One's I've never Finished...Part 1.

Haunting Ground

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released (UK): Apr '05
Released (US): May '05

After completing Project Zero I was bored and no other horror games were due out so I got this one. Haunting Ground sounded interesting to me and even though the critics didn't think much of it, I thought I'd give it a go.


What's it about?:

The game starts off with camera going down to the basement which looks to be used as a kitchen. There's meat hanging all over the place and a large man is seen chopping it up. The scene then goes to a cage that is in the room and in it lays our protagonist - Fiona Belli.
The large man looks at her and tries to touch her but is scared off by some lightning. We see start to see the end of Fiona's dream but she is woken up by the sound of the weather.Obviously she's pretty freaked out by the whole thing - anyone would be. She sees that the cage she's in is unlocked and goes about escaping. A very angry sounding Dog is also there but runs out the room leaving its collar behind. Just before the scene ends Fiona reads out the name - Hewie, our soon to be partner in crime, and our only weapon.



Typically, our female protagonist is skimpily clad in a white satin sheet for the start of the game and this is probably the only decent part of the game as far as men are concerned. At this point you have absolutely no idea what to do except wander around but you do find yourself following a route led by some stone steps which leads you towards a big door which is essentially Fiona's bedroom.
It's here where you are introduced to Daniella (below), the castles maid. She's a little crazy and talks like a robot (a characteristic or just bad acting?). She has some clothes for you to wear - which you change in to, unaware that someone is watching you through an ugly painting.

After a little walk around the castle you meet Debilitas, the big guy from the very beginning of the game. He's playing with a doll which he discards when he sees Fiona - he runs after her.
This part introduces the Evasion process of the game - Fiona can hide from the monsters and crazy people who run after her. Beds, Tables, Closets etc all provide hiding places but if you go to the same hiding place all the time, your stalkers will get wise to it and find you.



In events a bit further on in the game Fiona is distracted by the sound of a Dog whimpering outside. It's the dog we saw, Hewie and he's caught in a trap. Hewie is used to reach high places an to crawl through tight spaces to retrieve things for you as well as attacking the monsters and crazy people chasing you.
Hewie can get in the way though and you'll find yourself feeling guilty after accidentally kicking him whilst trying to break a vase.

Vases can contain various items such as flowers and herbs which can be used to heal yourself or cause damage to Fiona. Location’s known as Recovery Points (usually a sink) restores Fiona’s status, therefore giving her higher energy.
Items such as Jerky can also be found to help restore Hewie’s stamina and speed.

Let's talk about how Hewie works. Fiona gives orders to Hewie such as "Go", "Sit" and "Come Here" an can also tell him off when he does something wrong. Hewie, just like any Dog won't be perfect to start off with. He doesn't know Fiona and although her trusts her (because she saved him from the trap) he doesn't always do as he's told. You have to make sure you praise him when he does good by saying "Good Boy" - kicking him will make him trust you less so don't do it, but as I said - it can be easily done by mistake. As the game goes on you'll find it easier to get Hewie to do as you wish.

There are puzzles along the way some of which can be quite hard to solve and may requires Hewies help. Some example puzzles include an area with spotlights that have to be pointed towards a certain area for a room to be unlocked and the Lunar room which includes panels on the floor that have to be stood on in a certain order - Hewie will help you here.

Enemies in this game are split into two categories: Pursuers and Minor Enemies.
Minor Enemies include the Luminessant, a blue orb that is attracted to Azoth energy (humans have it apparently) and once it hits you, it omits a large sound which attracts a Pursuer. The Homunculus does nothing really except make mumbling noises and standing on their heads, I don't even think they chase you. Failures are like parasites and attach themselves to Fiona’s legs as well as screaming causing Pursuers to come for you.
The Pursuers are the game bosses and Fiona’s biggest problem - These I can go into in more detail.

I've already mentioned Debilitas who's like Quasimodo in appearance. He chases Fiona because he fancies her basically. All he wants to do is hug her and stroke her but he gets carried away (like Lenny in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck) and causes her harm. He's easy to hide from because of his stupidity but he's strong and Fiona or Hewie can't do much damage to him but he does runaway if he gets fed up of fighting.
I've also mentioned Daniella, the maid who becomes jealous her masters fascination of Fiona. She's a bit harder than Debilitas because she has access to various weapons and she's smart to the hiding places Fiona finds. You won't be able to hide from her in the same place over and over again. Daniella also crawls into hiding spaces and can make you jump if you come across her. She's also of a danger to Hewie too because she will hurt him if she cannot find you (Hewie doesn't hide with Fiona in some places). There is a good thing about Daniella though and I remember seeing her in a corridor but she didn't chase after me, she was cleaning. She will talk to you if this is the case and may even give you a useful item. If she's laughing manically then go the other way but if you come across a mirror she will be distracted by it and will stand there and scream for a while.
Riccardo (pictured above with Daniella) is a pain in your behind. He’s a bit more persistent than the other two before and will take forever searching in a room for you and if you hide in the same spot twice, he will find you the second time. On top of this he’s faster than Daniella who just walks after you and he has a gun so he can attack you from further away. Luckily we hardly get chased by this guy before we have to kill him.
Old Lorezo is someone we think is on our side only to turn out to be even more insane then anyone else in the game. He’s disabled so he can only crawl after you but he can be sometimes very fast so be careful. He cannot however open doors so if you close doors after you he won’t chase you no further. Lorenzo later comes back in two other forms but I’ll leave them out as you rarely come across them.

There are a huge array of items to collect such as health items, dog treats and accessories for Fiona to wear. Various boots are available to help Fiona make less noise when walking or to cause more damage to a pursuer when she kicks them. Chokers are available to reduce her Azoth energy so Luminessants don't bother you as much. You can also find Magnesium which blows up when someone steps on it, slowing them down.


Why I never completed it:

This is game is the most frustrating games I have ever played. I just got really fed up with it - I even got quite close to the end too but some of the reasons I gave up contain some spoilers so beware:

1) This is how the game mostly was...You make your way to your destination only for Debilitas/Daniella etc to show up. You run away and hide, wait 5 minutes, make your way back to your destination, get a little further only to be chased again. Very annoying indeed.

2) Sometimes it will take 10 attempts at trying to get Hewie to do something. I remember one spot where I needed Hewie to get a flower for me from behind a gate only he could get through. He just wouldn't go through the hole no matter how close I was to the flower myself. Just as in Project Zero, if you stay in a place too long, your stalker will find you. Debilitas showed up and I had to run away from the area.

3) Fiona can go into panic mode. If she is attacked she goes into a major panic which causes the screen to go into a blurry black and white as well as causing Fiona to fall and bump into walls. Basically, she becomes impossible to control which is bad game design if you ask me - this doesn't supply any form of tension or horror atmosphere - just frustration, pointless frustration.

4) Survival horrors have many staples in them. One staple of a survival horror game is the Map and Haunting Ground has a terrible one. The rooms have no names so it's hard to determine which room is which and it's quite small and feint. I never looked at it whilst I played it because there was never any point.

5) This contains quite a large spoiler regarding the character Lorenzo. When you first meet him he's in a wheelchair and cannot use his legs so he's quite easy to kill. The annoyance is that his character comes back to life and refuses to bloody well die. He comes back as his younger, much more mobile self and chases you all over until Fiona sets him a trap involving a large hole containing some Lava like substance. You think this would kill him but oh no - Fiona finds herself being chased by his burning skeleton. The game just would not end.

6) There's a section at what I believe is at the end of the game which took me ages to figure out what to do. I was being chased by the skeleton of Lorenzo and I died over and over and over again. You know what it's like when you play a game and die all the time - you get frustrated and when you die, you want to do it again as fast as possible just to get it done. This is why the "Game Over" screen is unbelievably irritating. The screen goes red and reads "Acta Est Fabula" with the most annoying music in the background. The whole thing goes on for a minute or two and it won't go away until it's finished. It's the equivalent of someone laughing in your face.

7) The game is 50% running away from your goal and 20% trying to get Hewie to do as he's told...It can take up to 5 minutes just to get him to follow you into a room. That means only 30% is finding out about the story and getting items and clues and so forth. It's very tiring and I found myself getting extremely restless. I could never do the section described in point 6 above so I eventually gave up and I no longer have this game, I sold it for £5. I never did find out how it ended.


You mean there wasn't anything good about it at all?

There were some good things worth a mention in this game and it's mostly aesthetic. The graphics are beautiful and the character models are fantastic, especially when Fiona and Daniella are concerned. The Belli Castle looked great, especially outside in the garden and the cut scenes are some of the best I've seen.

I've been quite harsh on this game - Does anybody disagree with me?
Fiona Belli...Could she be an overlooked competitor for best Survival Horror hero?