| Clock Tower Ghost Head | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Human Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Human Entertainment Agetec Inc. |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Survival Horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: M (Mature) |
Clock Tower Ghost Head, known in the US as Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within, is a survival horror created by Human Entertainment, published by Agetec, and released for the PlayStation in 1998. It is a spin-off to the Clock Tower series and has almost nothing to do with the previous games besides its gameplay.
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Following its predecessors, the gameplay is more about hiding and solving puzzles, rather than fighting the player's pursuers. This degenerates as the plot advances, and the main character is eventually forced to use guns and other tools in several endgame action sequences.
Its interface consists of a point-and-click system similar to the one used by Sierra Entertainment games, such as the Gabriel Knight series. There is an inventory screen that appears if the user drags the pointer to the upper side of the screen. The game's engine looks similar to Clock Tower 2 (Clock Tower in North America), with a few minor alterations.
Clock Tower Ghost Head features three chapters whose length can change depending on the choices made by the player. The game's replay value comes mostly in its 13 endings, which normally portray the main character dying in different violent ways. The paths to each separate ending can be confusing and difficult to follow accurately and, as such, many players utilize walkthroughs in order to achieve them.
In the opening FMV, two people are seen holding flashlights and digging in a graveyard. One of them uncovers the dirt and finds a baby which almost suffocated to death. This girl is taken in and later named Alyssa.
Flash forward to seventeen years later, Alyssa Hale is a schoolgirl who has been having dark visions of murdering people ever since she received her father's amulet. She wakes up only to discover that those dreams have come true. There is a cold-blooded, immoral male personality inside her named "Bates" who makes her do things. However, when she has her amulet, it keeps her safe from his invasions. She was released out of a mental hospital and is staying with a family friend. As she arrives at the Tate home, she discovers the grisly secret of the "Maxwell Curse". In order to survive, Alyssa will have to trust her dark side, Bates.
Alyssa is the main protagonist of the game. She is a tormented 17-year-old girl suffering from multiple personality disorder. She is spending the weekend at a family friend's house during the starting events of the game. Alyssa is a young girl that Allen Hale dug up from the Maxwell family grave to cause the ruin of George Maxwell. Her real name is Lynn Maxwell (才堂 凛 Saidō Rin). Her father, the director of a major hospital, was not home much, so Alyssa spent much of her childhood alone and she grew up to become a very quiet girl. When she was still quite young, her father gave her a charm which she called "Amulet" (ミコシサマ Mikoshi-Sama). She carried it with her always and it became a source of power. She has a gloomy disposition. Possessed with spiritual intuition, she wants to link everything to otherworldly phenomena.
Bates is Alyssa's alter ego and deuteragonist of the game. The Maxwells, fearing that their twins were the "Cursed Children" born again (Bobby and Dan from the previous games), had buried them alive in the family grave just after they were born, as was done in past generations. Bates is cruel, unjust, and heartless, yet kind to Alyssa, which might be a simple defense instinct. Any actual significance or reason for his existence is unknown. He killed some boys who were harassing Alyssa, which led to Alyssa's stay in a mental asylum. Throughout the game, he can be dominant if Alyssa isn't wearing the special amulet and encounters a shocking events, and can be dormant if Alyssa is wearing her special amulet. Only Bates can use weapons that are obtained throughout the game, making him the fighter side of Alyssa. He is likely named after Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.
Allen is Alyssa's guardian, but Shannon Lewis is his true daughter. Hale at one time worked with Philip Tate at Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab. Hale was among the top technicians at the lab until the science genius, George Maxwell, appeared and ousted him from his position. Consequently, he conspired with Philip Tate to dig up Maxwell's illegitimate child from the grave. The plan was to cause the ruin of George Maxwell, but instead of using Alyssa, he exacted his revenge by infecting a golden statue with a toxin that would cause anyone who touched the statue to go raving mad. He tricked his best friend Philip into keeping the Yellow Doll in order to stop the Maxwell curse, only making the curse come to life. He also sent the statue to Maxwell.
Tate is the director of the Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab. Although a coward, he is willing to commit a crime if it would help him reach his ambitions, Tate digs up the Maxwell grave at Hale's urging. Hale told Tate that the statue contained the Maxwell Family secret. He fully believed the Maxwell Curse, and he kept the statue hidden in a closet for 16 years without noticing the toxin hidden inside. He is the family friend of the Hales and the head director of a pharmaceutical laboratory. He studies the effects of the gangrene parasite: A parasite that can revive corpses, transforming them into zombies.
Kathryn is Philip Tate's wife. She has a minor role alongside being the person who contacts Alex who takes Alyssa to the hospital. Kathhryn becomes hopeless and troubled when one of her daughters becomes a mindless creature and another becomes a murderous, zombie-like child. This occurred because of the Yellow Cursed Doll which Philip hid in the closet, where it was discovered by their youngest daughter Stephanie.
the younger daughter of Tate and supporting antagonist. She becomes a murderous zombie after she is infected with the toxin implanted in the golden statue by Allen Hale. Stephanie is ultimately returned to normal by a chemical reaction when she sees the statue burn before her eyes. In the end, however, the spirit freed from Stephanie was merely a hallucination from the toxin that Alyssa saw; she was not possessed by anything. She is the first enemy that the player encounters. She laughs like a manic child that serves as a warning that she is near.
Ashley is a first year middle school student. While coming home from school she is infected with the Cerebral Toxin by George Maxwell and becomes a zombie. After returning home, she attacks her mother, Kathryn, and is then killed by her father, Philip, but her right arm continues to live due to that being where the Toxin was injected. She is the second child of the Tate's and a close friend of Alyssa.
He is the eldest son in the Tate Family and minor antagonist. While trying to escape from Stephanie, who is now a murderous zombie, he climbs inside a suit of samurai armor. While in the armor, he goes insane due to the gangrene parasite inside the helmet and also becomes a wandering, murderous zombie. If the player does not examine the armor, then Michael is stabbed by Stephanie in his room.
A cool, pretentious detective from the neighboring town of Prunedale who is investigating the Philip Tate incident. He's a supporting character and takes Alyssa to the hospital after receiving Kathryn Tate's call.
Doug is a newspaper reporter with a strong sense of justice who plays a supporting role in the game. He is open-hearted and straight-forwarded, but is bad at dealing with challenging situations. He tends to make hasty decisions. He is a reporter investigating suspicious activity at the hospital.
The director of Memorial Hospital and second minor antagonist. Kaplan helps George Maxwell by providing him with patients for unethical experiments, causing Memorial Hospital to have a bad reputation.
Jessica is the Head Nurse of Memorial Hospital. She becomes suspicious of Kaplan's activities and chooses to investigate on her own. By the time Jessica discovers the Cerebral Toxin plan, there are already a large number of zombies and she thinks it is too late to do anything. She gives up hope and tries to commit suicide. She is an extremely overwrought, emotional person.
Shannon is the daughter of Allen Hale and the main antagonist. When she was 8 years old, her parents divorced and she was placed under the custody of her mother, who died of an illness a year later. She is bent on revenge and tries to kill Alyssa, because she was jealous of Alyssa's relationship with Allen. Although Shannon did save Alyssa's life once, it was revealed that she did so in order to make Alyssa suffer more.
George works at Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab and is the eldest son of the noble Maxwell Family. He always had a reputation as being a genius, and rightfully so. In 1982, George had a baby girl, Lynn, who he buried because of the supposed Maxwell Curse. From then on he hatches his Cerebral Toxin plan, as a revenge against all humanity. However, he goes insane due to the toxin implanted in the statue sent by Allen Hale. He turns into a psychopathic killer and becomes the final antagonist of the game. He wears a red hannya mask and bloody lab coat, and wields a giant, bloody machete; This is a direct reference to the fictional serial killer Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series.
Ending A: Philip Tate and Allen Hale are shown in a graveyard digging up baby Alyssa and a statue. Then, Alyssa and Alex Corey are shown to be in front of the laboratory (which exploded and is on fire).
Ending B: Alyssa escapes from the laboratory with Detective Alex Corey. This results in Alyssa asking Corey if her Uncle Philip is safe, and him responding that it's a miracle to be alive after what they've been through.
Ending C: Alyssa escapes from the laboratory with Reporter Bowman. This results in Alyssa asking Bowman if it's a good idea to leave the lab the way it is, and him responding that they aren't much help at that point.
Ending D: Alyssa stumbles upon Shannon who blames her for cursing her. Then, Shannon kills Alyssa by strangling her to death.
Ending E: Bates kills Allen Hale with a survival knife.
Ending F: George Maxwell kills Bates in the computer room of the lab.
Ending G: (This ending can only be activated if the player does not examine Michael's armor in the 1st chapter) Alyssa walks into a courtyard and examines a puddle of blood on the ground. George Maxwell throws Michael's armor from the roof and it lands on her, killing her.
Ending H: Bates finds Shannon and is shot dead by her.
Ending I: After Alyssa throws the statue and the kerosene in the fireplace, Stephanie misses her attack, and Bates takes her knife and stabs her. After this, if the player does not pick up the amulet, Stephanie gets up and stabs Bates.
Ending J: Philip strangles Bates in the basement.
Ending K: After Bates meets Philip on 1st floor, he enters the dining room and screams. When Alyssa/Bates enters the reading room (with the key found on Phillip's arm on the ground), he/she finds Philip sitting in a chair and Stephanie enters by the window and stabs both.
Ending L: Bates takes over Alyssa's body and kicks Stephanie. The player then has a choice of either locking the bedroom door or not. If you don't, the player will obtain this ending. Depending on Picking up the Amulet, Alyssa/Bates goes on the balcony to see a dead Aunt Kathryn. Then, Stephanie appears and stabs Alyssa/Bates to death.
Ending M: Alyssa pushes Stephanie, telling Kathryn to run and leave the bedroom. If the player does not put down the amulet before these events, the player will obtain this ending. Stephanie then gets up and runs to Alyssa, stabbing her.
The game was poorly reviewed by IGN and GameSpot, having plot holes, bad voice acting and morbid multiple endings, but despite that fact, it gained a consistent fanbase.
On July 23, 1999, a soundtrack was released for the game in Japan. The soundtrack was named "Clock Tower: Ghosthead Drama CD" and included one disc. It was published by Nihon Crown. The tracks were organized into sections on the disc:
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prologue" (Includes tracks from the opening, etc. of the game.) | 7:30 |
| 2. | "CHAPTER1 ~Cursed House~" (Includes tracks from the first chapter of the game.) | 19:40 |
| 3. | "CHAPTER2 ~White Cage~" (Includes tracks from the second chapter of the game.) | 19:34 |
| 4. | "CHAPTER3 ~Closed Door~" (Includes tracks from the third chapter of the game.) | 22:58 |
| 5. | "Epilogue" (Includes tracks from the ending, etc. of the game.) | 3:04 |
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Total length:
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72:46 | |
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