The game consists of exposition (long and unnecessarily drawn-out and redundant game-engine cutscenes), then a little bit of action, more exposition, a small amount of action, exposition, exposition, puzzle, action, etc. Fortunately the story is good. Lazerus was a Union officer and survivor at Gettysburg. Hoping for a light assignment, he found himself in Burkittsville, Maryland. His assignment was to lead a few troops in search of a Confederate raiding party. (Which idiotically dressed in full Confederate uniform... most Confederate regular army didn't even have uniforms, so why would behind-the-lines raiders have them?) During the game you'll flashback to this Civil War story and have to fight Southern troops and explore the woods by day. Your progress in the past (1863) mirrors that of the present (1880 or so), and it's a cool storytelling device, letting you fight raiders with your pistol one minute, and ghosts with an enchanted saber the next.

Audio is well used in the game, from odd sound effects, like sibilant whisperings in the woods, to truly disturbing lines spoken by creepy ghost children. Some of the lines border on being tasteless, in fact: "I want to play with you, but the bad man makes me play bad." The other problem is these children are never sufficiently explained outside of throwaway lines about the woods, or the witch, leading people away occasionally. Consistently above average voice acting helps immerse you into the tale, even if the script is overlong and sometimes the exposition becomes boring. Chalk it up to the amateur storytelling trap that forgets that "show me" is much better than "tell me."

The biggest problem with the game is, of course, the Nocturne engine. It was designed with cinematic views in mind, but this is an action game. There is nothing more frustrating than looking at a disorienting, but dramatic, view -- and then having a ghost appear and maul you before you can figure out which way to turn. None of the control options let you react confidently and with speed. You simply move too slowly (even with autorun checked), and that hampers the fear. The game's very presentation consistently gets you killed, and that isn't scary.

The AI is unbelievably bad as well. It's hard to get into a game that has your character telling his troops to take up ambush positions and then watching them do it five feet from the blind, deaf and obviously really dumb enemy. They lurch, they shamble, but they don't act remotely human (even when they are supposed to be).

There is no doubt that a lot of what's wrong with Blair Witch 2 isn't the fault of the developers at Human Head. The Nocturne engine is in desperate need of a re-conception (hint: Think gameplay over beauty). But they could have paid a lot more attention to detail, they owed us a longer game (it'll take most people around 6-8 hours to complete it) and they should have guaranteed a better ending. I won't reveal it -- let's just say they once used it in a popular prime-time soap opera and it was stupid then too. That said, it's nice to see a horror game set during the comparatively exotic time period of the Civil War. That and the first few hours of gameplay are about all one can safely recommend about The Legend of Coffin Rock.