Fatal Frame

aka: Project Zero, Rei Zero
Moby ID: 5961
PlayStation 2 Specs
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Description official descriptions

Miku Hinasaki is a young girl with a strange sixth sense. Her brother, Mafuyu, and his mentor, Junsei Takamine, went to investigate a mansion that once was inhabited by a powerful landowner who had absolute control over the area. Unfortunately, they never returned from their investigation. Miku enters the mansion, armed with only an antique camera given to her by her deceased mother, to try to find her brother.

While inside the mansion, Miku will encounter ghosts and other spiritual apparitions. In order to overcome these spirits and survive, she must use the magical camera to capture the ghosts on film, thereby trapping them forever. Ghosts range from invisible fragments hidden in scenery, to memories of the past that appear only for a moment before vanishing, to full body apparitions that will attempt to attack and kill Miku.

In order to defeat an aggressive ghost the Camera Obscura's shot must first be "charged" by keeping the ghost centered while it is visible. If Miku snaps a shot while the ghost is attacking or is vulnerable then she will drain even more energy from it, resulting in more spirit points being earned. Points can then be spent to improve her camera's attributes or give it special abilities, like slowing a ghost or pushing it away. The Camera Obscura can also reveal clues and dispel illusions, which Miku will need to utilize to solve puzzles within the mansion.

Spellings

  • 零~zero~ - Japanese spelling

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

132 People · View all

Producer
Director
Chief Programmer
Character Design Director
  • ZIN
Stage Design Director
  • HRY-CHN
Interface Designer
Planners
Programmers
Character Modeling
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 26 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 36 ratings with 4 reviews)

Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there.

The Good
Something evil lurks in the Himuro Mansion. Mafuyu Hinasaki goes there in search of the missing novelist Junsei Takamine and doesn’t return. Now his sister Miku searches for him. Finding clues left by her brother and others, Miku must learn the secrets of Himuro Mansion and face the spirits who dwell there. Many have died or gone missing around the mansion and their tormented souls walk the mansion’s hallways, dripping blood on the floorboards, and staining the walls with bloody handprints. But Miku is armed with an old camera, a family heirloom, which lets her photograph things that aren’t there. The camera lets her fight the mansion’s ghosts and unlock the mansion’s mysteries by peering into its past, but can it help her save her brother and stave off a netherworld Calamity?

Fatal Frame is a third-person perspective survival horror game which is functionally like other survival horror games but with a better storyline and a better gimmick: the camera. First, the story. Without spoiling the game, Himuro Mansion was home to horrific Shinto rituals which linked together sinister elements like the Strangling Ritual and the Blinding Ritual as part of a larger religious ceremony. As Miku progresses through the game, these rituals play out and she deals not only with the terrifying events but with the ghosts of the people who went through them. Hearing tales of the Blinding Mask is nothing compared to having a ghost with bloody, empty eye sockets jump out at you yelling, “My eyes!”

The game plays out over four nights, each night having its own set of puzzles and bosses and each night drawing Miku further in. Miku gathers evidence: voices on audiocassettes, ancient scrolls, journals, research notes, and photos, and compiles the information fleshing out the mansion’s previous inhabitants and victims, learning the connection between the people doomed by the mansion, and discovering her family’s role.

In terms of scares, this game has a great many. The mansion is alive with ghosts. Some wander the hallways thinking they are still alive. Some are predatory, hunting the living. Some are captive, bound to the area where they died like the image on a photograph. Even without the visible ghosts, there’s just something wrong with the mansion. Blood drips from the ceiling, a hallway fills with dangling ropes, and lanterns start swinging where there is no wind. Is something in the shadows? Is that your reflection in the mirror? Are those Mafuyu’s footsteps or someone else’s? Luckily, Miku has the camera.

The camera is the most important inventory item in the game, especially since it’s the only weapon. Acting first like Silent Hill’s radio, the camera alerts Miku to a ghostly presence. Taking pictures switches to a first-person perspective, where Miku must make sure what she wants to photograph is in frame. Some ghosts just pop on screen for an instant, while others are waiting to be found. Taking pictures of the non-predatory ghosts scores points used to upgrade the camera. During combat with a predatory ghost, Fatal Frame uses a battle system where Miku must keep the ghosts in frame to damage them by taking their picture. The longer Miku holds them in frame, the more damage she does and if the ghost is close enough, Miku can score a critical hit.

The camera takes four types of film scattered throughout the mansion and the higher level film types do more damage to the attacking ghosts. The camera can also by upgraded by spending points on its basic attributes like range and charge speed. Miku can also unlock special powers which can knock ghosts back or paralyze them when used with the spirit stones she collects. When her health lowers, Miku can restore it with healing herbs and spirit water. If she dies while carrying a stone mirror, then her health is automatically replenished.

The camera is also important when it comes to puzzle solving. Fatal Frame has its share of slider variations and a few other obvious puzzles, but often Miku comes across an ethereal barrier. When photographed, the barriers usually show another location of the mansion indicating that Miku must do something there to continue. Fatal Frame has a great built-in map with descriptive names for rooms. For its size, Himuro Mansion could be very easy to get lost in, but every room and hallway is memorable and the interlinking doorways make sense. While you can never explore the entire mansion within one act, the game does have nonlinear sections where you can divert from the main course to explore side areas and find useful items.

Much of Fatal Frame’s scare power comes from solid graphics. Character models might show their age a little bit, but there is a consistency of design which doesn’t detract. Parts of the mansion feel slightly out of focus, much of the game is tinged with sepia, flashbacks are monochromatic and hazy, all of it gives the game both a dreamlike and nightmarish atmosphere. The mansion itself is a believable wreck, looking both real and lived in. While the gameplay stops for brief cutscenes and transitions to new Nights, moving through Himuro Mansion is seamless, with load times disguised as opening a door or descending a ladder.

Fatal Frame uses a save system similar to Resident Evil’s typewriter. Camera stands are located around the mansion and act as save points. Miku can save as often as she wishes, but too many saves lowers her ranking (which doesn’t affect the ending). Saving liberally is recommended on your first play through. Since ghosts appear out of nowhere and are able to teleport behind you, death can come quickly if you aren’t ready. Completing the game unlocks harder modes, a new outfit, and a Battle mode.

The Bad
Fatal Frame isn’t perfect. By Night Three you’ve seen the major areas of the mansion and the nature of the game means that backtracking is necessary. Also by Night Three, random combat comes too frequently and becomes too deadly to explore the mansion as thoroughly as you might like. Actually Silent Hill 3’s action/adventure settings would work really well here. Like Jade in Beyond Good & Evil, Miku would have been a fun character even if she was only focused on photographing the mansion’s ghosts.

Despite the disparate entities inhabiting Himuro Mansion, combative ghosts draw on only a few character models. Several boss battles also feature the same ghost, so I wasn’t sure if the camera was really capturing them or just driving them away. Actually the camera is one of those videogame headscratchers. Bypassing everything else, did the film fairy visit Himaru Mansion and sprinkle film everywhere. Imagine fighting Superman in his Fortress of Solitude and finding kryptonite every ten feet. But that’s just nitpicking.

Fatal Frame’s biggest failing is its voice acting and somewhat loose controls. I would love to see more games released with their original soundtracks and subtitles. Not that Siren would ever be a good game, but it would at least be tolerable in its native language. That’s something even craptacular Samurai Western got right. Anyway, Fatal Frame features American voice actors who don’t seem to have Japanese accents. Miku has a strangely breathy voice and some of the voice acting on the audiocassettes is flat.

As far as controls, Fatal Frame uses a run button instead of relying on the pressure sensitive analog sticks. Miku doesn’t move fast (run=jog) and she doesn’t corner well. When camera angles change (Fatal Frame has a solid camera system), Miku usually needs to be reoriented. Running from some ghosts is recommended, but can be overly difficult and downright unfair if the nab her during a new room transition.

The Bottom Line
Fatal Frame isn’t the scariest game I’ve played, but it does have one of the better stories. Fatal Frame is right in there with the new wave of J-horror. Like Ringu or Ju-on, Fatal Frame features terrifying moments, bringing back vengeful ghosts who can hurt you. Fatal Frame is also a welcome change in terms of the survival horror trend of throwing otherworldly enemies at you who can be downed with a few bullets or hunting down zombies with rocket launchers.

Finally, Fatal Frame should be applauded for not featuring a girl in danger. Miku has willingly put herself in a dangerous place in search of her brother. While the gameplay might have more of what is thought of as a male appeal, Miku’s story and the story of the mansion should have a strong appeal for female gamers as well. And it accomplishes a lot with only a T rating.

PlayStation 2 · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2005

The Best!

The Good
It scared me half to death! Wonderful characters, plot, backgrounds, sounds, ghost, deaths, the surprises! Its never ending. Fatal Frame is the best game around and I fell in love with it. It has 3 different modes. 3 different outfits (very unique) AND YOU USE A CAMERA FOR GOD'S SAKE! Oh and you have two different endings! Figured that out after we beat it a second time with the new specialties you get.

The Bad
I loved everything! What do you mean 'Didn't like'? Oh wait, what I don't like is how the other person rated this game!

The Bottom Line
Horrifying Absolutely scary! Beautiful Plot and settings! Different Ghosts! Did I mention Scary? Its perfect. Some advice though, get the man in the house to play it for you. =D

PlayStation 2 · by Jen Despain (2) · 2004

Brilliant

The Good
I loved the graphics and tense atmosphere. The ghosts are what you would expected to see in real life (well to me they are). The music fits in well with the atmosphere as do the sounds. (creepy music and silence mixed - lovely). The storyline is superb and it gets the player's adrenaline pumping, especially when the vibration of the controller as a substitute for her heartbeat.

The strategic puzzles on some doors are a nice change from just having the doors open and something grabs you. Like classic "Resident Evil" style. The way you can go back and forth collecting things that weren't there before may bore some people, but I think it's part of the thrill. If you go back and find something new, you have more chance of meeting another ghost; which is an adrenaline rush.

I also like the way that it is based on a true story/folk-law (loosely) - there ARE sites out there with various information about the rituals etc. - you just have to look. Miku may only be a college girl but she knows her stuff.

The Bad
The few bad thing that I can think of is the camera angle at some points and the repetitiveness of the ghosts' whining. Constant cries of "Why"... (Even with the Editor; he cries out 'why' in a female voice) and the various tapes - the volume of them is so faint you have to turn the volume up to even hear them.

The Bottom Line
Supernatural ghostliness. Good for people who like adrenaline rushes.

PlayStation 2 · by ProjectShadow (3) · 2006

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

Inspiration

The tagline of the North American release of Fatal Frame is "Based on a True Story." In an interview, the producer of Zero, Makoto Shibata, explains the story that inspired the game:

In an area outside Tokyo, there lies a mansion in which it’s said seven people were murdered in a grisly manner. On the same property, there lie three detached residences that surround the mansion, all of which are rumored to have ties to the mansion’s troubled past. It’s said there is an underground network of tunnels that lay beneath the premises, but nobody knows who made these tunnels or what purpose they served.

Many inexplicable phenomenon have been reported occurring on the property. Bloody hand prints have been found splattered all over the walls. Spirits have been spotted on the premises… even in broad daylight. A narrow stairway leads to an attic where a spirit-sealed talisman is rumored to be locked away. Men have sought this talisman, only to be found later with their bodies broken and rope marks around their wrists. There’s a crumbling old statue of a woman in a kimono, but its head is missing. If you take a photo of a certain window, a young girl can be seen in the developed picture.

These incidents have provoked fear in the people of Tokyo, and many believe that those who live near this area will become cursed. The deaths of those seven people are unexplained to this day."

Considering how this tagline does not appear on any other region's release, and how the only mention of the story appears online after Fatal Frame's release, this story was likely fabricated by TECMO's marketing division.

Lawsuit

The developer of Fatal Frame, Tecmo, was quickly sued by the movie company behind Ghostbusters, claiming that the idea of capturing ghosts in a camera infringed upon the concept of Ghostbusters. The case was later dropped.

Novel

There's a novelization of the game. It's told from the viewpoint of Mafuyu Hinasaki and it's storyline is a little bit different. Unfortunately, its only in Japanese. It is called Zero: The Novel, ISBN 4840220654, available on The Japanese Amazon website.

Version differences

The European and American versions of the game differ from the Japanese version. The main character, Miku's appearance and outfit have been changed to represent more Western people rather than Japanese.

Information also contributed by Daedolon, Donatello, j.jones and Lain Crowley

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by JPaterson.

PlayStation 3 added by Fred VT.

Additional contributors: Terrence Bosky, Unicorn Lynx, Exodia85, Dae, DreinIX, Patrick Bregger.

Game added March 13, 2002. Last modified June 12, 2023.