Rule of Rose

"If only the game play was solid..."

Rule of Rose is a game that caught my eye when it hit Japan. I rarely pay attention to games until they reach North American stores but a few months later I read a review in Play magazine. I became really interested when Atlus decided to bring it to the states. However the magazines here gave it bad reviews and I decided not to take the plunge. After playing the game I have come away with mixed feelings.

Rule of Rose tells the story of Jennifer. A girl whose parents died in a fire and is now living in an orphanage. She's is tortured by the other kids, tormented and hurt. She finds a friend in a dog. I could go on but then I might ruin something. The plot itself is deep on one level, if you take the time to take in everything the game has to offer. I enjoyed the story and it is rather complex at times.

The graphics in the game look really good. Cut scenes are nice and creepy. The locations are creepy, if not a bit lacking in design. Enemy models are limited but look good. I really dug the cut scenes though.

Sound wise this game is interesting. The girls all have British actors and it works well and they sound good and they even sound creepy. The problem is that the game could have had 100% voice work but doesn't. The sound effects are good but nothing special. The music is hauntingly beautiful and I want the soundtrack. The string instruments just sound amazing.

Control in the game is a bit lacking. Jennifer moves at an alright pace and it's easy to get the hang of the controls. The problem is the combat controls. It's very lacking in depth and feel way too shallow. You just stand there and stab or whatever. Really didn't enjoy combat.

Rule of Rose is split up into chapters. The game only offers three locations but one is small, one is average and one is rather large and complex. You spend a lot of time in the large one and small bits of time in the others.

The idea of the game is to find the item that is requested by the Rose group. It's the same always and it's all plot related. You usually find an item at the start of a chapter, set it so the dog sniffs for it and follow him. This solves about 90% of the puzzles. The puzzles are fairly simple and the only way to get confused is to get lost.

The games biggest fault is the combat. Thankfully there are only three bosses and about 5 moments of needing to fight enemies. Otherwise you run from them.

This means the entire game boils down to wandering halls, following your dog to the next item and wash and repeat. It's far from exciting but I was never bored either.

The game took me roughly 6 hours to beat. Pretty average for a game like this and there are a number of secrets and stuff to find. What I like is that at the end of the game if you went the secret way you can access the music files and all of the cut scenes but only if you find the items in the game. A nice addition. Other wise there isn't much of a reason to replay the game.

I honestly can't recommend Rule of Rose past a rental. I will buy this game when it gets a bit cheaper but I really enjoyed it personally but its entire game play premise is very lacking and hurts the game. Fans of the genre may dig the game but it's not friendly for the casual gamer.

Story - 9/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 9/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 5/10
Replay value - 4/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/07