Sunday, February 26, 2006

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented (PS2)

Reviewed by Kit
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Let me begin by saying, I don’t play survival horrors. I find I’m bad at them, and while I love the plots, the monsters scare me. That said, I loved this game. I didn’t want to put it down, and I still am hesitant about writing the review because I haven’t beaten all the hidden bonuses yet. But that will most likely never happen, so here goes the review.
Story: Normally, I don’t place story first, but I feel it is important to talk about the plot first. You play Rei for most of the game, a young photographer who recently lost her fiance in a car accident. While photographing an old manor, she sees her dead lover and decides to follow him. In this vision she has, a tattooed woman touches her, and when Rei comes out of the dream, a tattoo begins to grow on her. Every night Rei sleeps she returns to the manor and is hunted by ghosts. Only the Camera Obscura that she finds is able to damage these ghosts. There’s a lot going on story wise, and I couldn’t even dream of going into it all. 5/5
Gameplay: As far as controls go, the game is very simple to manage. As you upgrade your camera battles become, if not easier, a lot not so difficult to manage. Your character can run, though she is very slow. 4/5
Graphics: The graphics are very well done. Characters look realistic, ghosts look realistic, and the movie cut scenes are absolutely gorgeous. The atmosphere is a well done in a wonderfully creepy way. The dream manor is decaying and terrifying, and eventually ghosts begin to appear in the real world, making even her seemingly bright apartment a terrifying place. 5/5
Audio: The music is very faint, and very subtle. Like the graphics, the audio does an excellent job of terrifying players. Also sometimes there are creepy voices in the background. The one flaw with the voice acting is that at times there are no subtitles, so it is difficult to be sure what people are saying. 4/5
Replay
: Upon completion there is an extras mode where you can unlock movies and alternate costumes, do extra missions, and play through again with a larger ghost list. Not only that, but there is an alternate ending. And all of you camera upgrades carry over into the new game. 4/5
Overall
: Again, I didn’t expect to like this nearly as much as I did, but I loved this game. It was fun, it was creepy, and I bought myself a copy. It took me about 15 hours to get through the main game, and I spent even more time thinking about the story and what was happening. I would recommend this for anyone who likes good plots and knows how to run from ghosts. 5/5

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