"Hmm, it's not excellent, but it's not bad either"

Fatal Frame 3 is a new story about 'freelance' photographer, Rei Kurosawa; her fiancé had died in a car crash due to her slapdash driving, and she now lives with her assistant, Miku (from FF1, yay!). Then one day, whilst photographing a supposedly haunted mansion, she sees her fiancé, and she pursues him deeper into this mansion in a ‘daydream'-like state where there are all these scary apparitions staring at her or pointing her in odd directions (well, I had that feeling when I was playing the first part) – what's worse is, Rei keeps dreaming of a manor – the Manor of Sleep – where she is constantly under threat of being attacked by vengeful ghosts… and your only weapon is a camera.

You also have a new choice of characters, Rei, Miku, and Kei. Most of these are for the camera, but Kei's is different. With these characters, for some chapters, which are called ‘Hour I' Hour 2' etc, you play as them for some time. Which can be horrible, but also beneficial. The bad part is that you might've used up a lot of spirit points for one character and then you find out you don't have enough for another for their chapter, and it might be a really crucial point in the game too.

Gameplay/Story:

Every night, you enter the Manor of Sleep through dreams (more like nightmares, actually), and you have to complete it; and this means going through a death-zone, you can leave the Manor, but if you picked up an extra film pack of the number 14, which is over 60, you'll have it reset back to 60 (back to default), but it is a lot easier because you start off with a hefty supply of Type-14 film (good for weak ghosts), and some Herbal Medicines, and often, some items would rejuvenate at a specific location every time you re-enter the house. However, there is a very rare stash of good film for harder ghosts, so it's best to save up. Other than that, healing items aren't necessary limited like the other games. You have a new notebook which outlines things to check out whenever you get something new, which is quite a good function because it is quite important.

The story: Meh, it could be better, but what else is there to a spooky house? It was kind of predictable: Related-to-the-plot ghosts chasing you, talking to themselves as they re-act their last scenes and floating around looking for a scrap; a villainess who used to be a shrine maiden or some sort of sacrifice; huge house with annoying stairs, loads of corridors and undetermined objects, your characters trying to solve the mystery as they've been cursed – it's easy to get lost into. The story was fine – all about complicated relationships and Japanese rituals, but at some point, it kinda got ruined when one of the characters mysteriously disappears, so there is a definite feel of incompletion.

Controls:

They're quite bad, really. You have a lack of control because the character doesn't even stop when you stop moving the analog controller, unlike the other FF games, which is a bit disappointing to me. And the camera angles changes often, so you could be walking towards from a door but then you end up walking back against it. The characters are generally slow, and the way how Miku runs bugs me for some reason.

If you get attacked by a ghost, you can even escape by mashing the left controller around or the ‘x' at some point, or even take a picture of the ghost when you're getting attacked. The camera action is better though; the ghosts are quite slow, but their attack pattern is quite cool in some ways. It is like the same for all the other FF games, you go into finder mode for combat – the core circle will glow yellow or red and charge whenever you capture a ghostie in the lock circle, and you either get a Shutter Chance if you keep the ghost close enough without being attacked (that's when the circle glows red), and then you can even get a combo which cause the whole screen to jigger and flash violently sometimes – actually, each time when you deal major damage, the screen will go crazy - and in a way, you can ‘feel' how much damage you have caused to a ghost so it brings some fun in killing ghosts.

The only bad thing is that you get a different ‘camera' for each character, and they have different abilities which might take some time to adapt to. They've also gotten rid of the 180 degree turn for the camera, and I find that annoying.

Graphics:

Very good; although I have a hard time to see things clearly, like items, which are less shiny if they are healing items. Some of them are mostly hidden. The Manor is brilliantly designed despite being pitch black at some point in some rooms, and Rei's house is marvellous (I wouldn't mind living there). There's not much I can say about it, really. Oh yeah, the ghosts are pretty upgraded also, some are silvery white, and others are deep blue, but the detail is awesome.

Sound:

MUCH better. Way better than the previous ones, I have to say. I thought it would be crap, but I was surprised. The ghosts are the best - The voices actors of the ghosts are totally into it. It really does contribute to the game, like as you are walking in stillness waiting for something to happen, and a ghost walks past you on your left, and they're randomly talking to themselves or leading you to a clue. The voices of the actual main characters are okay, but there's a bit of echo as they talk.

The menu clicking options kinda gets to me, because it's like this high-pitched bell click whenever you want to access tools or your notebook.

There's also spooky background music sometimes (usually at stairways etc), but sometimes there is also this shrill ‘feedback' noise which can get irritating, otherwise, it's really creepy stuff.

Scare Factor:

Not as scary, but creepy and freaky. The sounds when you're exploring the Manor (believe me, it gets worse), the fact that you're the only living person there, all freak you out, but that's the point of all survival horror, especially FF. it's scary when you fight ghosts because it's in First Person view so you can see up a ghost's nostrils or something gross. It can even get scary when you get attacked - and there can be some spooky music playing in the background during the fight, usually a boss-fight, where it features heartbeats, static, feedback, or even the ghost going: ‘Help me…'. It's the kind of games that could make you panic and your heart beat really badly. Other side-effects could include sweaty palms or shaking hands, even. Good to test your bravery (all those effects were what I suffered, lol). Although, it actually lacks a point in where it will make you jump. The vibrations coming from the controller also contribute to scare.

Often, when you want to open a door to a new undiscovered place, the character may pause; and that could get you worked up in case you think there's a ghost waiting there on the other side, waiting to grab you and you're wanting to prepare, but no, actually, I think it's when the game loads the new place so the game is momentarily paused for a very short time.

Buy?

It's good to buy it, because it's very enjoyable to play and re-play. You can even unlock loads of new costumes for the characters, get new lens and modes, after you play it for the first time. It's also fun to create your own album of your best photographed spirits (they aren't very photogenic either) for keeps. If you're wanting to test your bravery, this could be the game for you!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/06