Good story, good graphics, good character designs, but boring.
Jennifer is a timid unlucky girl, who gets stuck at an orphanage in 1930's. It's a strange orphanage which consist of cult like rituals. She explores this orphanage only to discover that it's not what it seems. She later discovers that there's a secret society called the Aristocrat of the Red Crayon. This society captivates her interest, and so does a dog named Brown which she rescues. There's actually kind of a neat thing going for this game. For one, the story is interesting. It also manages to be really creepy and strange. It'll also make you think too. From there, though, the game doesn't have very many places to go.
For starters, the game is overall pretty boring. You'll find yourself exploring your surroundings, finding items, avoiding enemies and solving puzzles. Pretty standard and run of the mill for a survival horror game. A lot of the time Brown is with you, and he's quite a companion to have around. He can lead you through some of the game as well. You can have him sniff items in your inventory and he'll go off to discover similar items. If you're ever unsure of where to go you could probably just turn to Brown and he'll help you out. Exploration, however, somehow feels empty. Especially because there's not much combat involved in exploring, and at the tims when there is an enemy around, you won't really have to fight, you can easily just pass on by... which actually is a good thing.
There isn't a lot of combat or anything like that to be done in Rule of Rose. When there is it's a little unsatisfying. This is because Jennifer isn't really a confident fighter. When the games tells you she's timid they're not joking. Combat isn't difficult but it is frustrating. You'll have to hope beyond hope that her attacks hit their mark with your enemies. Brown can distract some of them, but it still boils down to Jennifer having to be accurate. You'll get by in the game, but there are moments when the gameplay is just frustrating.
Even worse for the combat is when you take damage. You don't know how much damage you're taking from an enemy. You might be dead before you know it simply because you don't know how much damage your taking. This can sometimes be frustrating. It wouldn't be nearly as frustrating if save points weren't few and far between in this game. You might be playing through long segments over and over again simply because you didn't know you were moments away from death.
Part of the gameplay issues also come with how repetative the game is. You'll find yourself going down several hallways and corridors that look just like other ones you've gone through. It's really easy to get turned around in this game. The game does have some good visuals, but they won't be found in the environment. They'll be found in the characters and cutscenes which are absolutely breath taking. The soundtrack is even better, being fairly creepy all together and being able to give you an uneasy feeling. The music is just fantastic overall.
The storyline to Rule of Rose will probably be enough to keep you going in this game, but the repetative nature of the gameplay and environments make the game more frustrating than it has to be. It's actually not a bad game, it's just a game that didn't live up to potential. For fans of the survivial horror genre, you might want to give it a try. For others, it's probably not your cup of tea.
The Good
+Interesting storyline
+Great character models and cutscenes
+Fantastic sound
The Bad
-The environments are repetative, and so is the task of exploring all the rooms throughout the game
-Combat is unsatisfying and frustrating
-The game is just boring to play
-The control scheme isn't all that great (not mentioned above)
-Because of the repetative environments, it's easy to get lost