Not a worthy sequel.
User Rating: 5 | Zero: Shisei no Koe PS2
It is unfortunate that the third installment of Fatal Frame has followed the Star Wars franchise in creating unnecessary followups to masterpieces. The original Fatal Frame was a unique take on the horror survival series. It introduced the gaming world to the camera obscura, and the terrors of ancient Japanese folklore. The sequel, Crimson Butterfly, was nothing short of a work of art. The ethereal graphics were top notch. The story line was spooky, yet had a poignant affect to it. Most of all, I have never had a game scare me like that before. I have seen many horror movies, and played many horror-survival games, but Crimson Butterfly took the cake in bringing me very close to needing a new pair of boxers. Now, on to the dissapointment. As a standalone game, Fatal Frame III the Tormented would be what I would qualify as a good game. The graphics are well done, but without significant improvement. The storyline is ambitious, and tries to make the game into somewhat of an epic. However, it is the closed feeling of the previous games that made them so enticing. You go through some of the other areas from the previous installments and realize, "hey those were good games, this isn't." Also, trying to incorporate the "modern" world into the game only succeeds in making shamless allusions to other good Japanese horror icons, e.g. the Grudge, while taking away a good deal of the fear element. The gameplay has some serious flaws. While fighting ghosts, the camera screen frequently prevents you from taking damaging shots of the evil spirits. The camera upgrades are ok, but they don't really make that much of a difference. Playing as different characters throughout the storyline is nothing new, and the way they fit them in is nothing short of ridiculous. "Oh no, here is a 5 pound bookshelf, I can't climb over it therefore only a man could move it." When you meet the man, Kei, one quickly comes to the conclusion that a peewee football player could take him in a fight. Also, I don't see why it is necessary to introduce a weak spirit character like Kei. You have the option of hiding from ghosts, but anyone who plays the game for more than 5 minutes will realize that GHOSTS CAN PASS THROUGH ANYTHING TO GET YOU!!! There are a few "bright" spots in this game, such as fighting the lady under the floorboards as Miku. That is pretty creepy. Overall, despite the fact this game attempts to pull all the other storylines together, I would suggest playing it only if you haven't played the other games.
