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Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within (originally released in Japan as Clock Tower: Ghosthead) is a point-and-click adventure game created by Human Entertainment, published by Agetec, and released for the PlayStation in 1999. It is a spin-off to the Clock Tower series, having almost nothing to do with the previous games besides its gameplay.
Inspiration
Many hardcore fans of the Clock Tower series have reason to believe that since the first game in the series ( First Fear) was inspired from a Dario Argento film by the name of, 'Phenomena', that the creator also used another idea from the film...by giving the main character, Alyssa a split personality. Much like Jennifer, in the movie, 'Phenomena'.
Gameplay
Following its predecessors, the gameplay is more about hiding and solving puzzles rather than fighting the player's pursuers, but this degenerates as the plot advances and the main character is forced to use guns and other action sequences.
Its interface consists of a point-and-click system similar to the one used by Sierra Entertainment games such as Gabriel Knight series. There is an inventory screen that appears if the user drags the pointer to the upper side of the screen. The game's engine is considered to look similar to Clock Tower (Clock Tower 2 in Japan), with a few minor alterations. The players may see that their movements are restricted by this system which, compared to other survival horrors of the time, wasn't well applied.
Clock Tower II features three chapters whose length can change depending on the choices made by the player. The game's replay value comes in 13 endings which, normally have the main character dying in different violent ways. The way to reach each ending is known to be pretty inaccurate, requiring the player to use a FAQ in order to achieve them.
Please refer to the external links to find FAQs about this game.
Technical Details
Clock Tower II is a 3D-based game for the Sony PlayStation. Its graphics are of the first generation 3D variety, and thus would be considered poor by today's standards. The game was often criticized for the lack of upgrades since its predecessor. It uses low resolution textures and character models with low polygon count. Sound effects and voices are poor and the consistence of the interface has been questioned many times. There are also several programming errors which sometimes make it impossible to proceed to the next stage.Plot
In the opening FMV, two people are seen holding flashlights and digging in a graveyard. One of them uncovers the dirt and finds a baby which almost suffocated to death. This girl was taken in and later named Alyssa.
Seventeen years later, Alyssa Hale is a school girl who has been having dark visions of her murdering her loved ones ever since she received her father's amulet. She wakes up only to discover that those dreams have come true. There is a cold-blooded, immoral male personality inside her named "Mr. Bates" who makes her do things. However, when she has her amulet, it keeps her safe from his invasions.
She was released out of a mental hospital and is staying with a family friend. As she arrives at the Tate home, she discovers the grisly secret of the "Maxwell Curse". In order to survive, Alyssa will have to trust her dark side, Bates.
Characters
- Alyssa Hale
A young girl Allen Hale dug up from the Maxwell Family grave to cause the ruin of George Maxwell. Her real name is Lynn Maxwell.
Her father, the director of a major hospital, was not home much, so Alyssa spent much of her childhood alone and she grew up to become a very quiet girl.
When she was still quite young, her father gave her a charm which she called "Amulet". She carried it with her always and it became a source of power.
She has a gloomy disposition. Possessed with spiritual intuition, she wants to link everything to otherworldly phenomena.
More Information about Her:
Alyssa is the main protagonist of the game. She is a tormented 17-year-old girl suffering from multiple personality disorder. She is spending the weekend on the family friend's house during the starting events of the game.
- Bates
He is Alyssa Hale's male alter ego. The Maxwells, fearing that their twins were the "Cursed Children" born yet again, buried them alive in the family grave just after they were born, as was done in past generations.
Bates is cruel, unjust, and heartless, yet kind to Alyssa, which might be a simple defense instinct.
Any actual significance or reason to his existence is unknown.
More Information about Him:
He is Alyssa's second personality. Cold-blooded and ruthless, he killed some of Alyssa's friends from the past years that lead to Alyssa's institutionalization in a genetics asylum.
Through the game, he can be dominant if Alyssa isn't wearing the special amulet and encounters a shocking event or danger, and can be dormant if Alyssa is wearing her special amulet.
He's also the only one who can use guns obtained throughout the game, making him the fighter side of Alyssa.
- Allen Hale
Alyssa's guardian father, but actually Shannon Lewis is his true daughter. Hale at one time worked with Philip Tate at Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab.
Hale was among the top technicians at the lab until the science genius George Maxwell appeared and ousted him from his position.
Consequently, he conspired with Philip Tate to dig up Maxwell's illegitimate child from the grave. The plan was to cause the ruin of George Maxwell, but instead of using Alyssa, he exacted his revenge by infecting a golden statue with a toxin that would cause anyone who touched the stature to go raving mad.
More Information about Him:
He is Alyssa's and Shannon's father. He tricked his best friend Philip into keeping the Yellow Doll in order to stop the Maxwell curse, only making the curse come to life.
- Philip Tate
He is the director of the Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab. Although a coward willing to even commit crime if it would help him reach is ambitions, Tate digs up the Maxwell grave at Hale's urging. Hale told Tate that the statue contained the Maxwell Family secret.
He fully believed the Maxwell Curse, and he kept the statue hidden in a closet for 16 years without noticing the toxin hidden inside.
More Information about Him:
He is the family friend of the Hale's and the head director of a pharmaceutical laboratory. He studies the effect of the gangrene parasite that revives the body of a person, ultimately transforming them into a zombie.
- Kathryn Tate
She is Philip Tate's wife. She has no particular role, but she is the one who contacts the detective who takes Alyssa to the hospital.
More Information about Her:
Philip's wife who becomes hopeless and troubled when all her three children died because of the Yellow Cursed Doll which Philip hid on the basement and was discovered by their youngest daughter Stephanie.
- Stephanie Tate
A first grader and the younger daughter of Tate's who becomes a murderous zombie after she is infected with the toxin implanted in the golden statue by Allen hale.
She is ultimately returns to normal from a chemical reaction when she sees the statue burn before her eyes.
In the end, the player should freed from Stephanie was merely a hallucination from the toxin that Alyssa saw; she was not possessed by anything.
More Information about Her:
She is the first enemy that the player encounters. She made herself look like a doll; and wields a kitchen knife. She laughs like a manic child that serves as a warning that she is near.
- Ashley Tate
She is a first year middle school student. While coming home from school she is infected with the Cerebral Toxin by George Maxwell and becomes a living corpse.
After returning home, she attacks her mother, Kathryn, and is then killed by her father, Philip, but her right arm which was injected with the toxin continues to live.
More Information about Her:
She is the second child of the Tate's. She is a close friend of Alyssa. She became a zombie and was killed by the possessed Stephanie. She was torn to pieces.
- Michael Tate
He is the eldest son in the Tate Family and about to enter high school. While trying to escape from Stephanie who has become a murderous zombie, he climbs inside a suit of samurai armor.
While in the armor, he, too, goes crazy from the toxin and himself becomes a wandering, murderous zombie.
More Information about Him:
He is the oldest child of the Tates. He was pursued by Stephanie and Ashley. He hid on a samurai armor only to realize that the back of the helmet has a gangrene parasite and it affected his brain directly.
- Alex Corey
A cool, snobbish detective from the neighboring town of Prunedale.. He saves his reputation as a cool character by turning up at the end of scenario.
Even the scenario writer doesn't know what happens between Corey and Alyssa after everything is over.
More Information about Him:
He is a detective who is recently investigating Philip Tate. He's a supporting character.
- Doug Bowman
He is a newspaper reporter with a strong sense of justice. He, too, is relegated to playing a supporting role like Alex Corey, but his personality does not change.
He is open-hearted and straight-forwarded, but he is bad at dealing with dead-end situations. He tends to make hasty decisions.
More Information about Him:
He is a reporter investigating on the George Maxwell case. His fate is uncertain.
- Henry Kaplan
He is the director of Memorial Hospital. Kaplan helps George Maxwell by providing him with patients for experiments. This causes Memorial Hospital to have a bad reputation.
- Jessica Cook
She is the Head Nurse of Memorial Hospital. She investigates Kaplan's activities on her own. When she discovers the Cerebral Toxin plan, there are already many zombies and she thinks it is too late to do anything about it so she tries to commit suicide. She is an extremely overwrought, emotional woman.
More Information about Her:
The player can save her, or let her die in the game.
- Shannon Lewis
She's the daughter of Allen Hale. When she was 8 years old, her parents divorced, and she was taken into custody by her mother, who died of an illness a year later.
More Information about Her:
A mysterious woman later revealed to be Alyssa's half-sister. She is bent on revenge by killing Alyssa, but ultimately helps her throughout the final chapter.
- George Maxwell
He works at Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab. He's the eldest son of the noble Maxwell Family. He always had a reputation of being a genius, and rightfully so.
Allan hale is jealous of him and plans to whole incident. In 1982, George has a baby girl, Lynn, but believing her to be cursed, he buries her according to Maxwell tradition.
From then on he hatches his Cerebral Toxin plan, which, fro him, is most likely revenge against all humanity. He goes insane from the toxin implanted in the statue which was sent to him by Allen Hale. He turns in to a psychopathic killer and he is virtually dead.
More Information about Him:
He's the true owner of the Yellow Cursed Doll and the third and final enemy of the game. He wears a red Oni mask and bloody doctors uniform, and wields a giant, bloody machete.
Reception
The game was poorly reviewed by IGN and Gamespot, having plot holes, bad voice acting and morbid multiple endings but despite that fact, it gained a consistent fan-base. Fans of the Clock Tower series received this game badly because it has little relation to any of the games before it. Technically, this game isn't even canon to the Clock Tower series itself.
External links
- Gamespot Review
- FAQs from Gamefaqs
- Clock Tower Fan Community - Broken Clock Forums
- Clock Tower Discussion Board - Neoseeker Forums
1999 computer and video games | Clock Tower | PlayStation games
"Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within"