Run for your life Fiona..
Hewie is a white furred dog Fiona rescues later in the game. Unlike Fiona, Hewie needs food and a lot of love. You can command Hewie and order him to go, where he’ll attack and chew on the enemy to buy time for you to escape. You can command Hewie to sit and increase his attack power in battle. Hewie can also be scolded if he’s not responding. You can also kick him but that wouldn’t helpful. And you can praise Hewie for his assistance. Hewie can also reach for item that are too far for Fiona, and can aid you in solving puzzles. He’ll can also detect an enemy presence and start barking to alert you. Whether he’ll respond and aid you solely depends on how well you treat him throughout the course of the game.
The game play is similar to Clock Tower 3, its basically a hide-and-seek formula that was traditionally used in the clock tower series as a point and click game. Fiona can hide from opponent by sneaking in closets, behind doors, under beds, etc. When hiding, the word “hiding” will be displayed on screen. A message will inform you if the coast is clear. Fiona can also kick enemies in the shin, which is best used on walls that crack or rusted materials. She can also run really fast, but at the same time lose a lot of stamina and speed. Besides Hewie and Fiona’s kick, she can also perform alchemy and use them to distract opponents. Capcom has improved upon the Panic Meter that was originally used in Clock Tower 3. Fiona will panic when she encounters blood, floating particles that emit light, stalkers, or objects that freaks her out. When she reaches her full panic mode, the screen will distort into a black and white blur and Fiona will run uncontrollably into walls and objects. This feature enhances the mood of the game and definitely strikes fear in the players hands. When Fiona is in panic mode, she will gather a lot of attention and be vulnerable to a hit one k.o. Fortunately, Fiona can suppress her panic with Lavender water.
The enemies she encounter are horrific and full of personality. Debilitas looks like a big fat pervert whose confused at all times. He’ll chase you from room to room and call you his sweet-heart. Daniella looks cool and calm, but she is also one of the cheapest enemies in the game. She’ll play hide-and-seek with you, but she’ll be the one hiding and come out when least expected. She’s also really fast and laughs uncontrollably when she sees you. Ricardo is the cheapest enemy in the game. He walks around in a coat and can kill you from a distance with his hand-gun. He can become invisible and strike you. The enemies in Haunting Ground are really smart. They’ll chase you from room to room, re-check rooms, check hiding spots, and even attack Hewie. To alert you of an presence of enemy, the music in the background will distort and return to normal if the coast is clear.
The graphics are clean and character models are well constructed. The environments gives a creepy vibe and objects will glitter in the background. You can see the various emotions in the character’s faces and body gestures. There’s also no loading screens, the game progresses from beginning to end with no load at all. There are also an abundance of cut-scenes that enhances the mood of Haunting Ground. The sounds are all well-done. Hewie sounds a lot like a real dog, Fiona’s voice sounds like an innocent mature girl, and the enemies all sound creepy. The only music in the entire game is the Panic music, which does really well to strike a nerve.
Haunting Ground isn’t a perfect game and suffers from poor AI and repetition. No matter how well you treat Hewie, he will not always respond at crucial times. Sometimes you’ll need to command him to come 3 times before he starts to walk up to you. When you tell him to sit on a platform to unlock a door or whatever, he’ll frequently walk away from it before you even get a chance to reach the door. There were also moments where he gets stuck in his growling animation and forgets to attack the enemy, leaving Fiona vulnerable to enemy attacks. You’ll be playing hide-and-seek with these stalkers for the entire game, can get tiring and repetitive.
After beating the game in 7 hours and unlocking additional costumes and hard-mode, Haunting Ground left a real good taste in my mouth. The fear of being chased down by a stalker was gone. The fear of hearing the panic music was no more. Haunting Ground captures fear and engraves it upon you. When you beat Haunting Ground, you’ll feel as if you worked really hard and saved this women’s life. Haunting Ground is a prime example of how to implement Hide-and-seek into a horror game, keeping it mood tense from beginning to end.