Backlog Burnout Review of Fatal Frame: The scariest photos outside of 70s fashion magazines

System(s): Playstation 2, Xbox, Playstation Network

Release Year: 2002

Rating: Teen

Current Amazon Price: $29.99 (PS2) $103.21 (Xbox) $9.99 (PSN)

The Skinny:

It’s scary, plain and simple. Even if you don’t scare easily this game (and series in general) knows how to get under your skin. It’s a truly unsettling and harrowing experience; marred only occasionally by some frustrating combat moments.

The Meat:

Fatal Frame is a Japanese horror series (known in Japan as Zero and Europe as Project Zero) on the Playstation 2 that is a cult favorite among many horror fans. Its trademarks are genuinely scary environments and situations coupled with extremely disturbing storylines deeply rooted in old Japanese mythology. In every game in the series the main characters become haunted by ghosts for one reason or another, be it wandering into a haunted mansion or becoming trapped in a ghost village that stopped existing hundreds of years ago. The only way our unfortunate protagonists can defend themselves is with an occult camera known only as the Camera Obscura. This mysterious box, which looks simply like an ancient camera, has the power to exercise (in the Catholic sense of the word) spirits which it captures photos of. This is the setup for a series that, in my humble opinion, is one of the best and scariest horror franchises out there.

Fatal Frame has three main strengths: its environment/atmosphere, its sound, and its themes. Let’s begin with the environments. Every area of the game, from the dark interior of a haunted mansion to a creepy shrine out in the woods feels soaked and oozing with dread and unease. Things are damp, old, rotten, and just have an aura of doom about them. I cannot think of a single area in the game that is welcoming or feels safe, and in a horror game that is an extremely impressive accomplishment.

Next is the game’s impeccable use of sound. Music will slowly build when you enter a room and you know something foul is lurking waiting to spring on you. The ambient noise and static builds to a crescendo as you raise your camera and look around the room in a panic trying to spot your doom. And then everything goes silent. You let out a breath you didn’t even know you were holding and slowly your heart begins to slow. And then you hear the creak of the kimono cabinet behind you opening and hear a bloody gurgle that sounds weirdly like the laugh of a little girl and you promptly freak out like a child who finally has seen the monster in their closet. No other game I have ever played has used sound as effectively as Fatal Frame, except Fatal Frame 2 and 3. It is truly a masterwork of audio design and is absolutely terrifying.

Finally, there are the game's themes and story. The fact that this game is teen rated completely boggles my mind. This is a story about human sacrifice, body mutilation, dismemberment, suicide, and murder. Lots and lots of death and none of it pretty. One of the ghosts is a woman whose eyes have been stabbed out by giant needles. The imagery is dark, the story is gruesome and disturbing, and it creates a truly horrifying experience. This tale probes the darkest reaches of Japanese mythology and doesn’t relent. It starts dark and only gets darker. All of this combines to create a wonderfully unsettling play through and creates a feeling of dread and hopelessness that has been missing in modern games. It’s why the old Silent Hill games succeeded, and it’s why Fatal Frame manages to capture true fear.

From a gameplay perspective Fatal Frame is decent enough, but I feel the gameplay is not one of the games strongest points. You explore these haunted places in third person view with modified tank controls similar to those found in Silent Hill 2. You have your Camera Obscura that you use to solve puzzles and combat ghosts. When you raise your camera the game enters a first person view trough the camera. The ghosts appear and assault you, and while visually they are pretty grotesque actually fighting them can sometimes go from scary to annoying. They will hide in walls and pop out to hit you giving you maybe half a second to snap a picture of them before they chunk your health. In wide open areas it isn’t too much of a problem because they can’t use their ghostly shenanigans to hide inside solid objects. The problem is that a large portion of the game takes place inside tight hallways and here it can become a major issue. When fear turns to frustration some of the fun of horror is lost. However in small doses the feeling of helplessness imparted by the awkward combat actually helps the game to drive home its points. It’s just when you lose half of your healing items to one ghost’s cheap tricks it can get a little irksome.

The Bottom Line:

Fatal Frame is an excellent, extremely frightening game that any fan of the horror genre must play. It’s disturbing, scary, and most of all fun. If you’re willing to wade through some occasionally irritating gameplay mechanics and an extremely Japanese setting you’ll find true horror through the lens of a camera.
(Also I apologize, I couldn't find a good trailer/video in English so here is a Japanese one. The game is in English however.)