Ok, I admit, when I saw there was a new Weird Park game, Weird Park Scary Tales, I dropped everything I was doing and locked myself away with a bottle of wine and some chocolate, and dressed in my most comfiest pajamas in order to play it. I absolutely love, love, loved the first one, and I've been hoping the rumors were true that another one was going to surprise us before Christmas.
And what a surprise! Weird Park Scary Tales definitely measures up to the first one especially in terms of its weirdness level... although this game takes a little warming up before you totally can appreciate its fine bouquet of bizarre.
The story begins one night as you're driving your hot rod car down the road, blasting some nice midi tunes on your radio. Sorry, I couldn't help it... the radio was blasting some weird music that sounded like an old Atari game theme song like Pole Position... not important to the story at all, but resulted in a moment of panic when I thought it hinted at what was to come.
Anyhow, as you drive into the night, you cross into the town limits of Fairy Gate Park, and suddenly... your radio goes dead. And then, the next thing you know, there's a creepy little girl sitting next to you asking you to save her. You naturally are so shocked by this sudden invasion that you crash your car headlong into a tree. Although... another side note... at the speed you were going, I'm not sure you would have easily walked away from that crash let alone gone adventuring after an evil clown... but that's just me.
The next hour or so will leave you somewhat confused as to what you're doing as you struggle with searching the abandoned and crumbling remains of Louis Gauche's home, but trust me, it's worth it. What you're looking for is a way into the fantasy realm where the children are caught in the stories. And there's where the true brilliance and excitement of Weird Park Scary Tales come shining through.
Through each story, you must put things to right in order to save the children caught in each world. So for example, you need to find Cinderella's glass slipper and return it to her... but she may or may not be stuck in her coach, which is now a pumpkin.
The graphics are beautiful, although I admit, the sparkling vibrant colors you discover in the fantasy world are much more enjoyable than the dark and dingy colors you have to suffer through in order to get there.
Don't get me wrong, the graphics were still impressive, dark and shadowy and chilling... totally appropriate for the story leading up to it. It just was nice to see the golden glints from Cinderella's coach or the rays of streaming sunlight on Captain Hook's ship, as opposed to the grime and mold built up on the remains of Louis' house.
The sounds and music were equally impressive, disregarding that one tiny flashback to the 80s we had earlier. There were short bursts of music from various instruments that set the mood just right for creepy. Chilling piano, mournful violins, the tinkling of chimes, along with random howls, soft snuffling, and the humming of machinery... all helped add to the bizarre flavor of Weird Tales Scary Tales.
Everything was adding up to a delicious stew of weird, except the actual gameplay. It was my one and only slight gripe about the game and the reason it's getting four stars from me instead of five. The hidden object games were ridiculously easy. I don't think I ever even thought about using a hint button. The puzzles were the opposite... a bit too challenging for my tastes. I couldn't wait until the skip button charged.
And what's with all the running around? Back and forth, back and forth, over and over and over again. Returning to the same hidden object scene again and again to find another item. And then some items that were lying around weren't able to be added to your inventory until something else happened. So you would get confused because you know for a fact you couldn't pick that item up before.
The only saving grace for this aspect of the game was an exceptional hint system that told me exactly where to go and what to do when I didn't have a clue. I guess that means we're probably going to have to do a Weird Park Scary Tales Walkthrough... note to self... make someone else do it. The hint system chargers fairly quickly so you don't have to be shy about using it, and it doesn't use up a hint if there's nothing to do in the scene.
Overall, Weird Park Scary Tales probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you're a weirdo like me, and you adore the abnormal, you'll love it as much as I did. One note... if you haven't played the first Weird Park game, you might want to take a detour and play that game first since the same characters and story find their way into this one.