Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within

The original Clock Tower was pretty creepy. That Scissorman guy would come along with his shears clanging and his hunched-over bounce and scare the crap out of you. Now part two is on its way, and delivers all of the creepiness of the first and a little more.

The first thing we noticed about Clock Tower II is the graphic upgrade. Everything is in high-res, which also brings out some vibrant colors for a game that's pretty dark. Another twist is the story line. You control a character with a split personality. In various situations in the game, say at a very stressful moment, your character will switch to his/her alternate personality. This allows you to enter different areas and perform various actions when "in" a particular state.

The female personality is a bit more timid but is able to access certain doors the male personality can't. The male personality isn't afraid to kick down an enemy or use a gun, or enter rooms the female personality will not. Whatever the game may offer, the object is to unravel the mystery presented and avoid being killed (in particular, by a white-faced, knife-wielding little doll-girl...weird).

The game controls much like the first and features the same point-and-click and inventory system. Arranged in chapters like the first, it also features 13 different endings depending on how you complete the game. Clock Tower II also supports Sony's Dual Shock controller.