I’ve played the original Obscure back in 2005 and while it didn’t blow me away, it had a few things that got my attention, especially the co-operative gameplay and the quite amusing/cheesy storyline. Three years later, Obscure: The Aftermath arrived and brought back many of its components that made it a cool game to check out. It was no Resident Evil but it packed enough quality value to get you by at a very reasonable price. The game has now been ported to the PSP. You may have seen it while surfing the PSN Store on your nifty PSP Go, priced $10 more than the PS2 version. Maybe the portable has something the other version does not?

Truth is, this portable version of Obscure: The Aftermath doesn’t bring anything new. You are once again playing as one of the six main characters as you are trying to survive a mutant attack on your college campus caused by a strange flower. Each character has a different ability that makes them special. So during the course of the game it is important to have the appropriate person with you, this provides much of the game’s strategy as lots of puzzles tap into the person’s special ability. The puzzles themselves are pretty easy, but enjoyably so. Basically the game goes like this: start at point a, fight your way to point b, solve puzzle, move through to next area. Find important items along the way (ammo, weapons, healing) Rinse and repeat, nothing complicated.

Among the new things this PSP has is the possibility to play with a friend via co-op via ad-hoc, which is nice because you won’t have to deal with the very restrictive camera view/movement of the PS2 version, and improved visuals. For the rest, it’s the same. Now it may be a good thing if you really liked the previous console version or a bad thing if you were expecting something else.

However what makes this PSP version of Obscure: The Aftermath special is that you can’t tell that it was once a PS2 game. You can feel that Hydravision Entertainment actually took the time to adapt the game to a PSP environment and tried to fix what they did wrong on the PS2 version.

The combat system is largely inspired of the PS2 version and woks perfectly on the PSP. Press and hold left trigger to ready a weapon, then pull the face button associated with the weapon. In terms of movement, you control the character with the analog stick and the camera with the directional pad. Compared to the PS2 version, the character control feels more fluid and like I said earlier, the camera view is less restrictive and buggy. Finally, your friend can jump in or out of the game whenever, just like in the previous console version.

Graphics & Sound

Having played the PS2 version, I must come to the conclusion that the graphics look so much better on the PSP. Sure, the fact that you are playing the game on a much tinier screen hides some of the poor textures seen on the PS2 version but it does the job well. There is nothing else to mention in this department aside from the fact that the game looks better on the PSP.

Sound wise, the cheesy voice-over is once again present however the cool soundtrack comes and save the day. If you have played the PS2 version, you won’t be surprised. If this is your first time playing Obscure: The Aftermath, just say to yourself that everything may have been made to parody the other survival horror games rather than offering something spectacular. I still wonder if Hydravision deciced to go that campy on purpose.

Value

I would have wished it was less pricier (as of writing the review, the price was set at $30) but knowing that some gameplay aspects have been tuned and re-worked, I guess its a good excuse. The only sad thing about Obscure: The Aftermath is that when you’re done with it, you wont find any reason to replay it. It’s amusing for the time it lasts. Now, if you were a fan of the PS2 version, you wont have any issues re-buying it again and bring the experience with you anytime, anywhere. Now, if you haven’t played it at all, you can still get a few hours of fun.

Conclusion

The fact that Hydravision took the time to improve on a few things before porting it to the PSP is good. If you have a friend to play with, your gameplay experience will be even better...and funnier. Just don’t expect an AAA quality game...but it does the job.