Fatal Frame PS2 Review

So after a rant and a review on what makes a good survival horror game, I have found me one. All I had to do was search numerous Gamestops and reverse back a system. And it appears to be so good that it's still $40 used after 2 sequels, with a 4th in Japan, and for being a 7 year old game. Good thing I had coups.

Fatal Frame has all the elements of what makes a good survival horror game: monstrous foes, puzzles, creepy music and environments, and the fear of having a ghost pop out at you at any moment.

What makes this survival horror game different from it's competitors is the weapon system. Unlike having a gun and knife to fend off evil foes you use a camera to capture the ghosts energy. What makes that so interesting if the fact that it comes from reality or well what some people believe to be reality. The idea that a camera can capture your soul and allow you to see spirits is one deeply rooted in our history all over the world. It may not be your belief, but it's still neat idea for a game.

The first Fatal Frame is also based on a true story or well two. How many videogames out there can claim that? The idea that the game has basis in reality can make the reality of the gameplay more interesting and scary for some. Many people have in fact claimed that Fatal Frame is one of the scariest games out there. I won't deny that it's a scary game, but I believe that Silent Hill is the scariest shit out there. Now that really plays with your mind.

As for actual gameplay and story, I found it interesting and engaging. You first take the control of Mafuyu, a young man in search of his mentor who has gone missing inside of a haunted mansion. You don't control him for long. After finding a special camera know as Camera Obscura, and defeating your first ghost, he too goes missing. You then take control of Miku, Mafuyu's sister, as she goes on a hunt for him. She too finds the camera and searches deeper into the mansion for Mafuyu as she finds out the dark secrets that the mansion holds.

In this game you will not have hoards of ghosts attack you all at once, I think the most I had to fend off was 3 at a time, but that makes it scarier in my opinion. Not knowing when a ghost will appear and even have them move through walls is scary and adds a different bit of challenge to the game.

The controls are a bit clunky, think original Resident Evil as the control system is pretty much the same for walking and camera angles, and sometimes you will run into invisible objects. The system for walking up and down ladders is incredibly slow. You could get into some real trouble if you are heading down a ladder with a ghost chasing after you. What makes it worse is there is no button command to use a ladder, if you walk up close to it you just start climbing. Combine this with the changing camera angles for different areas and you could end up using the ladder 3 or 4 times in a row.

The game has two different endings, 3 if you have the xbox version. Both endings seem sad in their own way to me, but you will just have to play through to figure out what you think of them.

Fatal Frame gets a 4 out of 5 stars for unique weapons, scary situations, and a good storyline. I knocked off a point for clunky controls, but it's still manageable.

UNCHARTED: Drake's Fortune PS3 Review

With Uncharted 2 just around the corner, I finally decided to pick up a copy of the original and give it go. After playing, it got me wondering why I didn't pick up this title sooner. It has a nice mix of a third person shooter, an adventure game, and a puzzle game all rolled into one with a few other surprise elements.

You are Nathan Drake, who sets out to find a treasure with hints and a map from your ancestor on the same hunt. Throughout the game you get some help and help out a couple of AI characters. Luckily these AI characters can't die that way you don't have to worry about saving their ass every five minutes. However in the storyline you do seem to be saving their asses quite a bit. One is a old friend and con artist, while the other is a film journalist. When your friend gets into trouble you question his motives, while when the female AI character (aka the film journalist, who you just can't seem to get rid of) is in trouble you have to be the hero and save the damsel in distress even though she can handle herself most of the time. She does rescue you a few times so it helps balance out this injustice. But I mostly kid. The dynamic between these characters help build a strong story.

As for the gameplay, there really is a lot to it. You have a variety of weapons, however you can only carry three weapons at a time: one sidearm; one machine gun, shot gun or sniper rifle; and a set of grenades at a time. So rationing ammo and deciding what weapon will be needed to carry on with you to the next part becomes a bit harder. If you do run out of ammo or just want a different kind of action you can do melee moves and combo attacks.

The puzzles and some other aspects of the game are very reminiscent of Tomb Raider. If Nathan drake had a higher voice and large breasts I might actually think I was playing one. The puzzles have you move or drag objects around and he jumps and clings to cliffs in a very similar way. But even with the similarities UNCHARTED is it's own game. The targeting system and health system is different. You can choose to have a cursor appear and aim for the enemy you want and not to just the closest one. There is also no health packs in UNCHARTED. If you get low on health the screen colors dim until they become black and white and the only way to recover is to stay out of the line of fire for a short amount of time. The swimming system is also different. Nathan cannot swim under water like Laura can, which I actually prefer since I hate water levels.

But enough with comparing UNCHARTED to other games. It can stand alone as a very strong game with many twists in turns and with a sequel on the way I can see this series lasting a long time. So UNCHARTED: Drake's Fortune gets a 4 out of 5 stars from me.

Just a note for those of you picking UNCHARTED up after the PS3 update 3.0. Some people have reported the game freezing constantly forcing you to restart your system. There is now an optional update known as 3.1 that you can install that will fix this problem.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box DS Review

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the second in a series of puzzle games and the latest one to come stateside. Like the first game, Diabolical Box follows Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke to solve a mystery by solving puzzles. It's a point and click adventure with an intriguing storyline that separates this game from other puzzle games putting it in a class of it's own. There are over 100 puzzles in the game ranging from fairly easy to quite difficult which will keep you entertained and puzzled for hours.

I'm gonna to spend a good chunk of this review discussing the puzzles because this game at it's core is a puzzle game. There are a variety of different puzzles ranging from guessing the right item from a number of clues to classic peg board puzzles to sliding puzzles. Some of the puzzles are unique to the other puzzles in the game, while others are just a harder version of a previous puzzle. A couple use outside elements taking you away from the screen. One of them uses a paper ticket that is found in the game's booklet which is instructed for your use in game. The last puzzle in the story uses a feature that none other in the game uses, leaving you to really think about what you have to do. That puzzle was my favorite because it really utilizes all the features that make the DS so unique.

If you get stumped on one of these puzzles you can get up to three hints which can be unlocked by using hint coins found throughout the game hidden in the background. Most of the coins are easy to find and hidden in the same types of places that they would be found in the first Professor Layton game. I was hoping for more of a challenge looking for these coins, but since they are used as a helping tool and not necessary to finish the game it wasn't a big deal. Plus it might be nice to not struggle over where to find one of these when you really need one to be finish a puzzle that you just can't seem to figure out. But then it becomes even more easier to find them when you finish the hamster side quest puzzle as he actually will point out their location to you.

Speaking of these side quests, there are a few for you to accomplish as you head through story mode. Three are of them to be exact. You will run into a chef on the train who will tell you about his pet hamster and how he needs some exercise for he fears that he is too unhealthy from living in a kitchen feeding off all the scraps. There are five levels and once he is fit and feeling good he will help you find those hint coins.

Another of these side quests involves a broken camera you receive. Again you will find pieces after solving puzzles and then you have to put all the pieces together to fix the camera. Once the camera is fixed more puzzles will be available to you.

The last side quest is played by mixing herbs together to make tea for the towns people. This side quest was the least fun. The towns people randomly appear to be sweating, indicating that they need tea. But if you serve them the wrong tea they don't seem to want another cup until some random time later. It's a bit frustrating to serve them the wrong tea just to go back later and find out you still don't have it right.

Other than the extensive amount of puzzles there is a story that ties them together nicely. Some puzzles are even tied into the story, so not to make them just a random element. The story to Diabolical Box was nice and full of mystery. You discover a little more and more of the giant puzzle as you move along like any good story, too bad you don't have to figure this one out on your own. It is all revealed through cutscenes, sometimes being backed up with a puzzle.

The cutscenes are nice with three different kinds that move the story along. The best is the actual moving pictures with voice acting. The style, even though not realistic is quite nicely drawn. The other two types is a still frame of the two characters currently talking with subtitles. Some of them are voice acted while others are not. It leaves you wondering why all aren't voice acted.

This game has a good replay value. Even after the story is finished there might still be puzzles to be solved since you don't need to solve them all to finish the story mode. There are also more puzzles to be downloaded through wi-fi just like the first. With so many puzzles and a cute artistic style this is truely one game on the DS to not pass up. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.