It’s been a few months since our last preview of Calling, Hudson’s survival horror game exclusive to the Wii. To promote its recent release this month, the Hudson team decided to show it off to the masses at PAX East this weekend, where they let us get a little extra taste of what was to come after the earlier build of the level we played back in January. I’m glad to say that the additional polish that it needed to set it to stand a head above the rest of the horror games we’ve been unfortunate to encounter as of late has been added to the mix.
If you’re unfamiliar with the premise, let me set it up for you nice and easy. Calling’s premise is that of the website called the Black Page lures people in with the notion that they will be able to reconnect with a loved one who has passed one. You experience this website via a chat room with some weak, uninspired chatspeak dialogue. You will have the opportunity to play as four different characters throughout the story who are all going through the experience of losing someone they love and wanting to visit the Black Page.
Calling has everything that Japanese culture and horrors fans are very familiar with. The creeps and crawls are very Japanese in every sense of the word. American horror tends to be more of that “Boo!” come out and grab you type of terror while Japanese horror will more-so just tug on nerve endings you didn’t even know you had or just give you the jittery chills. Calling employs those very tactics you’d expect from Japanese horror, which can be both a good and a bad thing.
Unfortunately it does have it’s fair share of cliches – expect your scampering cats, cue the weird Internet web page, a creepy doll room, ghosts and of course evil children. While it’s all material you would come to expect from a game like this, I’ve definitely seen most of it before. Being attacked by a ghost and my need to waggle free of his wrath just isn’t very terrifying anymore. The voice acting isn’t the worst – but I’m far from the ability to praise it. Luckily, to retain the experience that Japanese horror fans like me always crave, a Japanese audio track is available from the start! It definitely aids in the immersion a bit, despite the cliches littered around.
Since the last demo we played in our preview earlier this year, I can honestly attest to the fact that the controls have been smoothed out. Previously, the motion controls were jagged and wild, sometimes seeing my character spin on screen because it just wasn’t properly capturing my gestures. Hudson has definitely put in the work to fine tune and clean up that aspect thankfully, which is surely the make or breaking point of any Wii game.
I’ve only gotten to experience the first two levels of the game thus far, and so far it’s alright. I can’t deny my love for creepy dolls, and a whole room dedicated to them was a bit eerie, but hopefully the full game (which has already released this month) has a new trick or two up its sleeves. If nothing new, then I can only pray for a game to finally toss in the demon wig.
Yeah, the headline is correct. Love Press++: Massage For Your Truelove will allow you to use the Wii Balance Board (and the included silicon sleeve that looks like a female’s back for more realism!) to pretend that you’re massaging someone. It is said to “simulate the physical communication of lovers.” Shirai Lab’s game will allow aspiring massage therapists to choose their “truelove” and try to massage them, with the need to change techniques as your truelove will give audio cues like, “I believe you are gentle” and “Stop! Where are you touching?” Get ready to see more of this at the Tokyo Game Show, later this month.
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