Should you proceed with caw-tion?
The year is 1990. Edward Crow has disappeared. The owner of ‘Crow Country’ (a small theme park in the rural outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia), he has not been seen since he unexpectedly shut down his park two years ago. The silence is broken when a mysterious young woman named Mara Forest ventures into the heart of the abandoned theme park in order to find him. Why did Crow really shut down his park? Are the disturbing rumours about Crow Country true? Who, exactly, is Mara Forest? A Survival Horror adventure featuring: A rich atmosphere. A strong, tangible sense of place. A small but memorable cast of characters. Meaningful exploration. Engaging puzzles. And most of all – a beautiful, uncanny blend of tension and tranquillity.
When you first look at Crow Country, you’ll think of immediately of the visuals from Final Fantasy VII. But instead of a JRPG, this is a survival horror that follows the playbook from classic Resident Evil games. The park is full of puzzles, deadly enemies and collectibles to find as you would expect and if you’ve played an old-school Resi before, then you’ll know what to expect from this, even with the cutesy FF7-style visuals.
Aiming and shooting is typical of the old-school Resi games, while even the menu shows your health bar as you would imagine it. It’s a nice throwback to the PS1 with the visuals and even the movement feels authentic to how you would expect a PS1 title to play. The horror itself isn’t quite as scary thanks to the FF7 look, but it does still feel creepy and the enemies are no pushover. That being said, you can put on an exploration mode if you just want to go through the story without any confrontations with enemies.
This will however, rob you of the survival horror aspect as well as the opportunity to nab the Platinum, as you must earn a certain rank on a playthrough that can’t be earned in exploration mode. But it does give you good practice for learning where key objects are if you want to plan ahead this way.
The Verdict
Crow Country somehow blends two of the greatest PSOne titles in Resident Evil and Final Fantasy VII into a superb game full of surprises. Definitely one not to overlook.