Koudelka
- July 11, 2000 00:00 AM PST
In an attempt to take the survival/horror genre a step further, Koudelka combines the fixed camera style of the Resident Evil series with the standard turn-based battles of RPG games. While the idea may have seemed good on paper, it translates poorly to the screen.
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Oh, The Horror!
Playing as Koudelka, a psychic girl in 19th century England, you'll try to uncover the mysteries surrounding a spooky monastery, its creepy caretakers, and the piles upon piles of skeletons strewn everywhere. Joining the heroine will be Edward, drawn to the monastery by rumors of treasure; and James, a priest sent by the Vatican to investigate the place. The plot isn't very clear from the get go, and it unfolds slowly with the help of average looking cut scenes and atrocious voice-overs.
The random turn-based battles are long and tiring, mainly because after each command every object in the battlefield, including the characters, must be re-rendered. There are no shops in the game, so you'll have to find weapons scattered throughout the monastery or earn them after successful battles. Unfortunately, weapons don't last very long and can leave characters to fend off enemies with their bare hands mid-battle. All characters share the same element-based spells such as earth, wind, fire, water, and healing spells. However, other than revive and heal only Koudelka herself packs any real punch when using magic.
A nice feature would have been a map that actually made sense. Characters must use rope ladders or go through tumbled down walls in order to reach areas otherwise inaccessible. After taking a few of these shortcuts, it is almost impossible to figure out where the characters are in the monastery.
Deadly Inflection
Pre-rendered backgrounds definitely deliver the chills in Koudelka, but the character design will remind players of first generation horror games, specifically the granddaddy of them all, Alone in the Dark. Developers get points for creativity when it comes to monsters, such as the upside-down three headed guy, but the lack of variety in each area can get old quickly.
Boasting what must be the worst acted voice-overs in game history; characters come across as transplanted California beach bums running around in 19th century England. The incidental music, however, is nice.
The controls are standard fare for this type of game and access to all menus is a cinch. Analog compatibility for character controls would have been nice, though.
Psyched Out
Even with its mixture of standard RPG exploration and battles and the type of puzzle solving found in survival horror games, Koudelka still falls short of being an enjoyable adventure. If the brevity of the game (only about fifteen hours) doesn't send players running screaming from the monastery, the unlikable characters, drawn-out battles, and hideous voice-overs most certainly will.
