Rule of Rose

"Haunting"

Rule of Rose is difficult to review. Most games lend themselves well to a multi-level analysis of various aspects, but to do so with this game would destroy everything magical about it. RoR has major, major flaws, and yet it handily deserves a perfect ten for one major reason: Those flaws are not enough to keep it from being profoundly moving.

The storyline in a nutshell: Jennifer (referred throughout the game's narration, quite terrifyingly, as The Unlucky Princess) survives an accident that kills her parents and is sent to live at an ominous orphanage. When she arrives, she finds herself at the mercy of a group of children wearing horrible masks and doing horrible things. After a merciless opening scene, Jennifer inexplicably wakes up on an airship, where she spends most of the game performing tasks to placate her cruel fellow orphans. Her only friend and companion is a loyal dog, Brown, who helps her search for necessary items.

You may have already noticed, but RoR serves as an archetypal example of the phrase "not for everyone." Throughout this review, I will be pointing out the flaws and idiosyncrasies of Rule of Rose (a much fairer way of dealing with this game than mere subscores, which would make it seem worse than it actually is). If, at any point, I mention a flaw that you, personally, find too annoying to deal with, then you will likely find RoR frustrating and dull; otherwise, I recommend you play it immediately. If I do not specifically mention a feature of the game as flawed, then you can assume it's perfectly handled.

Issue #1: Rule of Rose is a typical survival horror game, which comes with all the requisite annoyances: rows of locked doors, awkward camera angles, creeping, identical monsters, a slow and clumsy protagonist. This is most obvious in:

Issue #2: The horrible, horrible, inexcusably bad combat. "Broken" is a fair word to describe it. Sometimes, Jennifer and an enemy will somehow merge into one being, both taking up the same space and thus unable to hit one another. She also has one move in her arsenal, a ground stomp, which simply does not work. Enemies are inexplicably invulnerable while in the process of standing up, and their attacks often have a hit radius of 360 degrees, even though they're clearly only punching straight ahead. If you can't deal with clunky combat, stay away from Rule of Rose.

However, it must be pointed out that many reviews overstate how big a deal this is. Most of the game contains no enemies at all, and when they do appear, they are meant to be avoided rather than engaged. Boss battles remain frustrating, but there are only three of them in the whole game. All of which takes us to:

Issue #3: Rule of Rose is an adventure game, period. It only includes combat out of genre necessity, and so most of the gameplay involves using your dog to sniff out items, a process which, believe it or not, is quite fun. Still, this game has a very slow pace and minimal fighting, so buyer beware.

Issue #4: Unlike many other survival horror games, Rule of Rose only takes place in two major settings, which may cause some to become bored with the lack of variety in the locations. On the other hand, there is something to be said for letting the player really become immersed in a specific place, especially in the survival horror genre, where things can suddenly change without warning and where a confined, trapped feeling only adds to the experience.

Issue #5: Rule of Rose is indeed a horror game, but it is unique in that it focuses on social, rather than physical, aggression. Though there are many grotesque creatures scurrying about, the big threat comes from the other children, who, thankfully, are not Ringu-style ghost banshees, but real kids who are frightening because of the way they enforce their social order. To use a non-spoiler (and quite creepy) example, the Game Over screen includes a short fable that says that because The Unlucky Princess is dead, everyone else "lives happily ever after."

It was risky to make a game based around young girls hazing one another, but anyone who has lived through elementary school can probably agree that it is a rich mine for horror. Still, if you require gore, zombies, and chainsaws, this is not the game for you. The threat of death is always present, but the real fear is of humiliation and blame and rejection.

Issue #6: It is impossible to overstate how good this game's storyline is, but some might find fault with its structure, which is disjointed and non-chronological and often contradicts itself. However, unlike many other games, which use surrealism as a crutch to avoid ever having to explain themselves, Rule of Rose plays fair. Anyone who reaches the end and still doesn't know what happened simply wasn't paying attention. This is one nightmare that actually feels like a nightmare, rather than a lazy jumble of typically "scary" images, which is what a lot of horror games and movies feel like.

Issue #7: This may sound weird to specifically say, but I believe it's an important point: Rule of Rose is a very female-oriented game. Not only are most of the characters girls, but the story is focused on social relationships and is a highly emotional experience: it is by far the saddest video game I have ever played. While I believe it is refreshing for a game of ANY genre to aim to a female audience, some of the more macho among you may be continually waiting for the game to get to the point.

Rule of Rose is slow, it's brutal, it's clunky, it's repetitive, and, at its heart, it's about twelve year-old girls being mean to one another. Frankly, it's unfortunate that the developers had to make a video game when what they obviously wanted to make was an interactive movie. Still, if you're able to ignore or enjoy the game's quirks and can judge it as an adventure, then you'll see how moving video games can be.... and you will also have fun playing it (when you're not fighting a boss).

To sum up, Rule of Rose is a profoundly disturbing game, in a longer-lasting way than any other I have played. People die, people are hurt, people try to love and act selflessly but are unable. This world is cruel, especially to children. The only way to move on is to grow up, and the only way to grow up is to sacrifice everything you had as a child. And if you're able to forgive the game's flaws and make it to the end to watch all of this acted out in front of you, you will see something that will actually stay with you long after you watch the credits roll, lurking in your thoughts like children hiding and giggling in the dark, harsh and upsetting like a puppy's pathetic, lonely yaps. And that's an accomplishment so delicate, so difficult, and so profound that it deserves no less than a perfect 10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/07