"A really good survival horror game"

I have enjoyed the Fatal Frame series and have now played through all 3 in the past 6 months or so. I didn't like 2 as much as most people it seemed and I will admit that 3 looked like it may have taken the wrong path. I'm glad to announce that I think 3 might be the best title in the series.

Rei is a photographer. Her boyfriend recently died and she has now started to have dreams. In the dreams it's snowing and she's in a manor. Ghosts haunt this place but so does her boyfriend's spirit. When she wakes she finds that a tattoo like bruise covers her body and then vanishes. Her roommate does research for her and letters are coming for her dead boyfriend from a man who is investigating an urban legend about a place called the "Manor of Sleep". Is this connected to Rei's dreams or is her grief getting to her, causing her to see things that aren't really there. What I loved about the plot of this game is that is slowly feeds you the story, small doses here and there and it never felt like you were going really long with nothing new being explained. The characters are interesting but I will admit that I wish a little more was explained about the urban legend.

The graphics in Fatal Frame 3 are top notch. The character models look great and I found the ghosts to be creepier than ever. One "hidden" ghost, called "Child in Snow" was rather disturbing to me. The manor has a unique layout and while I was constantly lost, no two rooms looked a like. The CGI is top notch and I like how at certain points the actual game takes a black and white tone, those moments were the creepiest, for more reasons than one. I also found that this game wasn't as dark and as hard to see as Fatal Frame 2.

Sound is the one area that I found Fatal Frame 3 disappointing. Voice acting is as usual really good but this is where the problem comes in. The two female character (Rei & Miku) sound very muffled and distorted, almost like the voice actresses were recorded with very bad microphones. Music wise I must admit I didn't notice any besides the chant that is rather creepy and used a number of times during the game. I also enjoyed the song that plays during the ending and credits. Sound effect wise the game is creepy. Footsteps change depending on what you are stepping on, ghosts moan, groan, scream ect.

The control in this game is the same as always. I found it just as easy to pick up and play as the others. A few times I got confused during a peeping sequence and kept hitting triangle to exit but instead that was bringing up my camera but it was probably just something that only I would do....

For the most part I must say that Fatal Frame 3 plays exactly the same as then first two. You can read my reviews of those two games if you want some added details that I may miss in this review. Now, there are two things that are new in this title that weren't there in the first two titles. So, before we get into those changes let's cover the basics of the game shall we.

This is a survival horror game. Most of the game takes place in the Manor of Sleep. It's a huge building with many twists and turns and circle routes. Routes will be blocked by puzzles or require a key. So, in typical survival horror fashion you have to run around solving puzzles. The previous games used a lot of "take a picture of spirit warded door, find what showed up, take its picture and now go back to that door and open it". I'm happy to say that this game doesn't use that as much as the first two.

Now you weapon in the game is a camera. You find film to take the pictures but there isn't a huge overload of film so try not to waste it. When a ghost attacks (not all of them do) a circle ring appears around them if the camera is on them and symbols appear around that, the more you get the stronger the shot. If the circle turns red it becomes a fatal frame shot and does major damage. You gain points for quickly taking care of a ghost. points are used for two things. Upgrading the camera and its new abilities (these are found as you go through the game) and they are also used to unlock bonus features after beating the game. The abilities slow down ghosts, expand the range ect.

Now, the first of the new things. There are now three playable characters (only 1 in the first two games). Each character plays differently. Our hero plays like the main ones of the first two games. One of the other characters plays like our main but can fit into small spaces. The other character is very weak with the camera so they are able to hide from the spirits. This is great and it really spices the game play up. You don't get a choice of who you play as, it just happens story wise. The problem I had was with the character that could hide. Hiding is fine but the game constantly forces you to face off against ghosts to get an item that they drop and you need. This felt annoying and pretty much took away the entire point of hiding.

The other new feature is the waking world. While you can only go about things in your house, there are a number of things to do. Look for papers, develop pictures you have taken in the dream world (they will come up as blue and upon waking Rei takes them from the camera). Developing isn't anything more than an option so don't expect a mini game or anything. You can give the pictures to your roommate to have her research them. You can listen to tapes ect. It's a nice feature and it breaks the game up nicely.

While the first two games were far from short, I must say that Fatal Frame 3 took me the longest to beat. Almost 7 hours. I did run into a glitch that no one else knew about so maybe it was just my copy of the game. The game offers a crap load of special features. Harder difficulty, alternate ending, trailers, recaps for the first two games, a mission mode, lots of new costumes for the 3 characters and some stuff for her cat. So, for replay value Fatal Frame 3 has a lot to offer and blows the other two out of the water.

Alright. The game is on par in every way with the first title, which I thought was better than its sequel. What I really liked about Fatal Frame 3 was the story was the best one so far. I also enjoyed its connections to the first two games and I think it wraps up the series well but everyone is waiting for Fatal Frame 4's announcement at E3 2006. Fans of survival horror will enjoy this title and it offers enough to warrant a purchase. If you're not a fan of the genre, then maybe rent it but I would recommend playing the first two games in the series first. Their order doesn't matter though but the first game seems to be kind of hard to find.

Story - 9/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 6/10
Control - 9/10
Game Play - 9/10
Replay value - 9/10

Final Score - 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/14/06