Review: Crow Country

I didn't get enough writing done today so I'm hoping this will calm my nerves. Yesterday I finished Crow Country. Its a psx graphics type Resident Evil clone. You play as Mara, a girl looking for answers in the titular Crow Country amusement park. 

The park is broken up into several parts including an underwater world, a horror world, and an unfinished future world. I thought this to be a joke about cut content or how the future is bleak. That's one of the hidden themes of the game: a horrifying future. Or perhaps it was what the park owner saw that caused him to stop.

The graphics are fantastic. It makes me long for the days of polygon models. It also speaks to the power behind the art style. You are tasked with shooting your way through Crow Country. You have a basic line up of pistol, shotgun, flamethrower and Magnum weapons. You have to spot ammo on the ground or find it in hidden places. The same goes for med kits and antidote bottles. You have to spot traps as well as pickups or Mara will face a quick death. 

The story is told mostly through diary entries you'll pick up as well as a few cutscenes. Mara never says why she is after the enigmatic Mr. Crow, creator of the park. Little by little, you uncover the truth behind the park and the monsters you've been fighting as well as the meaning behind the number 2106. You're given codes to different boxes and locks as you explore bit 2106 is never for any of them. It's a special number for a particular meaning.

I'll be going into spoilers here. Mr. Crow discovered gold in these roots in the ground. The truth is that the roots were antennae for a portal used by people from the 22nd century to go back in time and trying to stop the events in 2106 from happening. The more Crow cut into the roots, the more monstrous the people became. Mara, who was infected by one of the monsters, hasn't come to blame Crow but to tell him that there is no cure. Crow reveals has enough cures for all but himself. He plans to toss himself into the portal to see the other side. Of course he mutates and you have to put him down.

One of the things I loved was the dialogue. Mara especially comes off as cute. There's a phrase she uses when you save the game at a fire place where you're untitled if everything will be alright and maybe it won't be. It's haunting especially as she says it toward the end.

Good story, gameplay and graphics. I only wish there was more to the game. But sometimes I forget that a simple plot isnt bad. Maybe the deeper theme is that all we are, is a feast for the crows.