There is nothing I like more than a spooky ghost story, and Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented has given me just that.
In the third installment of this series, we play Rei Kurosawa, a freelance photographer who is haunted by nightmares ever since she caught her fiance on camera in an old mansion. This may not seem like a reason for nightmares, but as it turns out, Yuu - Rei's fiancé - was killed in car accident, which was her fault.
Since then, Rei keeps having recurring nightmares where she walks around this haunted mansion filled with ghostly apparitions, in search of Yuu. In one of her wanderings, Rei is attacked by a ghost and wakes up to discover a strange tattoo spreading throughout her body.
Obviously, most of the gameplay is done in the haunted mansion, exploring and exorcizing spirits with the Camera Obscura. But part of the game takes place while Rei is awake, in the "real world". The events in the dream world and the real world tie together, as Rei searches for clues to find out who these lost souls are, why are they attacking her and what is the meaning of the tattoos.
There are a few issues with the camera angles though, especially in corners or narrow hallways that make it difficult to spot where the ghosts are coming from. You can't just stay in first-person camera view all the time, since turning and moving while in this situation is extremely slow, making you easy prey for the ghosts. Some of them have some really strange and random attack patterns, so you can't really predict the movement. I strongly recommend staying in 3rd person until you can spot the spirit, position yourself, then go into camera mode. Shoot, leave camera view, move, repeat.
The game could have also used a sort of goal-oriented checklist, since many times I found myself wandering lost, going back to rooms I had already been in, in hopes of triggering the next main event to advance the story.
The connection to previous titles isn't limited to hunting ghosts with the Camera Obscura. Rei's roomie, Miku, is the heroine from the original game, and Kei Amakura has the same surname as the twins in Crimson Butterfly. Furthermore, Yuu was Miu's uncle in the second title. Coincidences? Most likely not. Fatal Frame: The Tormented seems to tie any lose ends left by the previous games and does a great job at completing the trilogy, adding to the density of the plot.
The innovation in this sequel is that Rei, Miku and Kei are all playable characters. While Rei is a balanced mix between strength and spirit power, the other two have their own special abilities and weakness. For example, Miku can fit into small spaces where others can't and her spirit power is high, making her camera shots more powerful although the target area is much smaller. Kei has more health than the others and he can also move heavy objects out of the way, but he is spiritually weaker, making him not so good to exorcize ghosts. He also has quite a bit of knowledge about urban legends and hauntings. As you can imagine, the use of all three characters for certain tasks is necessary to reach other areas of the mansion and thus progress through the game.
The spooks in the Fatal Frame games don't come from specific graphical horror but from subtle graphic effects and creepy ambient sounds instead. The environment constantly provides you with a feeling of tension and anxiety, and even in the "safety" of Rei's appartment you can't help but feeling something is just not quite right. You can't help but think something is about to jump at you with every step you take.
There is nothing I like more than a spooky ghost story, and Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented has given me just that.
Note: If you have enjoyed the Fatal Frame titles up to here, you will be glad to know that there is a movie under development, although no date has been announced for its release so far. Assuming the movie-to-game transition is well done, this would be one game movie I wouldn't want to miss.
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