Rise of Nightmares

Overview

Announced during TGS 2010, Rise of Nightmares is a first person horror game developed by Sega exclusively for Kinect.The game will put players in the shoes of an American tourist (Jack) who is wife (Kate) has been kidnapped by a mad scientists who is holding her in his mansion, which just so happens to be filled with zombies. The game features free-motion control, allowing players to explore the castle, solve puzzles and fight frightening creatures with a variety of weapons.

Plot

The game starts out with Jack, the main character, and his wife Kate on a train through eastern Europe (it's suggested that they are traveling through Romania). Apparently, their marriage is rotting and they wish to rekindle lost love. All this is ruined however when Kate discovers that Jack has brought booze (he has drinking problem) and runs off. Jack goes after her but suddenly monsters attack, slaughtering everybody, kidnapping his wife and derailing the train.

Most of the game takes place in a castle owned by an evil alchemist who's holding Kate and is responsible for the whole zombie/monster problem.

Gameplay

Rise of Nightmares exclusively uses Kinect for combat and basic movement. The game takes into account both the player's hands and feet. To walk forward, the player must put one foot in front of the other. The farther the two feet are apart, the faster the character will move. If the player wishes to move backwards, he must first put both feet side by side before taking one step back. The player's view is handled by turning his shoulders while interacting with objects in the environment is done by putting your arm out (which brings out a reticule) and doing a gesture to interact with the object (for example, splashing water on your face is done by putting both hands on your face). Objects that can be interacted with have a big hand icon on them. Players can also look up and down by tilting their shoulders forwards and backwards. Keeping your right arm up will trigger auto-movement where the game takes control of the character and takes him to the next objective.

The game's combat focuses on melee fighting with the player having a variety of weapons at his disposal to make sure the dead stay dead. Such weapons range from knives and hatchets to brass knuckles and even a chainsaw. Each weapon is controlled differently and requires different movements (swipe your arms with the knife with the knife, stick them out with the chainsaw). Over-using a weapon will cause it wear out (worn out weapons start flashing red) and must be replaced before they break. Choosing a new weapon is done by putting the reticule over it. The player can choose which hand they wish to use the weapon with by putting out the appropriate hand when choosing the weapon.

When in combat, the game locks on to enemies so the player just has to worry about fighting while the game handles movement. Combat is composed of two stances, offensive where the player puts his arms up and moves them around to attack and defensive where the player crosses his arms to defend. In defensive mode, the player still takes damage. During combat, the player might have to execute a specific movement such as ducking or a kick to keep foes at bay. Enemies have weak spots ("fleshy bits" as described by the developer) which when hit, can take the enemy out in one blow.

Xbox 360 Installation

Rise of Nightmares requires 2.3GB free to install onto the Xbox 360 hard drive.