OK, I’m man enough to admit that I get scared at movies and videogames, even at 29. I was terrified the first time I watched Night of the Living Dead (I was 11 at the time though), I got scared in a couple of movies as I got older like The Others and Burial Ground, and up until recently I really never thought that a video game could be truly scary. Well, Resident Evil changed all that, and I know that anyone who’s played it could talk about his or her reaction the first time you saw the zombie devouring your teammate. Silent Hill came next, and really hit the terror mark with me resulting in a couple of times that I had to quit playing. Well, when I first came on at GameZone, the first game I got to review was Fatal Frame, and I have to say that until now, I didn’t think that it could get any worse than that since I heard voices while trying to sleep and saw things that weren’t there. I was wrong and Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly in my opinion makes everything else look like a walk in the park.

In FFII, the main characters are a set of twins named Mio and Mayu. While visiting an area from their childhood, Mio suddenly realizes that Miyu is wandering off into the woods following a pair of crimson butterflies. Mio quickly follows her sister, and they eventually wind up in an old, dilapidated, and forgotten town known as All Gods Village. As they search the abandoned city, they suddenly realize that it is not empty as they expected it to be. Rather, it is home to some really nasty and really scary ghosts trapped in limbo and some bizarre ritual involving twins and crimson butterflies, and it is up to the twins (and the trusty Camera Obscura, which I will explain in a moment) to solve the mysteries of the village in one of the most horrifying and disturbing stories I’ve seen to date.

Gameplay in FFII is pretty similar to the original, so gamers who have played through the first story will be familiar with the concept. You lead Mio through the majority of the story solving puzzles and snapping photos of ghosts using the aforementioned Camera Obscura which was designed to “see things that could not be seen”, and as it turns out … it also has the power to exorcise trapped spirits as well. Basically, this camera also acts as your only weapon in the game, so unlike other survival horror titles which offer sharp objects or clips of ammo to dispense of nasty enemies you can only rely on your wits (or what’s left of them after a couple of hours with this game) and your picture taking ability. As you snap a picture of a spirit, it does damage to it. Once its health reaches zero, the ghost is gone and won’t come back. Along the way, you will be able to find higher grade film to do more damage per snap and will also be allowed to make upgrades to the camera using spirit orbs or upgrades which can increase damage, range, or can even have the ability to slow down or stun an ethereal nasty.

Puzzle solving in FFII is also pretty similar to the original game, and consists mostly of “find the key to the door” kinds of things. In addition, the camera also serves its purpose of helping to solve puzzles as well to get past sealed areas or to discover the next clue to help you progress. For example, a door may be “held by an unseen force”. A snapshot of the door reveals not a door in the photo, but a coal brazier that is somewhere to be found. Finding the coal brazier and taking a picture of it reveals a new part of the story, then the game allows you to progress through the door that was being held shut.

One of the cool new features that I found in playing FFII comes in Mio’s twin following you around through parts of the game. While at first I figured she was just kind of extra baggage that I had to protect, she turned out to be really useful at times. She’s good at giving visual and audible clues, and will even go as far as staying behind at times to help you figure out the next step in the story. For example, I had moved through a few rooms when I realized she was gone … but I heard her calling out. I ran back to see where she was, and she was shaking and pointing at a door that I had missed saying “Something just went by me and into that room … I don’t like this”. Well, being the brave soul that I am, I had no choice but to investigate, and as it turns out it was where I needed to go next.

Another thing that they’ve done in FFII is make the spirits a little more challenging (especially as you progress). Now, keep in mind that these are ghosts … so being attacked by one is not limited to appearing in front of you in a hallway or just stupidly wandering out from a corner. Instead, they will sometimes erratically float around flitting in and out of view, until suddenly they are right next to you. They can also sporadically appear out of the floor, move in and out of walls, or disappear entirely only to be found reaching out at you from the ceiling. Now, if that weren’t enough to give you one heck of a scare, they also will attack in a group sometimes that makes it really dangerous, especially due to the camera. You see, the longer that you wait to take a picture, the more energy will build up in the camera as you keep a ghost in your view screen. This means that you will do more damage, or maybe even get a Fatal Frame (meaning you can pull off an extra snap to do combo damage), but it also means putting your life at risk since they have to get into “unnerving” range in order to pull this off. It’s easy to sometimes get surrounded this way if you’re not careful.

In the graphics and sound department, I really don’t know if there was anything that the developers could have done differently to make it any more frightening than it is. The visuals (both in game and the disturbing cut scenes) and audio blend together frighteningly well (no pun intended) to paint some really shaky and intense moments, and even a paused game to periodically turn the lights on. The environments are dark and creepy as heck and littered with noise intended to make the hairs on your neck stand up, and the lighting and shadow effects are top notch and will make you wonder whether something more than the wind is behind that blowing curtain. In addition, every aspect of the ghosts from their mannerisms to their facial expressions is designed to truly make you jump and sometimes hit the panic button as you quickly fire picture after picture just trying to get rid of that accursed being who keeps wailing and screaming about how bad “it hurts”. Wait until you meet some of the friendly characters that Tecmo added in like The Woman in the Box, the Limbo Man, or the little girl with the bloody kimono and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Overall, Fatal Frame II : Crimson Butterfly is (hands down in my opinion) one of the more enjoyable gaming experiences that I’ve had to date, not to mention the scariest by a long shot (I played Silent Hill 3 periodically while playing this one just so I wouldn’t be freaked out anymore if that tells you anything). If you enjoyed the first one, the enhanced graphics and sound along with a shocking and scary storyline will surely appeal to you, and for those of you who enjoy being scared but never played the original and are looking for a good game that will make you sleep with the lights on … this is the one. While there is no multiplayer mode in Fatal Frame II, I strongly suggest you find a special someone to be with you during this so you won’t jump out of your skin.

Gameplay: 8.4
Aside from the standard Survival Horror issues of periodically unfriendly camera angles and invisible walls in areas like pathways and such, the controls are easy to pick up and get used to and don’t cause problems. There are a number of save points throughout the game, but there were also a couple of areas (one boss battle in particular where getting touched once means death) where one couldn’t be found and you had to do a whole 15 – 20 minutes over, but I really didn’t mind too much just so I could see what would happen next.

Graphics: 9.0
The graphics present a dark, creepy atmosphere that makes you want to run and toss in a Dora the Explorer game just so you can see something bright and happy for a change. The ghosts themselves are unbelievably scary looking with gory disfigurements or painful looking injuries, and you can even keep your photos of the journey in an album to share the terror with your friends (Lucky them!). On top of that, the blending of the disturbing environments with some really horrifying and graphic grainy and black and white cutscenes just puts the icing on the cake to creep you out.

Sound: 9.0
The sounds in FFII (from the voices of the twins to the ghosts to the background noise) not only would scare even you if you didn’t even see anything, but go hand in hand with the visuals to the point of close perfection. They also have a spirit radio that allows you to insert gems that have been dropped by the ghosts to hear their voices or sometimes what they felt when you got rid of them. I made the mistake of playing one with the lights off while I was at home by myself and had some issues sleeping that night.

Difficulty: Medium
The game is easy to pick up and figure out, and most of the puzzles are pretty simple to get around, including the ones where you have to take pictures of objects. Getting through the game without turning it off when you get really rattled can be a challenge though.

Concept: 8.8
While FFII doesn’t deviate too much from the original formula, the additions that were made are enough to make it worth the purchase price. Making a game that is not only solid enough to be enjoyable but also scares the daylights out of you is not an easy task, but Tecmo pulls it off nicely.
 

Overall: 8.8
While it has a couple of little issues in the arena of periodic camera unfriendliness and a lack of a couple of well needed save points, the game is fun to play and will keep you coming back for more even if it gets to you every time you play it. Survival horror fans will have a ball with it, and if you like that kind of “scare the you know what out of you” gaming … you can’t get any scarier than Fatal Frame II.