Are you scared yet? No? Then you obviously haven’t played Fatal Frame. Not only is this game scary, it creeps it’s way into your brain and sits there creating a nest of nightmares. The whole game is based around the “Himuro Family Mansion”, what’s so special about this mansion? It’s the haunting grounds for thousands of tortured souls that were killed in the “Himuro Family Rituals” and the “Cataclysm”. Now I’m not here to divulge spoilers to the world, the game is for you to play and the best parts are for you to discover on your own time.
While I make this game sound scary, don’t get me wrong, other games have scarier and far creepier moments in them—Fatal Frame 2 is rated by thousands of people as the scariest game ever made, but that is another review for another time. Fatal Frame has a very unique battle system, your only weapon being a camera. Yes, that is correct, you have to kill ghosts by taking pictures of them, thus trapping their souls inside the camera. It’s not all about just being able to take a picture, the better picture you can take the higher the score you will get for the picture. You can take the score you have earned and use it to upgrade your camera’s speed, max value (how much damage you can do with 1 photo), and range. You may also purchase special moves that can slow down, freeze, push back, make more visible, or auto track the ghosts. Each special move takes a “Soul Stone” to activate it in battle, “Soul Stones” are found very rarely around the mansion so use them wisely. Upon beating the game and doing several other things (taking pictures of the “Hidden Souls”, around 180 in game) you unlock 5 extra bonus skills for the camera. I personally only have 1 so far that allows me to zoom in and out, as for the other 4, you are more than welcome to get them in game and let me know what they do.
Did I mention that this game is hard? It’s not so bad at first, well at least not after you get used to using your camera. After you get to the second chapter, it’s like all hell breaks loose, you have ghosts coming out the wazoo, they do a good amount of damage, heath packs are sparse (unless you search EVERY gloomy corner of every room like me, but then you take the chance of running into more ghosts). Not only does difficulty increase, the story itself keeps getting darker and more sadistic as the game progresses. It’s not too hard to play, but definitely a fun challenge.
The graphics, for it’s time, are very realistic. The scenery of the entire game makes you feel like you are living in a Japanese horror film. Very creepy and dark, nothing in the game seems out of place, no organic walls from hell or oddball demon doors, all the scenery is something that could exist in real life if it already doesn’t. I say if it already doesn’t because there are things hanging on walls like “The Mask of Joy, Reflection, Sadness, and Anger” which are obviously made for the game, but they are items that could be real if someone made them. I believe one of the main things that makes the game so terrifying is the surroundings, giving that feeling of realism makes you want to look behind your back to see if there isn’t a ghostly figure starring you down.
I said “one of the main things” in the previous paragraph, because graphics and scenery can not work alone. There’s a little thing called sound that seriously amps up the horror levels in this game. Screams, grotesque moaning, shuffling of footsteps in a dark area, loud banging, whispering, I could go on and on. The sounds in Fatal Frame are just down right disturbing and eerie.
Overall this game is quite the keeper, scary, fun, and challenging, what more could you want from a game? I know what, good replay value, right? Fatal Frame has Great replay value. Upon beating the game on Normal you will unlock Battle Mode, and the ghost list. You can play Battle Mode and load your beaten game for New Game +(keeping all your film and upgrades), take pictures of all the ghosts on the ghost list for more special moves and alternate costumes, and from beating Battle Mode and New Game+ you will receive Nightmare mode, which you can beat for an alternate ending. So in the end there is quite a bit there to keep you busy for a good amount of time.
Graphics - 7/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Sound - 10/10
Story - 7/10
Overall - 8/10
