| Fatal Frame |
| Fatal Frame is a title for the XBOX that didn't become very popular, though I don't understand why. Out of the Survival Horror genre it is one of the more attractive titles. Resident Evil was a founding father for the genre. Though it was a good game, being strapped with a nice arsenal of guns and fighting slow, mindless zombies just defeated the objective of scaring the player. Fatal Frame's biggest plus is how frightening it is. The game is based on a folklore about a haunted Japanese mansion and a girl who goes in looking for her brother, but to come out she must break an ancient curse. Throughout the game Miko, the main character, will come across the ghosts of the former residents. Miko's only defense against the deceased is a magic camera that captures the spirit. A girl armed with only a flashlight and a camera does sound like a bad game, but just wait, there's more to the story. The game starts with a flashback of Miko's brother's journey into the mansion. Instead of a movie it is playable. The entire level is played in black and white to give it a feel for the flashback. As Miko futher ventures into the mansion a much wider story begins to unfold. You begin to learn about past researchers, the original cult that resided there, and the curse of the mansion. The soundtrack immensly contributes to the game experience. Each room seems to have it's own theme. This frightening background music is enhanced by various equally shaking sound effects of things such as distant screaming, non-existant feet walking past, or heavy breathing coming from an area past your sight. Voice acting is also enhanced with distortions typical of ghosts. Certain ghosts will attempt to clue Miko in on the events that happened in the mansion. The graphics are pretty well done. I thought that most everything was very good, though a few things needed some work. Cinemas were great, as well as most of the in-play graphics, except the ghost were sometimes very two-dimensional and looked a bit like cardboard cut-outs. Not always, but since their graphics were made to look a bit more liquidy they would occasionally begin to look terrible. This is one, if not the most, scary game I have ever played. From the graphics, to story, to soundtrack, to characters, every detail in the game adds together to deliver a game that seems to come straight from a horror movie. A very good play, especially for fanatics of the Survival Horror genre. I highly recommend anyone who wants a few good thrills to turn the surround sound up, cut off the lights, and check out Fatal Frame. |
| Overall Rating: 8.5 |