Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
Grab a pair of fresh skivvies; it's time for more Fatal Frame goodness.
Published: September 3, 2003
Just when we thought the Silent Hill games had a lock on the pants-wettingly scary archetype, along came Tecmo's Fatal Frame, a game that took what appeared to be a laughably corny concept of snapping pictures of the dead in an ultracreepy mansion and turned it into what many consider to be the scariest game ever made. We're still on the fence as to which games woke us more in night sweats, but regardless of which game actually did the most freakage, we want more.
And hooboy are we getting it. Not to be outdone by the soon to be released Silent Hill 3, Tecmo has already begun firing up the spin machine to make sure a steady trickle of marketing tidbits won't let us forget that capturing ghosts with an antique camera can still scare the hell out of you. The latest fruits of the boys and girls over at the big T's labor is in these juicy details and freaky-deaky screenshots that highlight the sequel's new setting.
Rather than a cluttered, claustrophobic mansion, the sequel has shifted venues to a more open, significantly more chilling abandoned village. Anyone who's toured a ghost town or seen a horror movie where a town is utterly devoid of life knows how ample the opportunities are for scares. In addition to the more expansive lost village locale, the game will focus on a pair of twins, Mio and Mayu, and the duality of their roles is actually echoed down to the sequel's core, changing not only the storyline but the game's mechanics as well.
One of the best things the first game did well was install that constant feeling of dread and being on edge. Fatal Frame never went for the "jump" factor that the Resident Evil games have descended into (and seem to almost be abandoning complete in favor of a more story-driven action/horror slant), instead leaving it up to the players' minds to fill in any blanks and slowly, steadily create more and more tension as the game went on. The fact that there was only one weapon - the aforementioned camera - made things at once simple and more than a little castratory.
We're sorry to say that the normal testosterone-fueling payload that's a staple of the Resident Evil (and to some extent Silent Hill) series doesn't come into play here. You're still armed with only a camera, though there is an extensive upgrade and mod system in place this time around to add a little more spice to snapping ghosts out of the mortal plane.
Temco is promising a few other improvements to things like the game's narrative, enemy types and strengths, and an overall tweak on the formula that takes full advantage of the twin main characters and the spooky lost village venue. In all honesty, getting more of the say would have been enough to keep us nightmare-ridden for months, but it appears the developers aren't content to just crank out another sequel.
We'll have more extensive impressions of the game in a few weeks (after we've finished calling our mommies and sleeping with the lights on for a while), but for now we hope these screens will tide you over until then.
And hooboy are we getting it. Not to be outdone by the soon to be released Silent Hill 3, Tecmo has already begun firing up the spin machine to make sure a steady trickle of marketing tidbits won't let us forget that capturing ghosts with an antique camera can still scare the hell out of you. The latest fruits of the boys and girls over at the big T's labor is in these juicy details and freaky-deaky screenshots that highlight the sequel's new setting.
Rather than a cluttered, claustrophobic mansion, the sequel has shifted venues to a more open, significantly more chilling abandoned village. Anyone who's toured a ghost town or seen a horror movie where a town is utterly devoid of life knows how ample the opportunities are for scares. In addition to the more expansive lost village locale, the game will focus on a pair of twins, Mio and Mayu, and the duality of their roles is actually echoed down to the sequel's core, changing not only the storyline but the game's mechanics as well.
One of the best things the first game did well was install that constant feeling of dread and being on edge. Fatal Frame never went for the "jump" factor that the Resident Evil games have descended into (and seem to almost be abandoning complete in favor of a more story-driven action/horror slant), instead leaving it up to the players' minds to fill in any blanks and slowly, steadily create more and more tension as the game went on. The fact that there was only one weapon - the aforementioned camera - made things at once simple and more than a little castratory.
We're sorry to say that the normal testosterone-fueling payload that's a staple of the Resident Evil (and to some extent Silent Hill) series doesn't come into play here. You're still armed with only a camera, though there is an extensive upgrade and mod system in place this time around to add a little more spice to snapping ghosts out of the mortal plane.
Temco is promising a few other improvements to things like the game's narrative, enemy types and strengths, and an overall tweak on the formula that takes full advantage of the twin main characters and the spooky lost village venue. In all honesty, getting more of the say would have been enough to keep us nightmare-ridden for months, but it appears the developers aren't content to just crank out another sequel.
We'll have more extensive impressions of the game in a few weeks (after we've finished calling our mommies and sleeping with the lights on for a while), but for now we hope these screens will tide you over until then.
