Hysteria Project

First a quick disclosure, I bought Hysteria Project for PSP, because it was less than £2.00, and as a result I set my expectations rather low. That appears to have been  the right thing to do, as the game is a little cheap and a little ugly. Hysteria Project is essentially a rather short lived full motion video, choose your own adventure, horror title with three or four fairly half-ass quick time events. The video is all live acted, and though rather decently edited in a few spots, is in a poor resolution with color blocking at the edges, and often an indiscernible blur. The quick time events are a let down as well, and betray the game's iphone roots with oversimplified controls and a shoed-in feel . The QTEs use only the X and O button and are nearly impossible to fail. On a more positive note, where the graphics gets in the way of immersion, the sound compensates greatly. Before the title screen, there is a recommendation to play with headphones, and it does significantly improves the atmosphere. Which happens to be the game's greatest strength, the atmosphere. For all the clunky control and 3DO era video quality, there is actually a tangible sense of urgency and tension. When the view pans to look behind you and you see a man with an axe closing in , or when you are trudging through leaves and hear two sets of footsteps, it is legitimately frightening. Project Hysteria is likely the first game to make my jump involuntarily since the old PS1 era Resident Evils, and in my book, that alone is worth £2.