"Harbor Paradox" review: enough surprising Hong Kong-style horror, but also difficult to cover up the bad plot

In "Hong Kong Paradox", what you think of as catching ghosts may be like this: the light exorcises evil --

It may also be so: the heavenly master Fu town demon --

It may also be this: the fairy shows the way -

But you may not expect, "Harbor Trap" actually will be like this: hearse drift hit ghost --

I have to admit, the first scare of 2020, I gave my account here. Even after playing through the game, the figure of the ghost woman in red is still vivid, so that when I see red things in life, I always unconsciously think of the imagination.

From "Port Paradox" to the port "ghost" record

"Port Legend" absorbs many elements of real life, intangible increase the game's horror atmosphere. Including based on the Ho Man Tin Ai Man Estate triple jump event, the game players will experience high altitude descent here.

The most "mysterious" incident was the Tuen Mun horror on 7 August 2006. It is reported that a divorced woman jumped from a tall building, wearing red clothes, shoes, belts, Fanny belts, and even fingernails painted red - the image of the female ghost in the "Port of Evil".

The so-called ghost, after all, is a ghost in people's hearts. The ghost in the heart comes from life, from culture, from the details that inadvertently resonate subconsciously. "Harbor Trap" is through enough real details, set up the stage of terror.

From the first moment players set foot in the game world, they will believe that this world is real: the iconic Chinese floors, the small advertisements everywhere on the walls, the old western-style carts with girders (a former name for bicycles), the Spring Festival couplets with black characters on red paper, and many details will tell you that this place is very similar to the world you live in every day.

(Small advertisements can be seen everywhere on the wall)

(Front row selling peanuts and sunflower seeds)

On this basis, a variety of props with mysterious religious colors suggest that the atmosphere of the game world is very strange: for example, the Heaven Master charm shown above, in many folk customs and ghost films, Heaven Master charm is one of the most used exorcism props. For example, the white candles, white rice and other worship items placed on the ground suggest that here is praying for the dead. And "Harbor Trap" is clearly a horror game, which will let the player naturally have a ghost subconscious.

Even if you did not grow up living in Hong Kong, China, but the culture of a strip of water will still let you find the same origin, and this is an important reason why "Hong Kong Legend" makes me feel particularly scary - it has not begun to scare me, I have begun to be afraid. This kind of experience can only be found in games set in Chinese culture.

(Really scary)

With these overlapping hints of real imagery, the player is naturally drawn into the game. It is also due to such immersion, players will be more easily nervous, more easily frightened by various monsters, these are the cornerstone of the "Port of horrors" to be strong.

Character modeling, by contrast, is less elaborate. Through the main character's work card, we can see that he is not bald, but the shadow indicates that he is bald. When performing other character actions, the shoes are the same as the main character's. Is it because of the first person, so the protagonist modeling is lazy? The overall performance of the modeling of ghosts and monsters is not to pull the crotch, but it will not make you feel any surprise.

(Modeling of actionable roles is the same)

Did not wait for the revival of Hong Kong ghost films, such as the surprise of Hong Kong-style horror games

Whether it's a horror movie or a horror game, what audiences want most is to be scared. You have to be scared to be truly surprised.

In the "Hong Kong Paradox", you can see a lot of Hong Kong ghost film shadow: "Human meat barbecued pork bun", "Yin Yang Road", "Human skin Lantern", "Ghost Buddha Jump wall" and so on, for me this Hong Kong ghost film fans, actually have a kind of nostalgia through the game illusion.

(This mother-in-law is reminiscent of Luo LAN in "Yin-Yang Road")

Hong Kong horror always has scary music and the visual impact of the sudden appearance of ghosts, such as the sudden appearance of waving children in the "Dead in the Mountain Village", or the unique roar of zombies in the zombie film.

The horror of "Harbor Trap" is mainly manifested in these two aspects, and play very well. From the first kill back, you'll break out in a cold sweat. Behind a variety of back kill, sudden face kill will always surprise you.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the ability of the protagonist: in addition to holding a flashlight, there is no equipment. The game will pick up some hammers, pliers and other lock props, but they are disposable. At the same time, the protagonist's hands are not strong enough to run fast. Based on this hide-and-seek play, the atmosphere of the escape room is very strong.

In addition to the ghost cry, the children's voices in the domestic ghost film, singing, chanting and other elements are not lacking, originally these elements appear alone and there is no scary place, but once combined with Chinese ghosts and gods, it will become very scary - these voices come out, often on behalf of ghosts. I'm afraid of hearing the voice of a child in a ghost movie, so uncomfortable that my eardrums will itch. This part of the play is directly reminiscent of "The Devil Jumps the Wall", a childhood nightmare.

(A person watching the play, or the first row of vip seats, thorn is not stimulating)

The subconscious formed in the mind by these elements will constantly hint at the scare that will happen, you will make all kinds of preparations, but you will still be scalp tingling by the next sudden scare, and this is the fun of horror games - Port Legend does it, and it does it well.

Also praise the pace of the game, and arrange the emotional peaks and troughs properly. Usually a dense horror point is followed by a calm story to calm the player's mood, interspersed with some decryption elements. While strengthening the game style, players gradually put down their mental vigilance and prepare for the next scare.

The proportion of decryption elements is still quite a lot, in addition to simple finding keys, opening boxes, there are some puzzles with Chinese cultural characteristics, such as the simplified Qiankun eight diagrams password lock, the temple to seek the design of the organ. At the end of the game, the giant Ferris wheel puzzle is also very wonderful, testing the player's spatial cognition and observation ability.

(There is a live story in the game, and it has its own bullet screen.)

The game was overshadowed by the weak plot

On the other hand, "Hong Kong Legend" also inherits the general weakness of Hong Kong ghost films. If the story of "Hong Kong Paradox" is adapted into a criminal investigation drama, there should be a lot to watch. Unfortunately, it's a horror game.

The abrupt plot will lead to the player's emotions constantly jumping in and out, and just be brought into the scary atmosphere, will be confused by the next plot. In the face of various unexpected situations, the protagonist is overly calm most of the time. If he's a detective, I can still trust the way he acts. But he is just a staff member of a paranormal show, and just saying "I'm sorry" when he sees a colleague who died tragically can be regarded as nothing happened? I don't blame you for not calling the police, but there are so many things that don't make sense.

(The main character's lines are awkward)

In the plot development, this work is also very far-fetched, in short, is the protagonist of the death by the protagonist halo, must die a story. The main character is not out of touch with the outside world, and even has Internet access in the plot. Since encountering a series of supernatural phenomena that are difficult to understand, normal people will make self-rescue behavior, at least to find a ghost hunter like Lin Zhengying in ghost films to help.

Some details within the framework of Chinese culture are also debatable, such as the ghosts in the game are clearly not Chinese ghosts. An important piece of information that players use to determine the location of ghosts is footsteps, but Chinese ghosts are known to have no footsteps. When did you ever see the ghost in Liaozhai touch people with crisp footsteps? Lin Zhengying's movie "Mr. Phantom" even specialized in science why ghosts walk without sound.

Similarly, the "safety cabinet" used to avoid ghosts in the game is also difficult to logical self-just, as long as the protagonist hides inside the cabinet, the ghost will not find the protagonist even if it passes in front of the cabinet. With the Spring Festival couplets on the cabinet of "access to peace", the formation of a unique flavor of burlesque.

I think this is probably not unrelated to the game works that "Port Legend" draws from. In horror games like Escape and Home Sweet Home, supernatural monsters tend to be less intelligent. However, in the context of a game set in Chinese culture, such a setting is more incompatible. This also shows a lack of innovation in gameplay.

Of course, the Chinese ghost is afraid of light this matter everyone knows, there is a place in the game is really to fight with light, but the object is not a ghost, but a monster. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the intention of the producers, the light combat part is relatively isolated, lack of development.

If the plot is obviously not objective enough, the biggest role is to connect different time and space, behind a door may be a new space, producing the same effect as "Inception", is a good highlight.

It was an anticlimax, which is a shame

Either way, "Legend of Hong Kong" is a horror game with strong Chinese cultural symbols, and it is worth trying for players who don't mind the story, miss the Hong Kong ghost films of the last century, or are interested in various folk monsters. After all, horror games are, above all, scary.

Even with the bad story aside, the end of the game as a whole was a pain in the ass, especially the final hearse drift BOSS fight, which was the worst part of the whole experience.

In many horror movies and games, when the ghost really comes out, it is not terrible, and the final BOSS of Port Legend is the same, then the combat experience becomes very important. This car is covered with spells, if the standard evaluation of the racing game, the operation feel is undoubtedly very bad, and it belongs to the kind of person who absolutely do not want to open a second time.

Hitting the ghost with the car was originally a very innovative idea, but it did not show the nervous stimulation of "rampage, sharp turn around, and a close call", but constantly repeated forward, reverse, forward, reverse, forward in the underground garage. After hitting the BOSS, the game came to an end, which even made me feel a little sudden, especially after the thrilling adventure I had just experienced before.

This is somewhat anticlimactic, once again highlighting the weakness of the plot, even though the final credits are marked "to be continued." In fact, it takes about 6 or 7 hours to finish the game, which is not a small volume. But it's like eating your favorite meal, and in the middle of the meal, someone takes it away and brings you a bowl of white rice, and the rice isn't even full.

At the end of Resident Evil 4, there is a scene in which Leon escapes the island in his yacht, which is intense and exciting with QTE and simple side-to-side movements. If the final BOSS battle of "Port Paradox" can be interpreted with similar techniques, the wonderful degree of "hearse drift and ghost" will rise straight up, and it will become a classic bridge worthy of saying.

With the first 99% of "Port Trap" performance, the final battle should have been more exciting than I imagined.

Unfortunately, "Port Trap" lacks this last breath.