Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

"A unique, beautiful and perfectly scary experience that is well worth your consideration."

Story and Presentation

As you may have heard, Fatal Frame II is scary. If you scare easily, literally every second of this game will be a nightmare, and if you don't think you scare easily, this game could very well prove you wrong.

Part of the reason it's so scary is that it feels very plausible. You play as one of two very normal twin girls; you are weak, slow, and your twin has a limp so that doesn't help your chances of survival any. Wandering the woods, you come upon a ''lost village'' you had heard of in stories, and as you explore, its very believable and dark history becomes revealed to you. While that's all in the past, you'll have to contend with spirits coming after you and your twin sister, who will start to act really strangely as the game goes on, as if possessed. The histories of you and your sister, of the village, and the current story of just trying to survive/escape, all intertwine and work amazingly well.

The reading never really bored me in this game. No matter how interested you are in the reading, whether you just skim it, or you study it, you'll be satisfied by the fact that not a word is wasted in this game's story. It all works together to make sense and enhance your experience of the game. On the other hand the ''Spirit Stone Radio'' which allows you to listen to a spirits' thoughts or feelings or experience, kind of turned me off. It's usually very inaudible, a tad too artsy, and takes a little too long to play.

The video in this game is really excellent. It really stands well against anything else out there. Pick any game you feel has the finest, most beautiful, stylish, and well animated CG out there, and you won't find this the least bit inferior to it. Plus, it's used tastefully and creatively, in all the right places, with all the right lighting, filters, and ''old dilapidated film'' effects.

The voice acting is excellent. It's also very minimal. There aren't a lot of conversations in this game. Again, just as in the text of the game, every breath of the voice acting is put to good use, and that goes for you and your sister, as well as the things you'll hear as you explore this dreadful place. Sound in general is amazing, and will completely pull you into whatever feeling the game wants you to have at any given moment. It's going to mess with your head, and you'll love/hate it.

Gameplay

The camera angles are used in really inventive ways in this game. If you never thought a camera angle could make you sick with fear, just try walking through the village in this game. Some of the camera angle switches are a bit disorienting when you're indoors, but it never gets in the way of combat, and it enhances replay value(if you don't want to have the whole game memorized).

The maps and the village are well designed and varied, almost making the game dauntingly huge, which enhances the scariness obviously. Backtracking is not too bad in this game, particularly because the maps, the locks, and the story, conveniently lend themselves to whatever/wherever you'll have to go for an item in this game. It never feels like that big of a pain, and in addition, new things happen here and there, and so you'll be bracing yourself the whole way back and forth.

To make backtracking even more enjoyable is the game is not too difficult to figure out. The clues are excellent and multi-faceted. You might get a little help from any number of places in this game when you're stuck, and yet you'll still feel just as satisfied and proud to get through it all. The puzzles are especially easy, but they at least make sense. Every puzzle seems like it belongs, there isn't a moment when you'll be trying to figure it out ''why the hell is this here?''

Lastly, the camera obscura, your ''weapon'' needs to be addressed. To get in and out of camera, you press Circle. There is a slight delay, but once you realize this, it's not a problem. The first couple of times though you might accidentally raise/lower the camera when you just want it up. To snap a picture and take some energy off your supernatural foe, you can press either X or R1, which is nice because R1 uses the same finger you use to snap a shutter. Last on the controls(I know this is boring) Triangle uses your special, ''power-up lens.'' This gets confusing because in the menus, Triangle lets you back/exit, but in Camera/Viewfinder mode it will use up your film and special power-ups.

In case you didn't know already, you have to fight in this first person camera mode. You can strafe and move around freely but slowly in it. The main element to fighting in this game is letting the spirit get dangerously close to harming you and taking the picture just then, when your ''spirit meter'' is at maximum and flashes red for a brief instant. It's not as easy as it sounds, as ghosts can fade in and out of being, as well as move through walls, but it is well worth it because you do more damage and also force the spirit back and away from you. It's good, scary, and it sucks you into the game.

The game will affect you more than you thought a game could. It's not just a good scary thriller, but also a deep and interesting story. While the camera combat might sound just plain wrong as a way to deal with action, trust me when I say that it is just as intense and nerve racking a test of your reflexes as any other game you've played, and then some.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/04