Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within

"Clock Tower II" redirects here. For the game released in Japan as "Clock Tower 2", see Clock Tower (1996 video game).

Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Human Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Human Entertainment Agetec Inc.
Series	Clock Tower
Platforms	PlayStation, PlayStation Network
Release date(s)	PlayStation Network
Genre(s)	Survival horror, point-and-click adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within, released in Japan as Clock Tower Ghost Head (クロックタワーゴーストヘッド ), is a survival horror point-and-click adventure game created by Human Entertainment, published by Agetec, and was 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.

Gameplay

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.

Plot

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 sixteen 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. Due to her multiple personality disorder, she has been incarcerated in a mental hospital.

The story begins on the day that she leaves the hospital, with Philip and Kathryn Tate, her uncle and aunt, waiting for her to arrive. Philip comforts Kathryn by reminding her that their daughter Ashley is also coming home. They hear a noise at the door, and Kathryn goes to see if it is Ashley. Philip says something about the "Maxwell Curse", before Kathryn screams and he rushes over to see what is happening.

Alyssa arrives at the house later that night. When no-one answers the door, she goes in, and finds several green body parts strewn around the house. When she reaches Ashley's room, she finds Ashley's severed head, which causes Bates to emerge. Bates goes downstairs and finds the Amulet, which allows Alyssa to take control again.

When she enters the kitchen, Alyssa finds Stephanie, her other cousin, who tries to stab her with a kitchen knife. Alyssa flees and reaches the master bedroom, where she finds Kathryn about to be stabbed by Stephanie. Alyssa pushes Stephanie over, allowing Kathryn to escape; Bates then takes over and kicks Stephanie before leaving the room.

Later, Alyssa returns to the bedroom, and finds a letter from her father, Allen Hale, addressed to Philip, about the Golden Statue left in Philip's possession. She goes to Stephanie's room, where the statue should be, to find it missing. She heads downstairs and finds Philip, who tells her to hide in the den in the basement. She goes down there, but Philip who's already there tries to strangle her. She manages to escape.

When she returns to the basement, she finds him collapsed, telling her to burn the statue. She takes it and throws it in the fireplace, but Stephanie appears and knocks the amulet off her in a struggle. Bates takes over and stabs her, then he picks up Alyssa's Amulet which brings back Alyssa who then throws a lighter into the fireplace, causing her and Stephanie to collapse.

Alyssa wakes up in Memorial Hospital and meets a man called Alex Corey, who explains that he saved her and Stephanie from the house after getting called by Kathryn. He hears a man's scream from upstairs, and goes to check. Alyssa follows him, and finds that the hospital is infested by zombies, having to awaken Bates to fight them off. She meets Doug Bowman, a reporter interested in the zombies, and eventually finds Alex again, who is looking for Philip.

Alyssa finds a woman named Jessica Cook in the storage cupboard, and uses Bates to get information about the zombies. In Jessica's office, she discovers that the zombies' weak points are their parasitic brains. Later, Henry Kaplan, the hospital's director, tries to strangle her, but he is shot dead by a woman named Shannon Lewis. Alyssa goes and finds Jessica, who is preparing to hang herself in the cupboard, and convinces her to live.

Alyssa goes and meets up with Doug again, who is going to go to the Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab. She tries to escape out of the back door and follow him, but it is locked. Alex shoots the lock off with his pistol, accidentally causing zombies to flood in. As he kills them all with a shotgun, she faints.

When Alyssa awakens again, she finds that Alex took her to the lab, as he was heading there to search for Philip. The two then part ways again. Alyssa soon finds a man wearing an oni mask named George Maxwell, who begins to stalk her. She meets Shannon, who intends to kill her, but lets her go for now. Eventually she meets up with Alex, who has also seen George.

Later, Alyssa finds George in the lab, telling her that she shouldn't have been born. She runs away again, finding Allen handcuffed to a pipe. After setting him free, they go to Philip's office to look for him, and find Philip proclaiming that he knows the secret of the Maxwell Curse.

Alyssa leaves Allen and Philip, and runs into Shannon, who claims that Alyssa ruined her life. Bates emerges and attacks Shannon, who leaves the room in astonishment. Alyssa reaches the graveyard, where she finds Philip, dying. He warns Alyssa about the curse with his last breath.

Later on, Shannon finds Alyssa again, and Allen tells her to kill him instead of Alyssa. Realizing that she can never have her revenge, Shannon commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill. As Allen leaves the room, he explains that Shannon is his daughter. In the next room, she meets Alex, who says that his investigation is over, and that they can leave now. Alyssa refuses, wishing to sort everything out.

In the chapel, Alyssa finds Allen confronting George. He explains that Alyssa is not his daughter, but rather the daughter of George Maxwell. The Maxwell Curse states that every few generations, "Cursed Twins" are born into the Maxwell line. To protect their family, they must be buried beneath the Maxwell tree and left to die.

Allen and Philip, jealous of George's wealth, dug up the children to spite him. However, Alyssa's twin had suffocated to death; Alyssa realizes that her twin was Bates, who transplanted his soul into her body. George tries to attack Alyssa, but Allen shoots him, explaining that he infected the statue with a toxin to make Maxwell go insane and protect her. He then says goodbye and tells her to go, explaining that the building is about to explode.

George rises and tries to kill Alyssa again, but Alex arrives and shoots him. The two escape, and watch the building burn from the hillside. Alyssa mourns her fathers, claiming that she should have died instead. Alex comforts her, and she looks up and smiles.

Endings

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: (If the player is playing as Bates, This ending will be replace with a cut-scene.) 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/Bates 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 him/her, killing him/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.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 52.20% Metacritic 49/100 Review scores Publication Score AllGame GameSpot 3.9/10 IGN 4.8/10 OPM (US)

The game was met with mixed to negative reception upon release, as GameRankings gave it a score of 52.20%, while Metacritic gave it 49 out of 100.

Soundtrack

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 Drama CD uses an different voice actors from the video games. 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
Total length:		72:46

External links

• Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within at MobyGames