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INTRO or, HOW TO SCARE THE BEJEESUS OUT OF YOURSELF

I don't scare easily. Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil; kiddy stuff. I could watch "The Exorcist" in the dark with Stephan King while Barbara Streisand sang selections from "Cats" in the background and not twitch. I have a pretty good grasp on what could potentially harm me, and what could just keep me up for an extra hour, which is why I was almost ashamed of myself at the effects Tecmo's brilliant Fatal Frame had on my poor, overworked psyche.


GAMEPLAY or, KODACHROOOOOOOMMEEEE, GIVE US THOSE NICE BRIGHT COLORS

In "Fatal Frame," you control Miku, a young girl who has followed her older brother into an ancient feudal mansion after he had been missing for two weeks. Miku's brother, in turn, had gone in to the mansion looking for his boss, a famous novelist, and his boss's assistants. I can understand going in to a haunted house looking for family, but if my boss disappeared for two weeks, I'd more then likely move myself in to the head office and start collecting the big paycheck, but anyways. Once in the mansion, Miku finds some notes belonging to her brother, an old camera their mother once owned that somehow ended up in the house and, most importantly, that the place is haunted; really haunted. There are ghosts everywhere, and not happy ones either. No, these ghosts don't like people much and they have the ability to do something about it, namely kill you dead. Luckily for Miku, it turns out that the family camera has the ability, when handled by someone with the sixth sense, which Miku has, to harm and exorcise these ghosts.

As the game progresses, through the use of the camera, warnings from friendly spirits and Miku's sixth sense, we learn that the mansion was once the home to a bizarre set of ritual slayings and human sacrificing, namely that of Kirie, a young girl who was strangled by her father and his priests in order to seal off the door to hell. Understandably, Kirie didn't take kindly to being killed by her father, so she cursed the mansion, awakening the spirits of those who have suffered there to bring vengance upon the living. This chick is ticked.

Miku falls victim to the curse, as did her brother and the others who went before, and finds that strange rope marks begin to show on her body as her time in the mansion progresses so that eventually, the strangling rope will appear and she'll die. Happy stuff, no doubt. Using her camera, Miku is determined to quiet the evil in the house, before it takes her soul too.

Luckily, as I said before, Miku has her camera. The camera is really the focal point of the action in the game. Used in first-person P.O.V., the camera gives Miku a fighting chance against the tormented dead. By capturing ghosts, Miku gets spirit points, which can be used to upgrade the camera's abilities, as well as unlock functions such as 'paralyze' and 'seek.' Added to that, the better the picture (proximity of ghosts, whether they're attacking etc.,), the more points you get, so it's a good idea to practice a little photographic cunning when you can.

The camera itself is a bit of a pain in the butt to use for such an integral part of the game. Once in camera mode, Miku can move the viewer in 360 degrees, but can only step very slowly in any direction. This makes it difficult when battling ghosts who move very quickly and can surround you easily. It also makes for a lot of aiming, firing, putting away the camera, running across the room, using the camera again, aiming, firing, putting away the camera; you get the picture. It's an unwieldy way of fighting, especially at the beginning of the game before you've souped-up it's functions, but such is the life of a psychic, high school age, girl ghost hunter.


GRAPHICS or, NOW YOU SEE 'EM, NOW YOU DON'T

The real stars of "Fatal Frames" are, without a doubt, the ghosts. Portrayed as translucent, free-floating entities, the spirits Miku encounters rove over the landscape in an eerily beautiful way. Since the ghosts aren't constrained by the corporeal, they seamlessly morph and flow into walls, through trees, under the floor, with no lag time, no glitches, no frame loss, no visible defects at all. The ghosts are truly a marvel, and way past what I thought the PS2 was graphically capable of. That little baby keeps on surprising me.

The mansion is another beautiful construct, suitably dilapidated and disheveled. The colors are muted, as if coated with dust, while the rooms of the house are cloaked in shadow and darkness because Miku can usually only see with the aid of her flashlight, which lends for some slick lighting effects as well.

The CG in the game, primarily used for the psychic flashbacks Miku has when she comes in contact with certain objects, are nicely rendered as well, but nothing really to write home about. They're nice looking, and the grainy imagery adds to the feeling you're watching a sort of Lovecraftian home movie, but they're nothing that special.


SOUND or, CREAK, SHUFFLE, MOOOOAAAANN!

The sound effects for me were the scariest part of this game. The majority of ghosts either have some sort of unsettling moan, or and even more unsettling bit of speech. The ghost of a girl who was blinded in a ritual will intone hollowly 'where are my eyes, I can't see you' as she strangles the life from your body, while ghosts of little children who were murdered in the castle will alternate between laughing and pleading for help in heart breaking falsettos. The voices of the ghosts are done with such a mixture of piteousness and anger that the hairs on the back of your neck will continuously stand up, especially when all this is going while you're sluggishly trying to snap a picture of a woman with a broken neck or a guy with no head.

There was very little music in the game, aside from some occasional chords to add ambiance and during battles, which in this case, was good. Music, while usually excellent for creating mood in most places, would have detracted a bit in the case of "Fatal Frame." Much more useful, and much better employed, were background noises like rusty hinges, creaking floorboards, wind whistling through the leaves of a tree that someone hung themselves from, sounds like that. It really enhanced the feeling that you were with Miku as she descended deeper and deeper into the darkness of the house.


REPLAY VALUE or, AMITYVILLE HORROR 37

The replay value of the game is pretty good. Once you beat it on normal you unlock a new costume, a new camera function, and the battle mode, as well as being able to play again on normal with all your previous equipment and power-ups still intact. Defeating battle mode allows you to play Nightmare Mode, a much more difficult version of the original mode which has a better, and more coherent, ending. On top of that, if you take the time to capture all the ghosts in the house (there are about 150 or so) you can unlock more camera functions, as well as feel good about completing an act which is mind numbingly difficult because some of the ghosts are only around for a second or two, and if you miss them, you have to restart from your last save point to try it again. You really feel as if you've earned your stripes when you go back and beat all the extra modes.


CONS or, WHY THE GHOSTBUSTERS USED POWERPACKS

My biggest problem with this game was how difficult it was to use the camera to any great effect, especially later on in the game when you're constantly barraged by ghosts who can kill you with one hit. The camera is pretty weak because all the good film is extremely rare and not to be used lightly, it has a wide range of motion if you don't mind standing in one place and, even when the stats are all powered up, the firing is still slow. The camera makes the game, and I like the idea of it being more of a psychic focal tool then if you had a laser or something, but Tecmo could have made it easier to use. It's no wonder they named the second difficulty level Nightmare, the camera makes this mode all but impossible.


CONCLUSION or, I SEE DEAD PEOPLE, AND I LIKE IT

Tecmo's "Fatal Frame" is a true ghost story. The story, while someone lacking, is disturbing in its own right while the graphics are simply gorgeous. The camera is a bit difficult to get used to and, unless you have some of the coveted red or gold film, is a piece of crap as the game gets harder. I would have given this delightfully creepy and atmospheric game five stars if not for its relative shortness (speed run takes about 3 hours) and the wonky camera, but don't let that deter you from trying it out. This is one of those sleeper games that is truly a macabre work of art.