One of the great things about what I am doing is that I get to explore places that no-one has seen for a very long time. One would imagine that in the 12 years since its release not too many westerners have scuttled around the house that Riverhill Soft built. The other great thing is that I enjoy sharing my exploring snap-shots with the world. With that in mind: Doctor Hauzer - another Japanese only “Scare ‘em up” for the 3DO multiplayer.
Comparisons. Comparisons. What to compare Doctor Hauzer to? Well, obviously, Alone in the Dark (AITD). Certainly the two games are similar.
Yet there are differences.
The first difference you’ll notice as you walk for first time through the so-it-seems compulsory survival horror double doors, is that the French style found in AITD’s mansion is missing from the Doctors property. Hauzers abode having an air of 1950s fashion, and in-line of cause with the Archaeologist goes missing in 1952 plot.
Another instant graphical difference is the 3D quality of the main character. In a straight one-on-one fight, Carnby would be pummelled and beaten badly by Dr Hauzers lead character in the charisma and style department. Dr Hauzers main protagonist looking almost anime.
But both these are minor cosmetic differences.
There is little difference in the controls and the game shares a familiarity to anyone who has ever controlled Carnby. Your avatar can walk, run and jump. He can also find objects, combine objects and use objects. So far, so the same then.
Yet while both AITD and Hauzer have you roaming around an old house solving puzzles and avoiding be killed, Dr Hauzer as it turns out differs from AITD in a big way and shares something more in common with Warps’ ‘D’. There are no enemies. No walking dead. The good Doctors house is devoid of things for you to ‘kill’. Except for killing the final boss and of cause yourself. Of which you will find killing yourself remarkably easy to do.
And there are other differences.
A big difference, and one for the better, is its handling of the Achilles heel of the whole genre. Camera angles. If a developer gets them wrong players struggle to walk across rooms, avoid traps, kill enemies and so on. AITD, the Resident Evil Series, D and essentially any 3D survival horror game suffer to varying degrees from poorly positioned cameras. Even recent classics like the Onimusha series suffer from defective camera positioning.
However Dr Hauzer has three camera angles from which you can choose at will. A remarkable yet for the most part un-plagiarised feature of the game. You can have the standard isometric 3rd person view of your character. If you click LS you can enjoy a top down view of your character and his immediate surroundings, another click and you have a first person view, from which you can actually look around your environment. So you don’t get stuck behind objects, fall into traps you couldn’t see properly or get hit by projectiles just out of view or if you do, it was your own fault.
Doctor Hauzers game-play is actually focused entirely on disabling traps, finding objects and solving puzzles. This is where the deficiencies in the game set in. Firstly these puzzles are less than obvious, made even more difficult by the Resident Evil feature of twinkling relevant objects having been omitted or more likely not invented in 1993 when this game was made.
Combine this with sudden death! Sudden death plagues Dr Hauzer. Open the wrong door; move the wrong object or do the wrong thing and Dr Hauzer will have no qualms about killing you instantly. Progress is made by making a safe bet that every room has a puzzle of some description and the opportunity to die. Adopting a policy of save before you enter is wholly beneficial. Fortunately you can save at any time and continues are unlimited.
Sadly this combination of sudden death and the need for invisible yet absolutely essential objects turns what would have been an exceptionally good game into a mediocre game. You can progress incredibly far to discover that you have been thwarted by an object you don’t possess and have even less of clue as to what and where it is. The game can becomes frustrating. “I can’t progress”, “Why can’t I progress?” “I don’t know”. Frustrating and essentially a little demoralising.
Another area of concern is triggers. Triggering something is not always followed by an explanation. You will perform a task, you’ll receive a cut-scene or perhaps a sound but you will still be oblivious to what actually has just happened. And, it should be noted, an ability to read Japanese has no bearing on this. This also makes the game a little confusing.
Audio is effective and high quality but also can be grating. Howling dogs, ticking clocks, swing lamps are all realised in audio splendour and the back ground music is OK but it starts in exactly the same dramatic way each time you enter a room. Which after a while drove me nuts.
As an aside, room entering? Should you be wondering is very Resident Evil. In fact – identical to Resident Evil.
In terms of size, the home is inline with what you would expect for a man on archaeologists salary. I.e., "Small". Time spent wandering the halls of the Doctors home is quite short, it is probably a little shorter than Alone in the Dark 1 and probably only about a quarter of the size of the Resident Evil mansion.
To summarise then: it’s short, demoralising and confusing – sounds like my boss.
These gripes should be viewed as a challenge rather than a put-off. Place them aside and you’ll find the good Doctor has a fine bedside manner. To be fair Dr Hauzer is certainly worth playing. If you just want to explore there is a walkthrough available and to this end graphically Dr Hauzer is very easy on the eye. Easier perhaps than AITD.
To call it “scary” would be a push, perhaps mildly creepy is better phrase but it does belong in the survival horror genre – just about. At the end-of-the-day Dr Hauzer is clearly another rung on the ladder that was ascending to Resident Evil and perhaps worth investigating for that alone.
Finally – is it rare? I was too scared to look!
3DO Kid.
