GAME
Priming the pump for Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, the big-screen follow-up to The Blair Witch Project coming to multiplexes everywhere this fall, the PC game version happily retains much of the original movie's feeling of exquisite obscurity. Like the film, you never quite see the monster in full. Everything you know appears on the rectangle of the screen; some mortal threats stand right out in front of you while others lurk in shadows.
The first of three Blair Witch games, Volume 1 takes place in 1941, shortly after local hermit Rustin Parr, in thrall to the witch, butchers seven children. Players take on the role of covert G-woman Elspeth "Doc" Holliday, an agent of a Roosevelt-commissioned government bureau (known as the Spookhouse) created to investigate incidents of supernatural evil.
The game doesn't use the shaky camera effect of the movie; instead, you get a removed, cinematic view (a scheme made popular by classic games such as Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil). In one game scenario, for example, you're in the bleak Parr house itself, where the lighting is moody and precise; as you move Holliday with keyboard controls, her coat ripples and her shadow distorts in relation to the light. Far off behind her, something wobbles past a doorway. Because of the forced perspective, it's too far off and too quickly glimpsed. It could be the shadow of a small child (are those two tiny legs?) peeking out from a doorway. You're not really sure ... but man, it didn't look good.
Once you go to investigate, the viewpoint switches to a claustrophobic hallway. The mysterious being is now too close, you still can't tell what the hell it is, and it's about to rip you to pieces. You whip out your pistol and hope you have enough ammo. Fusing the considerable backstory of The Blair Witch Project with its own Spookhouse mythos (established in an earlier game, Nocturne), developer Terminal Reality creates an onscreen mood of something between fear-of-the-dark dread and gun-packing whup-ass. Now the good guys are finally getting in a few good licks - even if they have to go back in time to do it.
The next two games in the trilogy are each set further back in time, reaching to the very origin of the Blair Witch legend, and each ties up some loose ends from the 1999 film while causing others to unravel. Like Blair Witch 2, which hits theaters on Halloween, the game gives witch fans a little more to chew on. For now, it's 1941. You have a lamp, a gun, four rounds of ammunition, and a sudden understanding of just what those creepy stick figures actually mean. Use that ammo wisely. You might want to save one round for yourself.
Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr: $29.99. Gathering of Developers: www.godgames.com.
STREET CRED
The Me Index
Gildergasm
Anglo Galactico
Witch Hunt
Anti-G Shock
Pharm Trek
It's a Wrap
ReadMe
Music
Comicopia
On Your Mark, Get Set, Row!
Interface-Off
Just Outta Beta
The Burrows of New York
Work Study
Contributors
