Gaming Generations :: Fatal Frame II (XBOX)

NickD · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:36 pm Post subject:

Fatal Frame

Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Tecmo
Official Website: www.tecmogames.com
Release Date: 11/1/2004
Genre: Survival Horror
Number of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: Mature
----------------------------------------------------------
REVIEW

After playing the first game years ago I knew that I needed to give this one a try. Luckily, this game is backwards compatible for the 360.

Technically, this game is a prequel to the original Fatal Frame. This is easily the creepiest game I've ever played, even more than the original.

As a side note, I've decided to slightly alter the layout of my reviews and to move to a 0-4 scale based on a typical GPA style.

PLOT
You play as Mio, one of two twin girls. The opening cutscene shows Mio with her sister, Mayu, just enjoying the scenery of a forest. Suddenly, Mayu takes off running after a crimson butterfly, and Mio chases after her.

The relationship these two have is... unique, to say the least.

After stumbling too far into the forest, night seems to creep in around you as you come upon a dreary-looking area with a spooky glow coming from just over a hill. From here, you enter the Lost Village in search of Mayu, who followed the butterfly despite your calls to her.

SETTING
The whole game takes place in the Lost Village, which is dark the whole time you are there.

GAMEPLAY
This is a survival horror game at heart. The enemies in this game are all ghosts and the only way for you to fight them is to use the Camera Obscura. You use this special camera to steal the soul of any ghosts you may find in order to protect yourself and find your sister.

The first film type, 07, is the weakest film, but it is also unlimited. From here, the power of the film moves up to 14 < 61 < 90 < 0. Each new film type is increasingly rare.

Like many survival horror games, you can upgrade your weapon. In this case, the only weapon you have is the camera, which can be upgraded using Spirit Orbs as well as captured Spirit points. The camera also has other power ups later in the game that will give you other special abilities, as well as new lenses that can be used to slow down a ghost's movement or push them back farther with each use of the lens' ability.

This game is also very scary. As a person who has played a decent amount of survival horror games, I can confidently say that this game is the scariest one I have ever played. The overall story and the individual back stories of some of the ghosts increase the feeling of fear throughout the game.

You can't have slaughter without the laughter...

A lot of the ghosts look how they did when they died, meaning that they may stumble a lot, or crawl in an extremely creepy way. Some of the most annoying/scary ghosts are the children that used to inhabit the village.

It's not fun playing hide and seek with people who can float through walls.

Progress in the game is made by solving puzzles, like many survival horror games. The camera is often used to take a picture of one object, which changes into another object or area, prompting you to visit a place you've been before.

However, not all of the ghosts in the village are trying to harm you. Some of them are actually trying to help you and other just seem to want somebody to know they existed. Still, many of these ghosts show up quickly in ways that will make you jump since the controller vibrates and a loud heartbeat noise goes off.

GRAPHICS
Seeing as this game is an old XBOX game, the graphics are nothing special compared to modern games. However, the overall look of the game and the village are spooky and dead-looking. The village isn't huge, but the darkness surrounding it and the constant threat of a ghost showing up won't even allow you to think about the graphics.

Graphics are the least of your concerns...

SOUND
The sounds in this game are possibly what make it so scary. The near silence that occurs sometimes is contrasted by the sounds of people running around in the next room or loud screams. The music, when it plays, is well-done for this game. As a whole, the sound does a great job of increasing the feeling of tension, just in time for another ghost to jump out at you.

SUMMARY
As far as survival horror goes, this game is definitely the creepiest game I've played and is probably one of the scariest games out there. The the background story of the village along with the story of Mio and Mayu is well written and comes to a very interesting conclusion.

The pacing of this game is fairly slow, but not boring. It is a decent length game, taking me 12 hours to beat on Normal difficulty. The fact that a ghost could appear to attack you at any time helps to increase the horror level, especially since ghosts are incredibly prevalent. In other survival horror games monsters tend to be monsters. In Fatal Frame, you don't know initially whether you're going to stumble upon a ghost that wants to end your life or to just keep trying to "live" its own.

The use of the camera to essentially steal a ghosts soul may sound cheesy, but it actually feels really well done. The only only problems I had with this game were the easy difficulty of the end boss and the lame hints given by puzzles. In some cases, puzzles could only be attempted by first triggering a fairly unrelated event.

If you're a survival horror fan or just want a game that will put enough horror into you that you need to stop playing after a while, you HAVE to give this game a shot, it's definitely worth it.

Overall Score: 3.5/4

This game gets a solid A-. It's one of the best games in the genre and the XBOX version also gains you access to a special ending that wasn't available in the PS2 release. This version also has a load of unlockable content.

I didn't unlock these outfits, but you might want to.

Comments on the new format and scoring are appreciated.

Pictures courtesy of GameSpot.com
----------------------------------------------------------
Nick
_________________
Finished Reviews:
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS)
Ninja Gaiden II
Battlefield: Bad Company (360)
Gears of War
Too Human
Dead Space (360)
Legendary (360)
EndWar (360)
Fallout 3
Fatal Frame II

Writer, Actor in Flingshot Productions