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Your all gonna hate me......

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 15
Date: October 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was so excited to hear of another surivival horror game!!! Ive played all my Resident Evils, have just finished a Silent Hill binge and thought I was done for. Then I heard about Fatal Frame, I couldnt wait to play it.
Well unfortunately this game did NOT live up to one single expectation that I had from reading all these reviews and such.

At first the game seemed scary but then once I had seen one ghost or cutscene it was as if Id seen them all. I liked being able to play the two different charachters but MY GOD THEY ARE SLOW!!!!!!! Is this supposed to make me more scared, the fact that I cant run???? Well it doesnt, it only frustrates the life out of me!

There are some really cool things about this game. The graphics are breathtaking, I like playing a charachter that isnt white, I like all the Japanese folklore in it. But this game just isnt scary.

Maybe if I was in highschool then I would get scared but taking pictures of ghosts with your camera just isnt scary, sorry. This doesnt have one single good element to make it worth playing. The fact that it took me so long to "run" around the stupid village made me turn it off.

RENT THIS GAME, DO NOT BUY IT!!!!

Go home and stay home Fatal Frame. BORING!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 13
Date: April 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Fatal Frame 2 does nothing to innovate the genre at all. It's an exact wannabe clone of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Explore a maze of rooms with some helpless and awkward to control characters all while solving some puzzles and reading some notes. Been there done that. The problem with Fatal Frame is that it's horror concept just isn't as cool as Resident Evil or Silent Hill, those two games each have their unique style, and little japanese girls taking pictures of spirits, ancient japanese rituals, and boring villages simply aren't as interesting. Sure Fatal Frame 2 is a pretty scary game, but making a scary game isn't hard, making a good game is.

Not only is Fatal Frame 2 a clone of better games, it's also a nearly exact clone of the original Fatal Frame, and since Fatal Frame seems to only exist to try to claim the title of scariest game, it might be worth mentioning that this one isn't as scary as the original. Everything is the same, and anything different isn't even worth mentioning because the game is still BORING.

To be fair Fatal Frame is much easier game than the original, which I think is good thing and the graphics are technically impressive with lighting and shadows that aren't seen other than in Resident Evil games for Nintendo GameCube. The controls and everything are just a bit smoother and more polished than the original. Technically a well made game, but the CONCEPT is just not there. Make a horror game about something cool, no one wants a horror that takes place in Japan or old Japan. People don't watch those old japanese movies where the lips don't match the words do they? Use your head Tecmo. This should be the last Fatal Frame installment, please go home Fatal Frame. BORING!!

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.

Personally, it was disappointing

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: May 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ever get one of those feelings where you really want to do something and it'll keep bugging you until you do it? Somewhere I read a review of this game called Fatal Frame 2 and it looked interesting and everybody was saying it was one of the scariest games they've played. So on a whim I rented it and didn't even finish the game and found it quite disappointing.

Story: Mio and Mayu are 2 japanese twins who are playing in the woods one day. One of them hurt her leg previously so they other one feels sorry about it. One of the twins starts to follow these red butterflies into the woods so the other starts following her. Only they end up in an abandoned village that holds more than what it shows.

Graphics: Pretty dark but sets the atmosphere perfectly. With Resident Evil 4 it was pretty dim and dark with casual lighting or full blown lighting from lamps and fire but here there's not a lot with the only light coming from your flashlight. The ghosts look downright eerie and very disturbing looking, especially some of the later ones.

Sound/Music: Since it's a survival horror game, much emphasis is on an organic and atmosphere based soundtrack rather than full on orchestral music. It's certainly creepy too as you pass by a room and start to hear moaning(not the sexual kind, that 3am grandfather woke up kind) or even voices. The english voice actors are ok but it's in english so it's always gonna sound slightly hammy.

Gameplay: This is where I feel the game falls flat. Your only defense against these spectres of the night? A camera. Not just a camera, the Camera Obscura. Which reveals hidden things and secrets and damages ghosts. Look through the viewfinder and take a picture of the ghost. Hold it long enough and the damage will be more greater than if you fire off shots. It gets tedious since the whole game essentially boils down to look, search, aah ghost, click click click, ghost dead repeat.

If this was a movie I would've loved to see this story unfold but to actually play the game to get to that point just gets old.

Its a remake!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: May 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Fatal Frame 2 is a slick and atmosphere-laden game full of great graphics and spooky sounds. Sadly, it gets all of these great attributes by copying them from the highly effective first game, and not by adding anything new itself. Impressive games have often been followed by equally impressive sequels, so why did I find this one less effective than it could have been?

Well, to start with, the haunted mansion of the first game was foreboding and terrifying, a deathtrap that oozed menace from every corner. Collapsed masonry and rotten furnishings gave a realistic air of paranormal inhabitance. The second game uses an entire deserted village as its location, but a lot of it is quite drab and empty, and the sense of claustophobia is drastically diluted when you go outside, as you are meandering through streets and open areas instead of confined corridors and annexes. The other reason I felt less afraid was that the ghosts just didn't cause the goosebumps I got in the first game, which featured apparitions of people who suffered traumatic deaths like the girl with the broken back, or the woman with her eyes ripped out, as well as totally evil prescences like the man with the unnaturally long arms. The ghosts in FF2 often just look like real people, sometimes attacking you with sabres or flaming torches like any other survival horror enemies, so you don't feel the chill of having to battle a tortured soul who is crying in pain. In fact one set of ghosts in the sequel is a bunch of children who surround you and play "tag" with you...hmmm, I'm getting nostalgic for the first game just writing this. There are plenty of hidden and vanishing ghosts to test your reflexes on, so at least that provides the same level of fun. Sadly, the control system is also still the same, and it's still awful. Mio and Mayu are devishly hard to control because every camera angle change means you lose the direction you are going in and bump into everything (which led to much screaming from me when trying to run towards some of the valuable "miss 'em and they're gone" ghosts). But luckily the Options screen does give you the choice between this and the Resident Evil-style of movement, so if you can't make this one work, you can switch to that one, which is a definite plus. But, once again the "run" mode is nothing more than a dainty trot which looks far too twee coming from characters who are supposedly fighting for their lives.

Actually, the two sisters are far less engaging characters than Miku in the first game, who looked and acted a bit feistier, and had some really horrific events to contend with. Although the plot in the sequel does gradually reveal some interesting twists and fateful turns of events for our heroines, the atmosphere never gets as dark as it could due to the fact that this pair are drawn like two big eyed, cute-faced girlies with doll-like expressions that barely change, so they did not get my sympathy or interest, and were just too drippy, especially Mayu, who spends 90% of the game as your computer controlled partner and just gets in the way all the time.

So, even though a sequel that simply refines it's predecessor can result in a better game, that hasn't happened here in my opinion. For anyone that is a newcomer, and likes the sound of this type of game, go and get the first one immediately. The whole camera sytem and the power ups that can be earned for it, the ghost attacks and the horrific explanation behind the unfiolding events work perfectly and effectively in that one, producing an all-round classic game. This one is a simple retread with two lead characters instead of one, and a re-hashed but less gripping plot. Plus, the explanation of why taking pictures of ghosts will actually defeat them is mostly just glossed over here, whereas in the first game, Miku had a personal connection to the mysterious camera, which made its supernatural abilities a bit clearer.

I'll balance this rather negative list with a few pros; namely that the game seems a fair bit longer than the first, with more chapters and more places to go. And at some points along the way (just a few), the ghost encounters prove exceptionally difficult. The battles are still fun, though. Plenty of tactical planning is needed, as well as nerves of steel because once again, the most effective photos can only be taken the moment before a ghost moves in for the kill. But in conclusion, I have to say that although the whole package is well delivered, and probably above average for a "survival-chiller" game, this time I just don't feel the hairs on my neck standing up.

Not as good as the first.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: September 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Good overall game.
Bad, bad horror game.
It just is not scary. The music shifts gradually, so a random ghost never surprises you. The chase scenes are remedial at best.
This doesn't stop it being a fun game, but truly the only way its superior to PZ1 is the graphics and the ending song!

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.

THIS GAME IS SCAREY!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I rated and own Manhunt which I said was the goreiest game. But this game classifies as the scareiest game. I have never been so freaked out by a video game and i'm in high school. This game is great in pretty much every department. First of all it has a hell of a story line and very good gaphics for a game in this type of category. The ghost pop up and disseapear during gameplay freaking you out a little. You have one weapon which is a camerea and you kill the ghost with it which sounds a little stupid but it's actually really cool. The environments are very detailed and have a very starnge feeling to them like something is going to happen. You best play this game with someone or at least during the day because if you play this by your self at night you'll be scared silly. This game is worth every penny and in my opinion is better then silent hill and resident evil. The game takes quite a while to beat and once you beat it you can play it on another difficulty which has a slightly different story plot towards the end, otherwise there is minimal replay value. Check out this title today.

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

You're not leaving me again...are you?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: January 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was a love-at-first-play kinda guy about the first one. I could not wait for the release of the sequel. As said in a magazine review of the first, it was the first Survival Horror (now series) to feature the most basic in supernatural phenominon-- ghosts. Note that you do not need to play the first to enjoy this one, they are not directly related to each other.

First off, I have to say the first one is a bit more creepy. The plot was alittle more unknown in the first. In this one, you kind of have an idea where its headed, and the side mysteries in the game keep you going, sometimes frustrated. Although I think the "American" voice actors try alittle too hard to try and scare you...always whispering and stuff sometimes takes away the reality of the situation that is scary to begin with. However the VAs get 8.9 overall score, Compared to FF1's voice actors getting 9.6 (too many things repeated too many times over and over-- plus, only Mayu screamed authentically in this game.)

All in all, it's the cut scenes that will terrify you the most.

The camera has said to be easier to use in previous reviews. I disagree. While the powerups are much easier to come by and use, the "charge bar" which tells you how much ghostbusting power your picture will have can be difficult to keep track of, sometimes downright annoying since some ghosts are hard to shoot, and the fantastic SFX sometimes make ghosts blur into the bar. The first game was obvious when the bar filled. This time, the bar is harder to see, yet the operative controls still remain.

There are those who are "insulted" at a game similar to a "scarier" version of Pokemon Snap-- after all, all you do is take pictures. Well, to that I say imagine Pokemon Snap was never made. The idea of using a camera to zap ghosts (not cute animals) is a great idea, plus, there is a mystery to the story, and strategies on battling ghosts, not just getting them to smile and get points.

I doubt this game would rate as high for me (or any others) if not for the super-cute Japanese girls who play the characters. Probably one of the reasons I got hooked with the first. As brave as Mio and Mayu are for being in such a place, their fearful moments make the game more enjoyable, not just scary. Game play is enjoyable, with a setting and story to top the first. There are even some promotional bonuses (pictures, videos, etc) included in the game (and might I add, Mio and Mayu look EXCELLENT in those special costume skirt kimonos!!). You'll want to play it at least twice to get different endings, and thrice to obtain all of the extra features. It may frighten some children, so be advised. Honestly I'd be more concerned about buying this game for a serious action gamer, later being disappointed at the patience needed for the game. Bottom line, a great game to add to your collection, even if the first one wasn't played. Tecmo did great for the 2nd sequel...but now I'm hungry for a third!

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