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Scariest Game of All Time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: October 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

THIS IS THE SCARIEST GAME EVER!!! I played this game with my best friend because i would never have gotten past the first 5 seconds by myself. I have not played the first one (I am still trying to let my heart stop pounding so hard from beating this one), but that is next on my list to play. There are soooo many things i love about this game, but i think i will start with the cons instead of the pros. The girls are WAY to slow, even Mio's run is somewhat of a power walk and when Mayu is with Mio you have to go even slower because of Mayu's limp. It is very obvious right from the start that Mio blames herself for Mayu's limp and that because of that Mio will do anything to make sure Mayu is safe.
However, besides that, the game kicked major ass. I LOVED the graphics and music, (music beyond anything else) it really gives you a sense of terror, and every survival horror game needs that, right? The cut-scenes are just gorgeous (i'll let you see that for yourself) and the game unravels perfectly overtime, there really were no holes in the plot. Plus, another awesome thing is once you have beaten the game, (On Normal or Easy.. if you start the game on Easy and beat it you then have to beat the game on Normal, but if you start by beating the game on Normal you can then go on to the Hard level) then you get the choice of beating it again, this time on the Hard Level, and then, if you have beaten the Hard Level, you then unlock the Nightmare Level, each level has a different ending; even on your first time through you have a choice in ending... the first ending really upset me (I almost cried!)but i am sure i will be happy with the other two endings i can open (i have yet to beat the hard level)... but, hearing from friends who have beaten every level, no matter what the game is scary everytime (AND THAT IS AWESOME!) because you will never get tired of it, there is always something even creepier around the next cornor, (unlike Clock Tower 3 which was a real disapointment for me since it is only fun one time through.)Plus, once youhave beaten level after level, you unlock promotional videos for the game, screen-shots, images, and costumes for the girls. This is my favorite game of all-time (even if the only ending that i have seen almost made me cry! I am sure the other endings will satisfy me.) This is the best, and scariest game ever, you need to buy it! Not only is is good once it is good a million times! From the setting to the graphics to the characters to the plot this game is great! (and did i mention scary? ;) )

Speechless

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: December 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The original Fatal Frame was far and wide THE scariest game I'd ever played.

Nothing could have prepared me for Fatal Frame 2.

Seriously, this game WILL scare you. I tried playing it in my room alone and had to move my entire gaming system into the living room to continue. It makes you paranoid. If you play this game alone, there's no way you won't feel something in the room with you.

Many elements from the movie Ringu are amplified here. If you want to see what it's like being the victim in a Japanese horror film, buy this game. It is truly maddening.

But don't say I didn't warn you.

In Peace,
The Someday Man

A game I can't even play...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: February 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game about a month ago and it is so scary I can't even play it. I make it about ten minutes into the game and I have to turn it off. If you are easily frightened it may be in your best interest to save your money. Had I know it was going to be as scary as it is I would have not have bought it.

Horror Personified...Again!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Tecmo has done it again! After the chilling, gut-wrenching terror delivered by the original Fatal Frame the second installment of this magical franchise is truly a brillant work. I won't go into all the little querks and jerks as plently of other writers have already provided that, but let me assure not only fans of the genre but everyone who loves a good scare that you can't go wrong with this one. This game is bound to give any player a rash of goosebumps that can sometimes feel like a thousand spiders running all over you. Become immersed within this creepy world and relish the unforgiving delights that horror and pure evil have to offer. Once you're there you won't want to escape (well, yes you will but...). Pick it up if you dare and as before: turn off the lights, crank the surround-sound, and hold on for dear life!! This is definitely one sequel that will stand the test of time.

Turn all the lights off at night, I dare you.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ok the only thing that can sum up this game is as follows: Psychologically Damaging. I must say I've never been this afraid of a game. I've played all the Resident Evil games and I must say they were cake walks compared to this one (although I must say after a half-hour, RE lost its ability to scare me... even alone in my apartment with the lights off).

The big difference here is that in RE is dealing with corporeal things... sure they may be around corners or jump at you suddenly from the ceiling/window/grave/etc, but they are still just zombies. In the end they still have to come at you and you've got a nice arsenal of weapons waiting for them.

Fatal Frame is much different in that regard. In FF you deal with the ethereal, things that can appear and disappear at whim, and don't need to open a door to go through it. The worst part is that all you have to defend yourself with is a camera... which means in order to take out one of these specters, you have to stare the thing directly in the face first.

If you are looking for something to make you jump out of your pants, this probably isn't the game you're looking for. This game has a much meaner style to it. It simply heaps on the psychological trauma gradually, so that when you are done playing a session you feel emotionally drained, and not in any kind of condition to go to bed.

Aside from the high horror factor this game totes, it's also beautifully done. The ambient music and sounds set the mood perfectly, and the scenery is masterful. The setting of an old Japanese village is well picked, and the rendering of the village itself is superb. The only problem is that sometimes doors are a little hard to see, but that is mostly because I wasn't used to looking for sliding doors. Plus had there been western style doors, the setting would not have looked authentic.

The big hiccup for this game is the dual character setup. While you can move at a mild pace, not fast mind you, your partner takes up the rear with a horrible limp and no speed to go with it.

So all in all I would recommend this game. But for those of you expecting Resident Evil, I suggest you rent it first. This game is obviously not for everyone.

Thought The First One Was Scary? You Have Seen Nothing Yet.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Fatal Frame 2 is with no question the most scaryiest game ever created for the PlayStation 2 system. The company has increased the graphics majorly and has added MANY more ghosts to the game. The sound has also been improved since the first Fatal Frame. You have more areas to explore, and many homes to go into. You have to play the game more than once to see every ghost in the game. Each time you play, the ghosts have been arranged to start in a new area. So, each time you play over, the ghost you saw orginally will be in a new location. Cool huh? The game is best played in the dark with the sound up high. If you have never played the first Fatal Frame, start with this one. This has a whole NEW setting without needing to know what happened in the first game. The BEST thing that I must say about this game is that it is MUCH longer to complete. The first game took 10 hours to complete the game. This one doubles the ammount of time. So this game is great. I play it every NIGHT. If you enjoy the ghostly world, this game is the one for you.

Pros:

1. Highly Improved Graphics.
2. A New, Larger To Explore Haunted Environment.
3. MANY More Added Ghosts.
4. Improved Sound Quality.
5. Another Game Guaranteed To Keep You Up At Night.
6. More Added Details To The Ghosts. (Example: Blood)
7. Longer To Complete Than Fatal Frame.
8. Must Play More Than Once To See Everything In The Game.
9. Shorter Chapters For Better Understanding.
10. Better Camera System For Killing Ghosts.
11. Scaryier Environment.

Cons:

1. For 1 Player.
2. Camera Can Sometimes Be Hard To Use To Kill Ghosts.

Spooktacular

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a cool game. Lately, I've been treading the waters of the survival horror genre and so far, I'm quite impressed. The story sets you up in a lost village in which a great massacre occured. Now the village is haunted to relive that night eternally. All you have to survive is a camera which has an exorcismal effect on ghost which you encounter in various parts of the game. The freaky part about it is that you can't always see the spirits but you can hear them. The vibration on the controller also quickens as you near one. The mixture of the spooky sound effects and atmosphere really make this game an enjoyable experience if you play it at night by yourself. The style is somewhat similar to Silent Hill 2, which is also an excellent survival horror.

An incredible survival-horror game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is, in my not so humble opinion, one of the best survival-horror games to date. The fixed camera angles cost me my life on more than one occasion, but other than that the controls are all relatively fluid and intuative. The viewfinder mode (a first-person mode used to combat spirits) can be a little confusing at first, and I wasted a lot of film when I first acquired the camera.

The plot is incredible in its complexity. I don't want to say too much about it, since it's simply more fun to piece it together for yourself. I will say that some of the items you use to uncover the story, such as photographs and film reels, are very eerie. In one film reel, which was supposed to have been filmed many years ago, you can see the main character with her camera for a split-second before it cuts to a Ringu-esque scene of a woman crawling out of a box.

The sound design is one of the places where this game truly shines. The distorted sound effects of ghosts are simply creepy, particularly with the ghosts who are speaking but are so garbled that they're unintelligable.

Why did I not give this game five stars? Because it did its job too well. This is the first game to have ever scared me beyond the startle-factor (where monsters, in this case spirits, jump out at you). I found it difficult to play the game for more than half an hour or so at one sitting. That is a personal thing, however, and others might find it to be less scary than I did. I still highly recommend it because it is, as I said at the beginning, one of the best survival-horror games to date.

Terrifying - and terrifyingly beautiful.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off, how does one rate a game with 4 stars for fun and 5 for overall? Because that's just how good Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is.

Graphics ~ Absolutely hypnotizing. Shadows move. Mayu's face emanates fear as she huddles up against a wall, crying, as Mio attacks frighteningly detailed and human-like ghosts. Crimson burns brilliantly, artistically over-powering every other shade in the game. And crimson butterflies drift through the air, their iridescant wings leaving trails of red powder in their wake. The Lost Village is beautiful and realistic. I've never played a game whose enviornment was so terrifying... and yet so beautiful. For example: Even though I /knew/ I shouldn't, I went up to the gravestones to examine them. And was attacked.

Storyline ~ Has a storyline whose horrors are constantly revealed deeper and deeper throughout the game, like deliciously peeling layers off of an onion. As you progress, you will become more and more horrified, and more and more drawn into the game. You may even start feeling sympathetic for some of the ghosts, especially the non-hostile ones, as you figure out through your own photos and old scraps how they died. You may even cry at the end, no matter what ending (out of three) you achieved. Even my 'tough guy friend' was caught sniffling a bit -- not that he admitted it, of course.

Sound ~ Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. 'Nuff said.

Scare Factor ~ I gave the fun rating 4 stars because this game isn't as frightening as it claimed to be. Did it give me nightmares? Oh, of course. I just wasn't as frightened when I played the game as I was when I turned it off and got the fright of my life when something red glared in the corner of my eye - a bathrobe. And of course when I woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare about twin girls hanging from a wall and a boy with white hair. Yes, this game has that much of a deeply embedded effect on you.

Overall? An excellent, excellent game. Pity not many people have played it - it easily gives SH and RE a run for /their/ money. It's more beautiful, more spiritual, and more emotionally engaging.

Mixed Reaction

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: December 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

While I don't normal play 'scaries,' I enjoyed Silent Hill 3. The initial reception to this new installment in the Fatal Frame series was good enough to pique my interest.

Fatal Frame II tells the story of Mio and Mayu, 14-year-old twins who become lost and find themselves caught in a mysterious village inhabited by ghosts and memories of the past. As they seek a way out, Mio gradually discovers that there is a more sinister reason for their entrapment. Armed only with a 'camera obscura' that can absorb the evil spirits her search for a way out becomes more and more desperate.

This is a puzzle and fight game, and in normal mode the puzzles predominate and the fight scenes are pretty mild. I wouldn't call the game scary, there is little that is truly horrible. It does have a truly spooky atmosphere and will get a few good jumps out of a player whose attention wanders a bit too much.

For the most part, I enjoyed the game. Not just the play itself, either. The setting, an old Japanese village, is quite interesting on its own. I learned quite a bit about Japanese domestic architecture while playing. The village is like a museum piece, and there is quite a bit to see besides the game itself - if only the lighting was just a bit brighter.

Two things did irritate me. One is that the twins are very unlikely heroines. Mayu is intentionally weak and waif-like, but Mio isn't much better. It is easy to get frustrated with a character who is generally at a lost, and whose fastest pace is more like a shuffle than a run.

The second irritation is that this is one of those long winding passage to the last boss games. The lack of a save point close to the last battle means repeatedly spending several minutes tediously walking Mio through dark caves, followed by 10 seconds of being summarily slaughtered - until you finally figure out how to win. For me that is an exercise in patience that adds nothing to the game.

Despite that, the game is worth playing. I'm a bit surprised at its 17+ rating. Most of the violence is being done to you, and there is very little blood. This is something you will have to decide for yourself, but I would have given it a 13+ rating.

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