:: Reviews :: Rants ::

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterflies, the second addition to the Fatal Frame series, is one of the most scariest games for the PS2 & Xbox.

The story of Fatal Frame II is fairly easy to follow. The game starts off with twin sisters, Mayu & Mio who are wandering through a forest where as children, they shared several memories there. Mayu, is caught off guard and is drawn by the flutter of a red crimson butterfly. Unknowingly, both sisters are led to an abandoned village where a terrible ritual is to take place. The multiple endings are truly an excellent feature of this game, which make this game worth playing over and over again.

In Fatal Frame II, the battle system is much different from your average game. In this game, you defeat your enemies by using an old camera, known as the Camera Obscura. Using the Camera Obscura isn't all that difficult, but does take some getting used to.

At first, getting a grasp of the controls is a bit difficult. I had such a struggle with just trying to get the main character run. In addition to that, one of your main characters has a bad leg and can't walk well. So get used to hearing her whine because her leg hurts. Running in this game is ridiculous. You really are at a disadvantage whenever you are being attacked by ghosts, and you are forced to run away. And walking to different locations, is somewhat time consuming because of the rate that the characters walk.

The constant vibration incorporated through this game, really makes it suspenseful. The makers of this game, timed the vibrating to be that of a heart beat. I think this was a cool feature of the game, and really added to the horror aspect to the game.

The graphics in this game are creatively done, and detail is incorporated into them. There are some beautiful CG scenes in this game, that really enhance this game. On the other hand... there also some very freaky ghosts that I will assure you will give you quite the scare. One thing I don't like about this game however, is depending on the lighting in the room you are playing in, will sometimes make it very difficult to see what you're doing on the screen. I think the game makers could have done a little better instead of stressing our eyes out.

Although this game, could use a few tweaks, in all it is really a fun game. This game, I believe is definitely worth buying, and it's great to get together with your friends and playing it!