Clock Tower: The First Fear

Clock Tower: The First Fear, known as Clock Tower (クロックタワー) in Japan, is a point and click survival horror game and the first installment in the Clock Tower series. It was developed and published by Human Entertainment for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

The subtitle The First Fear is often kept to distinguish between the sequel, which was released as Clock Tower outside Japan.

Plot
Jennifer Simpson, an orphan who lives in Romsdalen, Norway, is adopted in September 14, 1995 along with her friends by a wealthy recluse named Simon Barrows and are escorted to his mansion, known as the "Clock Tower", by his wife, Mary Barrows. The girls are eager to live in their new home. The game immediately begins with the five of them walking towards the Barrows Mansion.

Mary and the girls settle in the main foyer. Mary instructs them to wait there in the foyer and leaves to find Mr. Barrows, but she takes an unusually long time. Jennifer decides to investigate, but a scream is heard from the main foyer after she leaves the room. Jennifer returns to find the lights are off and the girls have gone missing. Unnerved, Jennifer begins searching the rest of the mansion.

She soon finds herself being stalked after by Bobby Barrows, the Scissorman, who will be Jennifer's main stalker and tormentor for the rest of the game.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The game is like a slasher horror film come to life with The Scissorman chasing Jennifer at various points in the game. Sometimes at random adding to the tension.
 * 2) Well written storyline with 9 possible endings depending on Jennifer's actions.
 * 3) The PS1 port adds more content that was not seen in the previous versions.
 * 4) The game's mansion setting encourages exploration and adds to the atmospehere.
 * 5) Spooky soundtrack that increases the fear instilled on the player.
 * 6) Some neat puzzles to solve.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The game doesn't allow you run up the stairs and you walk REALLY slowly when going up or down the stairs.
 * 2) Some aspects of the storyline (such as Mary's backstory) are not explained in the game itself, only in interviews with the creator.
 * 3) The rooms and hallways tend to look quite similar to eachother and can make the player find themselves lost.
 * 4) The Wonderswan port is gradually inferior to other versions.
 * 5) It never released overseas due to the game not following Nintendo's policies.

Reception
Because Clock Tower was never officially released outside of Japan, it remained a rare classic for a long time. However, when the Internet developed and SNES emulation too, the game was fan-translated, thus the game gained its popularity online on the Internet and through emulation.

Clock Tower is considered a relic and classic of early survival horror video games and gained a cult following.

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