
'Hang on' , you might be thinking.. 'Don't I get to try again?' No, you don't. It takes a couple of button press failures to result in a character's death, but that character ends up dying - or sometimes being knocked unconscious. This actually makes the game a much more involving experience since there's no rewinding and fixing things. It's pretty unlikely that you'll finish the game the first time with all the characters alive.
That isn't, however, just down to whether you succeed or fail at the quick-time events. Until Dawn's other significant feature is the 'butterfly effect' system. What this means is that as you roam around the game's locations - all of which look absolutely amazing - you will have to make various decisions. You may have to decide whether you want to talk to another character in a friendly or sarcastic way. Or you might have to decide whether to go after a character who has headed out into the snow or seek safety in numbers with the other characters. The best thing about this is that while the game does offer you 'dumb' choices - such as going off to investigate a sound - there are intelligent choices as well. The characters rarely do dumb horror-movie style things on their own.
That said, the effect of your actions aren't always felt straight away. For example, if you're repeatedly mean to one character then she will, at one point, lock a door on you, leaving you to die at the hands of the game's menace. The characters themselves are surprisingly sympathetic, although there was I wanted to die at the earliest opportunity. This character did die, too, which made me feel strangely guilty. The voice acting is top notch, as is the facial animation system, although there is one exception. Peter Stormare of 'Fargo' fame sounds great, but his in-game appearance just looks 'off' somehow.
The idea of the player's actions having an impact on a game's isn't new - Telltale Games frequently boast that their stories are shaped by the player's choices. Until Dawn, however, actually does this better than The Walking Dead or any of Telltale's other games. Not only is Until Dawn's story superbly written but it actually changes as you go along without forcing you down a single narrative road. It's true that the story still progresses, but your characters can find themselves in different locations, depending upon how you played the game. Or they can end up dead, leaving you feeling rather uneasy as you realise your cast of characters is slowly dwindling.
Until Dawn is an excellent game, with a superb story, great writing and best of all, it's genuinely scary. Unlike a horror movie, where you can berate the characters for making stupid decisions, the characters' fates are entirely down to you. Is it perfect? No. The use of quick time events can be a bit annoying at times. Also, while playing it through a second time does let you change the characters' fates, you already know what the story's about so it becomes a bit less scary. But Until Dawn is still a great game, and a superb example of how to do an 'interactive movie' properly. Well worth picking up.
Pros:
Great storyline.
Excellent graphics.
Your decisions really do impact the storyline.
The game can change on a second play through.
Cons:
The quick time events can be annoying.
It's not as scary the second time around.
For example, there are plenty of movies where the characters split up when they know there's a knife wielding maniac about. Not a good idea.
Until Dawn's main chapter begins with a group of teenagers - in Hollywood tradition played by actors in their mid twenties - heading to a snowy mountain lodge for a party. That's not daft behaviour in itself, until you consider the fact that there's also an abandoned sanitarium on the same mountain - red light number one. Oh, and last year, they pranked two of their friends who subsequently fell off a mountain ledge - red light number two. Did I mention that their bodies were never found? That's red light number three right there.
Thankfully, that's the only really dumb move the characters make, otherwise Until Dawn could have become a horrible mess of horror movie cliches. As it is, Until Dawn's best described as a horror version of Heavy Rain. It's essentially an 'interactive movie' where you take control of the aforementioned teenagers - eight characters in total - though only one at a time.
The game's split into chapters, each of which is often split into smaller scenes so you can find yourself playing as several characters within a single chapter. Gameplay typically involves wandering around small locations - there's not a great deal of exploring here - clicking on various items, interacting with them by rotating the joystick, pressing a button or whatever. You also sometimes have to swipe across the PS4's touch pad. Yes, Sony is still trying to find an excuse to use the least useful part of the PS4 of controller.
That might not sound like much fun, and it's true that the first chapter is a pretty sedate affair. However, things pick up pretty quickly when you start interacting with other characters and having to deal with action sequences. It's hard to say too much about the story without giving away the plot, but there is a masked man involved and lots of running, hiding, climbing and so forth. The latter involves a lot of 'Quick Time Events' where you have to press a button at the right moment. However, one of Until Dawn's more appealing features is the way that there is no 'game over' screen. If you fail a quick time event you will - most of the time - fall down/fall over and have to do the event again. But on occasions, it will result in the death of the character, and the game will continue with that character dead.
'Hang on' , you might be thinking.. 'Don't I get to try again?' No, you don't. It takes a couple of button press failures to result in a character's death, but that character ends up dying - or sometimes being knocked unconscious. This actually makes the game a much more involving experience since there's no rewinding and fixing things. It's pretty unlikely that you'll finish the game the first time with all the characters alive.
That isn't, however, just down to whether you succeed or fail at the quick-time events. Until Dawn's other significant feature is the 'butterfly effect' system. What this means is that as you roam around the game's locations - all of which look absolutely amazing - you will have to make various decisions. You may have to decide whether you want to talk to another character in a friendly or sarcastic way. Or you might have to decide whether to go after a character who has headed out into the snow or seek safety in numbers with the other characters. The best thing about this is that while the game does offer you 'dumb' choices - such as going off to investigate a sound - there are intelligent choices as well. The characters rarely do dumb horror-movie style things on their own.
That said, the effect of your actions aren't always felt straight away. For example, if you're repeatedly mean to one character then she will, at one point, lock a door on you, leaving you to die at the hands of the game's menace. The characters themselves are surprisingly sympathetic, although there was I wanted to die at the earliest opportunity. This character did die, too, which made me feel strangely guilty. The voice acting is top notch, as is the facial animation system, although there is one exception. Peter Stormare of 'Fargo' fame sounds great, but his in-game appearance just looks 'off' somehow.
The idea of the player's actions having an impact on a game's isn't new - Telltale Games frequently boast that their stories are shaped by the player's choices. Until Dawn, however, actually does this better than The Walking Dead or any of Telltale's other games. Not only is Until Dawn's story superbly written but it actually changes as you go along without forcing you down a single narrative road. It's true that the story still progresses, but your characters can find themselves in different locations, depending upon how you played the game. Or they can end up dead, leaving you feeling rather uneasy as you realise your cast of characters is slowly dwindling.
Until Dawn is an excellent game, with a superb story, great writing and best of all, it's genuinely scary. Unlike a horror movie, where you can berate the characters for making stupid decisions, the characters' fates are entirely down to you. Is it perfect? No. The use of quick time events can be a bit annoying at times. Also, while playing it through a second time does let you change the characters' fates, you already know what the story's about so it becomes a bit less scary. But Until Dawn is still a great game, and a superb example of how to do an 'interactive movie' properly. Well worth picking up.
Pros:
Great storyline.
Excellent graphics.
Your decisions really do impact the storyline.
The game can change on a second play through.
Cons:
The quick time events can be annoying.
It's not as scary the second time around.
This is a game I'm interested in playing though and I'll definitely pick it up at some point.