Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

"Fatal Frame 1 lite"

Let me start of by saying that I was caught a glimpse of Fatal Frame being reviewed by the local network and I was intrigued. When I finally got my hands on the game that disappeared faster from the shelves than anything I had ever seen, I was pleasantly surprised! I have always had a thing for the more psychological kind of horror and Fatal Frame seemed to deliver. Take with that an interesting story and an interesting game-play mechanic, and you had yourselves a fan.

Then part 2 was announced; I was ecstatic! The trailer looked marvelous and the game promised more than part 1! Not to mention that the screenshots looked gorgeous! When the game finally released, I couldn't wait to play...

...and find out just how disappointing the whole experience was.

Let me get this right out of the way; the game is a clone of Fatal Frame 1, with a few minor differences. Unfortunately, most of the differences seem to make the game even worse. So, let me summarize my issues with the game;

1. The game is easy. Seriously. I had absolutely no problem scoring and breezing through the game. The point system seems to be much more forgivable, but unfortunately, that will not help you.

In part 1, you could upgrade the camera with the points you accumulated. It was hard to get points, so it was all the better if you could finally upgrade that part you had been saving for for so long.
In Fatal Frame 2 however, instead of rewarding you for a job well done, the game limits you by having 2 parts to the level up system. On one hand you have the points (which are still needed), on the other hand you have the spirit stones from part 1, but with a different use. To upgrade a statistic, you first have to activate it using a spirit stone. Unfortunately, these spirit stones only come in fixed intervals, which in turn does not reward you anymore for scoring points; since you will most probably have enough points anyway by the time you finally get one.

2. The plot is a carbon copy.
Part 1 had a tale about a mystifying ritual that needed to be performed or all hell would break loose. Literally. A (female) sacrifice needed to be prepared for that. Unfortunately, love would get in the way and the ritual would go horribly wrong. Ghosts would appear everywhere, with the sacrifice as the head honcho of the floating dead. Years later, someone with similarities to the sacrifice will appear and the protagonist has to search for him while battling ghosts with a "camera obscura" which can vanquish them. Only to see him die at the end.

Part 2 had a tale about a mystifying ritual that needed to be performed or all hell would break loose. Literally. A (female) sacrifice needed to be prepared for that. Unfortunately, love would get in the way and the ritual would go horribly wrong. Ghosts would appear everywhere, with the sacrifice as the head honcho of the floating dead. Years later, someone with similarities to the sacrifice will appear and the protagonist has to search for her while battling ghosts with a "camera obscura" which can vanquish them. Only to see her die at the end.

No, I am not exaggerating. The only difference in the game is in the type of sacrifice and the gender.

3. The game pulls a "ghost and goblins" on you.
Thought you were at the end of the game? Thought you could finally exorcise that sacrifice you have been hearing about in the entire game? You know, just like any game would?

Hah!

Instead of actually fighting the final boss, you fight some "pre"-final boss. Instead of getting the option to actually fight the sacrifice, you get the hard mode. And the promise that in hard mode, you will finally fight her. Yes; you are forced to play the entire game a second time just to get to the actual boss. If this was on easy, I could understand; giving the player the option to meet the game, but also the option to take normal instead and go all the way at once. But this is on normal as well! YOU ONLY GET TO BEAT THE FINAL BOSS ON HARD OR HIGHER DIFFICULTY.

4. Rehashing.. well. everything.
Equipment has been re-used without addition of anything new, game-play has not been changed (camera is still fixed, the characters still move slow, the camera still does its basic thing like charging up to kill ghosts, and so on). Not much to be said about this; there has been little to no improvement from part 1.

5. Gameplay
As a continuation on point 4, the game-play has remained the same as well. Normally this is a good thing, if the game-play were already good. However, Fatal Frame 1 suffered from some problems. One of these is the overly slow main character. The second was the fixed camera that made movement in some rooms extremely difficult. The third one was how dark the game was.

Part 2 however, did not improve on this. Characters still moved like molasses, camera was still fixed and the game was horribly dark. There was one room that was entirely black. I though the light was out and that I had to activate it or something; only later did I find out that I had to crank the brightness up to max to find out there was no light in the first place. The game was just that dark.

The weapon usage (the weapon is a camera) changed a little though. The special power system was okay; I liked the new implementation, as I have never been good with resource management (I am too greedy), as was present in part 1. However, the feedback of charging the camera got worse. Instead of kanji flashing to indicate how full your "charging" was, this game had this buzzing noise and a circle that slowly filled up. Not only was it hard to see just how far your camera had charged; the buzzing sound was irritating and gave no impression just how far the charging was.

Part 1 was excellent in it's expertly placed "boo!" moments. Part 2 did not have any of that. All important ghosts were introduced by the use of a cut-scene, essentially eliminating any tension. Regular ghosts were so slow that I actually wondered once whether I was looking at one or if it was part of the scenery (it was a ghost by the way). Ghosts had the same abilities as they had in part 1, so the strategies that worked there still work here as well.

There was one thing that annoyed me like nothing else; throughout the game you have your sister tagging along with you. Now, this would be okay if it weren't for the fact that that sister was limping and she was even slower than you are. Also, at key moments in the game, you have to leave her behind because she got herself trapped or she walked out on you. In the case of the former; expect her to say "well, if you need to go to safe me, then go" only to have her complain to you later "how you left her alone and promised not to do that". This character did not do anything that made me want to safe her and at the times I could walk around alone, I have to admit that those were the parts that were more fun.

However, the game is not all bad. One thing that struck me immediately was the graphics. The game vastly improved on the graphics on part 1; even though the setting was somewhat limited. Detailed wood beams that were rotting, ragged cloths fluttering in the breeze, ghosts that have much more details; the game was a sight to behold. Textures were a lot more detailed and now and the protagonist actually looked Japanese, not altered like the protagonist from part 1.

Unfortunately, graphics do not make the game. Especially not if it is all it has going for it.

Therefore, I cannot give it more than a 4. A rental at best.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/17/09

Game Release: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (US, 12/10/03)