Fatal Frame

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Video Games
Genre:	Role-Playing
Console:	PlayStation 2

TECMO official review:
Based on a true story, Fatal Frame, a horror adventure game, leaves its victims breathless as they become immersed in the world full of supernatural spirits and sheer terror. Guided by her sixth sense and armed only with an antique camera, Miku sets out to solve the mystery of her brother's sudden disappearance. As the story unfolds, she discovers gruesome details about the Himura Mansion's troubled past. The property and sorrounding area have a dark history involving grisly murders, an evil cult, and restless spirits.

MY review! ta-daaaaaaaaaaaa!:
after completed Fatal Frame III: The Tormented, i compelled to resume my unifinished business with this first released of Fatal Frame series. yup, i played Fatal Frame about 2 years ago, and i didn't finish it because: first, i didn't have the time. second, it scared the heck out of me :p
i didn't have the guts to complete it until i tried and finished playing Fatal Frame III. and whaddaya know, while i completed Fatal Frame III in 19 hours, it only took me 5 hours to complete Fatal Frame ^^v
yeah well, Fatal Frame consists only 4 stages: 1st Night, 2nd Night, 3rd Night, and Final Night... while Fatal Frame III has 14 :p
and this time, when that ghost of the red kimono girl crawling out from under the house, i didn't run away like i did 2 years ago ^^;;;

but in those 5 hours, somehow i couldn't find the scene which scared me A LOT back then.
it was when i walked out from a room somewhere inside the mansion, leaving an empty wooden kimono storage box opened. and at the corridor before i walked too far away, with my back faced the room, i could see a woman in white kimono and long black hair crawling out from the box and approaching me from behind. yikes!
yet i couldn't find the scene anywhere in this game. was it just a dream? o.O;
anyway, like the rest of the sequels of Fatal Frame, this first released is worth to play even for non survival horror fans ^^
the cinemas within the game do an adequate job of explaining the premise. to sum up, Himura Mansion is haunted. novelist Takamine, his editor Ogata and his assistant Hirasaka explore the mansion to research a new book. when they disappeared, Hinasaki Mafuyu mounts a short lived, one-man rescue mission. he was also disappeared after his encounter with Kirie, the ghost priestess which haunts the mansion.
what irritated me was when i completed this game as Hinasaki Miku (Mafuyu's little sister), i mean, Miku went through those troubles and banished all those annoying ghosts to rescue her brother, but in the end, that stupid-ungrateful-but-damn-cute Mafuyu decided that all her efforts were in vain because he decided to stay behind with Kirie and together guarding the Gate of Hell for the rest of their life! well... his idea to spend his time in eternity was noble, but yet irritating!!!
moreover, it's the only ending. there aren't alternatives.
argh.

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Video Games
Genre:	Role-Playing
Console:	PlayStation 2

TECMO official review:
Taking the popular Japanese Horror theme to a whole new terrifying level. Fatal Frame III: The Tormented is a complete Japanese Horror Interactive experience as the player takes on the role of Rei, a cursed young woman whose overwhelming guilt and tormented dreams lead her into a formidable world where the lines between reality and nightmares are blurred and the only way out is to solve the mystery of the tattoo. What the player see in Rei's dreams is only the beginning of the nightmare, making Fatal Frame III: The Tormented the most terrifying virtual experience to date.

and this is MY official review:
FATAL FRAME III ROCKS!!! ^^b
i never claimed myself as a gamer and i play PS just for fun... but i've never so engrossed in one game before! i finished Fatal Frame III in 19 hours *in three weeks* but i got to tell ya' guys, this tormenting... err, i mean interesting game is worth playing.

Zero released the game titled Shisei no Koe if i'm not mistaken, and translated as Fatal Frame.
the story is kind of unique. while in Fatal Frame you get through stages as 1st night *oh yeah, nothing more pleasant than a strangling ritual*, 2nd night and so on (since Miku has to explore the Manor of Sleep searching for his brother at night... why the horror always take place at night anyway? ><), in Fatal Frame III you'll be exploring this dreadful place in your dream! yep, you'll get all the horror while you are sleeping. nice. so each stage called by 'hour'. then it would be Hour 1, Hour 2 and so on.
as for the ghosts... oh the horror!
i got the time to play this game only during the night, and it gave me nightmare four nights in a row. talking about the tormented -_-;;;

consisted of 13 "hours" and 1 final "hour", you will be playing three characters: Kurosawa Rei, Hinasaki Miku (Mafuyu's younger sister, remember them from Fatal Frame first released?), and Amakura Kei (close friend of Rei's boyfriend, Yuu). i must say that i found this game is very entertaining... well, maybe because i didn't have to bore my head off by playing the same character all the way to the final stage.
you'll explore the Manor of Sleep and banish all those ghosts lurking all over the place in your dream, and when you wake up, you'll find yourself in Rei's house.

by playing Fatal Frame and Fatal Frame III, you would've memorized the layout of The Manor of Sleep. say... the famous Rope Hallway, the Kimono Room, the Courtyard... bet you already know the way, hehe...
but in this game, you could take a glimpse inside Rei's residence.
i like Rei's house! it's nice, tidy, and simple. i would love to have a home like hers. i love the kitchen ^^
but i don't like Rei's bedroom.
it's kind of stoic... maybe because of the wall's pale-blue color. and having a female ghost under the desk, in the closet and a moving hand under the bed proven it's not my idea of a cozy bedroom.

i don't like Yuu's room either. it's also tidy and simple, but it always dark. maybe they thought the room belongs to a man who already dead so why bother to switch on the light? tsk. like it would make a difference on their electrical bill. anyway, would you keep the room when you got a crawling woman ghost in the closet? dun think so.

Miku's room is adorable! ^^
it has a large attic serves as a storage, so you can be messy up there for all i care but still keep your room pretty and clean at the same time :P

okay, that's my review. i intended to make it short, but sometimes i just couldn't stop babbling.
blame the coffee.

it's alright... to close your eyes now...
go to the other side... go to the other side...
cast a boat... take a ride...
cross the rift to the other side...
further... further to the other side...
it must sail bearing your tattoo
and our offering of tears...

PS: i love the theme song but i dunno the title >< so if any of you have the mp3 version, plz share with me or plz inform me where i can download it, thx a lot ^^