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Hidden Gem Spotlight - Fatal Frame

posted by nikki at 11:11 am.

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Today’s Hidden Gem: Fatal Frame
Released 2002 by Tecmo for PS2 (and later for XBOX)

To be honest, Fatal Frame isn’t exactly “hidden”… just about anyone who’s a fan of the survival horror genre has at least heard of it… but it’s definitely a gem, and deserves a spotlight. And these days it’s hard enough to find that if you didn’t play it back when it was new, odds are you haven’t gotten your hands on it yet.

Fatal Frame takes place over the course of several days inside the Himuro Mansion in the Japanese countryside - a place where, rumor has it, spirits and ghosts congregate and those who enter may never return. You play as Miku Hinasaki, a young woman who, like her brother, Mafuyu, is sensitive to the spirit world. When Mafuyu and his mentor, along with two other researchers, go missing while investigating the grisly past of Himuro Mansion, Miku sets out on her own to find him.

Upon her arrival at the mansion, she finds evidence of the group as she explores, including the game’s one and only weapon, the Camera Obscura, which had been passed down to the siblings by their mother, and which Miku had last seen in Mafuyu’s possession.

The camera is said to have been the legacy of Kunihiko Aso, an occultist who worked to develop inventions to make contact with the spirit world. Functioning to capture the souls of vengeful spirits, the Camera Obscura is Miku’s only protection from the murderous ghosts of the Mansion.

There is so very much I could say about the story of this game, but that would really just ruin it for those of you who haven’t played it yet, so I’ll stop there.

The game is played primarily in third person view, but switches to first person mode when using the camera. Miku’s actions are very limited (in fact the only things she can really do are run, and raise the camera to attack), which raises the difficultly level of the game pretty significantly.

The object of battles is to photograph the ghosts until all of their spirit energy is captured on film. The better the shot, and the closer you are to the subject, and the higher the quality of the film loaded in your camera, the more damage is inflicted… and when your supply of film is running low, you definitely need to make every shot count.

But perhaps the greatest thing about Fatal Frame is that it is actually… well… scary. The game’s imagery, music, and story all combine to keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s a great game to play alone, in the dark. Preferably on a stormy night. It’s something you have to experience for yourself, because words just don’t do it justice.

Fatal Frame has already spawned two sequels: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, and Fatal Frame III: The Tormented. The stories of both subsequent games are complete and stand-alone in and of themselves, but all three are ultimately related, most noticeably seen in the third installment which serves to tie all three plots together.

A fourth game is currently in development. Tentatively titled Fatal Frame IV: The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, the game is being developed by Tecmo and Grasshopper Manufacture, and will be published by Nintendo. It is rumored to be exclusive to the Wii and is due out in Japan at the end of July. A release date for North America has not yet been set, but you better believe I’ll be keeping an eye out for one.

Nikki Blight: is still trying to find that damn princess... when she's not writing fresh code for the217.com.