Rise of Nightmares preview

[Jazzy]

One of E3's most surreal games was the Kinect horror title Rise of Nightmares, Tom Hoggins finds it hilarious and disturbing in equal measure.



Formats: Xbox 360 (Kinect)

Developer: Sega AM1

Publisher: Sega

Released: 26 August 2011



It’s Microsoft’s pre-E3 party in a swanky club in downtown LA. Kinect titles line the walls, wannabe Hollywood starlets strut their stuff to Dance Central, car lovers test out Forza 4, a special glass room hosts Disney and Star Wars in the back. Gears of War creator Cliff Blezsinski mingles with Xbox executives supping cocktails. Amongst all this, nestled between Dance Central and Power Up Heroes pods is a door. A single, dark, lonely door with the name of a game stamped across the top of the frame in grotesque letters. RISE OF NIGHTMARES it read. I nudge my companion: “Hey, look at that.” We exchange a glance. Neither of us had heard the name before, and this party isn’t really our scene. We have to go in. To find out what lies beyond. We are not sure if we will ever come back.



Beyond the door is a smallish room, bathed in a mixture of darkness and red light. Cragged trees line the back wall, reaching out like mangled fingertips. Between them is a screen, and in front of that, a man. A man spinning around like a crazed animal. But he’s not lost to madness, no, turns out he’s just playing Kinect.



So, yes, Rise of Nightmares is a Kinect game. But it’s not the kind of thing you expect from Microsoft’s sensor. It’s a horror story, ‘inspired’ by gore-porn nasties such as Hostel and Saw. The start of the demo, seen in first-person, has me strapped to a chair while a crazed Eastern European ‘doctor’ goes to work on another unfortunate soul opposite. As he talks to me in his comedy accent, he casually picks up a machete and lops off the poor man’s right hand, who squeals in agony and blood spurts onto the already filthy floor. It’s not long before he’s silenced, though, Dr. Crazy thumping the weapon into the back of his victim’s skull.



Then he turns to me, but a phonecall interrupts him, and he leaves me to the devices of his lovely assistant, who appears to be a zombie. But before she can sink her teeth in, an unknown saviour appears and slices her in half. Freed from my shackles, I’m given control, and what followed was unquestionably the weirdest, most incongruous experience of E3, totally suited to that door sitting unnoticed between more cutesy video games.



Rest of review including pictures: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8581498/Rise-of-Nightmares-preview.html