Cursed Mountain - Nintendo Wii

Cursed mountain is a very well illustrated game that conveys the sense of being in an isolated and virtually abandoned Tibetan mountain village that has fallen under some kind of evil curse. I like the use of references to Tibetan culture and hope that more game designers began to work to bring more of these exotic cultures to life. I think the game could have benefited from using more of the rituals, for instance the Tibetan death ceremonies in the storyline and relying less on a "seek objects and do battle" format. Just walking around this local is interesting, until you have to do battle with the ghosts who have taken over the town.As good as the Wii can be at some things, I find that combat is not always one of them.These battles involve coordinating several remote actions. Once you have added a spiritual component to your pick axe, (which happens very early in the game) you have to manipulate both the remote and the nunchuk in order to successfully combat the phantoms. The C button on the nunchuk must be depressed so that you can use your third eye and activate your spirit weapon. The B button on the Wii remote is pressed to fire your weapon and the A button must be held down to do rituals which involve moving the remote and/or nunchuk in specific ways to dispel the ghost once it is wounded.This would be great if the Wii remote worked better. Finding the cursor (as you probably know from playing other games),especially with hungry ghosts bearing down, can be as challenging as aiming it. At other times your are able to aim it, but nothing happens in the game. The movements needed to completely dispel the ghosts are complicated and it is very hard to know whether you are doing them wrong or if the remote is just not fully conveying them. I found what works best is a frenzy of heavy shaking in all directions (including a strong wrist snap forward since this is the remote/nunchuk's weakest direction).Seeing during combat is another issue. You are always following your character rather than seeing through their eyes. The + control pad is supposed to change to first person, but it doesn't do much and can not be used with the third eye in battle. The minute the third eye is activated your movement is also curtailed. When the attacker is close, you often find yourself blocking your own view of combat and looking at your back. Moving to the side makes it very hard to aim your weapon correctly.Perhaps my least favorite thing about the game is that you are forced to submit to the auto-save feature. I hate games that make you replay major sequences over and over. To me that is boring, and very frustrating when you are forced to repeat major battle scenes.As Wii games go, Cursed Mountain is a very good looking game, with excellent graphics and sound. It is reasonably enjoyable even with the flaws. Exploring the exotic locals and learning about Tibetan culture are interesting enough to make this worth playing.

Here's my mental picture of how a game like "Cursed Mountain" came to be: Some skinny game developer had a profound, life-changing trip to Tibet, and really wanted to weave these experiences into a game. He then hooked up with some Guido Moneybags guy for production capital, got the game to 'slightly polished draft' state, and Guido called his loan, demanding, "Get this thing out the door! I don't care about your vacation in Tibet; I want my ROI!"And so, unfortunately, this is a game that reminds me how punishing it is to play a mature game on the Wii in the first place -- from the grindingly blocky graphics that look like a** on my big-screen to struggling to get the aiming reticle even on the screen in the first place to the trouble interpreting important nunchuck motions to the silly Mickey Mouse hand that pops up when I hit the 'home' button, this thing REALLY makes me wish I had my PS3 or 360 controller in-hand.For that matter, this game really shoulda been a downloadable Xbox Live or PSN title, clocking in at 4-5 hours. While I appreciate building tension through an unnervingly quiet, mostly abandoned (mostly) world, 'Shadow of the Colossus'-style, 15 hours with this lack of polish is just too much. Unfortunately this is one of those "OMG, when is this gonna be over so I can go back to playing Borderlands" games, and by my estimation, I'm only a little more than halfway through.Our Scottish hero grinds his way through Himalayan passes and monks' temples, dropping NatGeo-style factoids about the sacred books, items and locations as he goes. It's obviously a culture he loves and respects, except for their urns, which he smashes with abandon to acquire healing incense sticks. Reminds me of that old T-shirt we used to see in the early 90s: "Join the army! See the world! Meet interesting new people! And shoot them!": "Join the mountain climbers! See the world! Meet interesting new people! And smash their urns!" The hero progresses on an unwavering rail throughout the game, climbing sheer walls, balancing across deep crevasses, etc., until he's thwarted by the insurmountable nemesis of videogame characters -- the 18" stone wall that he can't simply step over.Again, I really admire the ambition of this game -- an unusual setting and culture, the unnerving emptiness of the world, and the 'Eternal Darkness'-style trippy mindplay sequences -- but it's just too long for a game with this lack of polish.

I'll start by saying that I liked this game enough to play through it all the way, though for the last third of the game I did feel a bit like "is it over yet?!" The concept is great, the voice acting is really good for the budget I'm sure they had, and the experience does feel a bit like (perhaps) what it would feel to climb a mountain, which is what they were going for. That said, the tediousness and repetitiveness of climbing a mountain are also present. The enemies are all kinda the same, and it isn't that fun to kill them after a while, even with the weapon upgrades you get. I gave the game 4 stars because at least they tried to do something different, and I'm glad I played the game. That said I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to a friend. If you play a ton of Wii games and are running out of options or looking for something you won't find in another game, this is definitely worth a play-through, but if you're like me and only play one a month or so, there are probably better options. The last two games I played were Resident Evil 4 and Kirby's Epic Yarn, both of which blew this gaming experience out of the water. The price is right though, can't complain about a $10 game.

This game really does what it says on the tin. Its scares and it scares good.Its rare in horror games these days to feel scared and be made jump out of your skin. This game has a great ability to get you when you least expect it.The story is little hard to follow at first and a lot of the plot revolves around Tibetan history & Buddhist rituals that may confuse. The way the story is told, is through journals and the lead characters tape recording machine. Which adds to the tension and relays the feeling of loneliness. The story becomes easier to understand as the games unfolds, and draws you in making you want our character survive and win the day.The graphics are very impressive, great views all around of deep valleys, high ridges and lonely villages all portrayed in great detail. The weather effects are done very nicely with mist rolling and blocking your vision and giving a claustrophobic impression. Snow storms rage across the screen. All in all a very impressive image is given from your humble little Wii.Difficulty is managed very well, with nothing too hard but it does offer you with a challenge that lasts for a satisfying amount of timeThe only bug bear I do have is the controls. The character moves very slowly and does feel a bit sluggish at times. This however does not take away from a very enjoyable horror quest.If you are interested in horror games, you couldn't do too wrong by buying this game.

Ive only played this twice so far but am enjoying it immensely. Its the kind of game that wears its heart-on-its-sleeve as far as its influences are concerned. The basic camera and slightly linear pathway is straight out of RE4, the ghostly apparitions are very Project Zero: Crimson Butterfly and the foggy mood and eerie sound effects are Silent Hill-esque, the setting could be Tomb Raider.This is no bad thing as the game puts you right into a deserted village and creeps you out straight away!! The learning curve and controls are clear and simple with the only slight problem being a change in movement when the camera changes sometimes. This is not as irritating as the camera in Resident Evil:Outbreak for those of you who have played that shambles!!The setting is very different and atmospheric, climbing a mountain and investigating ramshackle villages on the way. As someone else mentioned, the buddhist angle of the games story is different and you feel it is rooted in real philosophy, not some crazy virus or something. The added bonus to this approach is the fact that you can dispatch ghosts with a prayer/exorcism move by flipping a couple of gestures with the Wii remote. This works very well and is a welcome change to the silver bullet/rocket launcher approach of some games. It also heals you a small amount so there is added incentive to exorcise the ghost, not just kill them.The game is also full of nice little touches that immerse you in the experience. Instead of health potions you must light purifying incense sticks at shrines and you learn more of the story by picking up notes and diary entries as you go. These extra bits of wisdom help to increase your health meter over time. You can 'see' into the underworld with your third-eye vision (clearly influenced by Zelda TP and Forbidden Siren but thankfully, to good effect) to see ghosts and cursed objects more clearly.The producers of this game should be applauded for taking a basic survival horror game and making it more than the sum of its parts in a very enjoyable (if scary) way!Now, if this lot could get together with Crystal Dynamics and work together on the next Tomb Raider we could have a classic on our hands...

Shame this is broken as the theme is great and the old fashioned graphics are quite charming. Watched the wife play through this and she's patient with all games, but gave up here due to terrible battle controls - looked almost unplayable to me with no amount of violent waggling getting to fire on time or in the right place. Some producer made a humdinger of a bad decision when playing with the wii's new control system. Real shame - keep an eye out for the dev in future though (not the producer!).

Very good atmospheric game. I like strategy games so figuring out and gaining knowledge was right up my street. You learn more as you go on. If youre into esoteric stuff you learn a bit on that too. Game worked perfectly. As described. Very good company.

Goodish game. Lots of walking around and not many fight scenes. Relaxing but a little boring. However, if you don't like fighting games this is the game for you!