Cursed Mountain

Cursed Mountain
European box art
Developer(s)	Sproing Interactive Media Deep Silver Vienna
Publisher(s)	Deep Silver
Distributor(s)	Madman Entertainment[1]
Designer(s)	Tobe Mayr Christoph Quas Georg Heinz
Composer(s)	Darren Lambourne
Platform(s)	Wii, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	Wii EU August 21, 2009 NA August 25, 2009[2] UK September 4, 2009 AUS October 15, 2009[3] Microsoft Windows EU February 05, 2010[4]
Genre(s)	Adventure, Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: M OFLC: M PEGI: 16+
Media/distribution	Optical disc

Cursed Mountain is a survival horror-adventure video game for the Wii developed by Sproing Interactive, in collaboration with, and published by Deep Silver Vienna. It was released on August 25, 2009 in North America. The game focuses on a mountaineer searching for his lost brother in the Himalayas.^[5] A PC version of the game was released on February 5, 2010 in Europe. It is available globally via digital download on GamersGate.

Gameplay

Combat primarily consists of encounters with the angry souls of monks and climbers who are trapped in Bardo, a spiritual realm in between this life and the next. The player must stun the enemies and make gestures with the Wii Remote to free their souls. The game also makes use of other features of the Wii Remote, such as its built-in speaker.^[6][7]

Plot

Cursed Mountain is set in the late 1980s, due to the lack of technology available in the time period. The entire course of the game takes place on a mountain in the Himalayas named Chomolonzo, which the natives call "the Sacred One". The protagonist, Eric Simmons, is searching for his lost brother, Frank, who was hired by Edward Bennett to retrieve a sacred artifact called a terma. The goddess of the mountain became angry, and she bestowed a powerful curse upon Chomolonzo, trapping Frank and everyone who could not escape in time. The storyline of the game is heavily influenced by Buddhism and Tibetan folklore.^[6][7][8]

Development

Cursed Mountain was a collaborative development effort by 16 companies consisting of 236 people in 17 unique locations in 14 different countries.^[9]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	68.89%[10]
Metacritic	67[11]
Review scores
Publication	Score
GameSpot	7.5[12]
IGN	7.5/10[13]

N-Zone magazine gave the game a score of 82%. Praise was given to the game's pacing and atmosphere, with criticism aimed at the game's sometimes sluggish controls.^[14] Blast magazine awarded the game a 7.7 out of 10, stating that the "story, setting and atmosphere are the keys to Cursed Mountain" while "the controls or pacing frustrate you a bit".^[15] About.com was less enthusiastic, giving the game a 3 out of 5 and referring to the controls as "infuriating" and the finale as "laughably pretentious."^[16] IGN and GameSpot both awarded the title a score of 7.5 praising the atmosphere and game play.

Koch, the owner of Deep Silver Vienna, closed the studio on January 30, 2010.^[17]

References

1. ^ "Aussie Distributor Goes Mad" (Press release). Madman Entertainment. July 16, 2009. http://games.ign.com/articles/100/1004739p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
2. ^ "Cursed Mountain Climbs Into Retail". Deep Silver. http://wii.ign.com/articles/101/1017999p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
3. ^ Farrely, Steve (October 12, 2009). "This Week's Game Releases (October 12 - 18)". Ausgamers. http://www.ausgamers.com/news/read/2796873. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
4. ^ "GamersGate Cursed Mountain page". http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-CURMO/cursed-mountain. 
5. ^ Casamassina, Matt (2008-07-30). "IGN: Scaling the Cursed Mountain". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/895/895191p1.html. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Casamassina, Matt (2008-11-05). "IGN: Cursed Mountain Preview". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/927/927348p1.html. 
7. ^ ^{a b} McInnis, Shaun (2008-11-11). "Cursed Mountain Updated Impressions". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/cursedmountain/news.html?sid=6200884&om_act=convert&om_clk=newsfeatures&tag=newsfeatures;title;1. 
8. ^ Fahey, Mike (2009-01-22). "Survival Horror: Cursed Mountain Screens Are Cursed, Mountainous". Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/5137107/cursed-mountain-screens-are-cursed-mountainous. 
9. ^ Casamassina, Matt (August 17, 2009). "GC 2009: 12 Companies Made Cursed Mountain". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/101/1014390p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
10. ^ "Cursed Mountain". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/wii/951867-cursed-mountain/index.html. Retrieved 14 April 2011. 
11. ^ "Cursed Mountain". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/cursed-mountain. Retrieved 14 April 2011. 
12. ^ VanOrd, Kevin (27 August 2009). "Cursed Mountain Review". Gamespot. http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/cursedmountain/review.html?tag=summary%3Bread-review. 
13. ^ Casamassina, Matt. "Cursed Mountain". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/101/1019344p1.html. Retrieved 2009-08-27. 
14. ^ http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=92659
15. ^ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/gaming/reviews/2009/09/cursed-mountain-review/
16. ^ Herold, Charles. "Cursed Mountain - Game Review". About.com. http://nintendo.about.com/od/gamereviews/fr/cursedmountainreview_2.htm. 
17. ^ "Koch Media closes Deep Silver Vienna". http://futurezone.orf.at/stories/1637834/. 

External links

• Official website
• Publisher Deep Silver