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Reviews Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented Reviews for Playstation 2
User ReviewsFatal Frame 3 is definitely one of the best survival horror games I've ever played. Survival Horror games rank amongst my favorite games of all time. The Fatal Frame series has always made exceptional entries into this genre with their focus on pure horror over a run and gun mentality that has pervaded the Resident Evil series without giving you leaving you totally helpless as games like Clock Tower will do. After the compelling Fatal Frame 2, I was left wondering how they would top that entry. This game is how. As opposed to being a story about some global conspiracy, Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented instead follows three protagonists who are suffering from some severe losses in their lives. Rei has lost her boyfriend Yu in a tragic car accident, Miku lost her brother back in the original Fatal Frame and Kei's niece Mio, who was the main character in Fatal Frame 2, has slowly been slipping away from him. All three of them are suffering due to the loss of their loved ones and this weakness leaves them open to the horrible influence of a place known as the Manor of Sleep. This horrible place draws the souls of those who are suffering from feelings of regret and loss due to the passing of a loved one. Rei and the others are going to have to solve the mystery of this manor to survive it and the mysterious blue tattooed priestess who walks its halls.. The Camera Obscura is a mainstay of the Fatal Frame series and this game is no change. This special camera can take pictures of ghosts and damage them as it attempts to exorcise them. The major difference between this game and the past two, is that you will control three different characters, each using a different camera. So Miku, who has very strong psychic abilities, will use the Camera very well and has special powers that nobody else has, while Kei has very weak psychic powers and relies heavily upon the special lenses you can get for your camera to do any appreciable damage to ghosts. In addition, each character has a special ability of their own that unlocks with time. Mastery of these abilities, with the various camera upgrades are going to be your only chance of surviving this game. Survival is a serious matter in this game, as Fatal Frame 3 is one of the harder survival horror games I have played in some time. The ghosts are incredibly relentless as well as numerous. Whereas in Fatal Frame 2, the ghosts were, for the most part, fairly upfront and easy to target. That is not the case in this game. The ghosts are incredibly mobile, teleporting around you and moving through walls to try and catch you unawares. Most of them are quite good and at it, and while there are less random ghost fights, the ones that are there are more than enough to make this game quite hard. The major change that has taken place in this game from the previous two entries is the way that you enter the Manor of Sleep. Rather than being trapped in a strange building, or village, you enter the Manor whenever Rei goes to sleep. This means that you will actually get to control Rei, who is the main protagonist, when she is walking around her home. Don't make the mistake of thinking that being around your house, you are safe from the ghosts. Early on in the game you will bring a ghost to your home by accident, leaving the door open for random appearances. These ghosts wont attack you, but they will scare you. Some have voiced that the ability to leave the Manor of Sleep and to retreat to the safe waking world was a weakness with this game. While it can be seen as a retreat of sorts, it is also somewhat necessary. Due to the way the game is set up, you no longer have an infinite amount of the weakest film. Every time you go to sleep, you get a fair amount of the weaker two film types and three healing items meaning you can retreat to the real world to restock when needed. Depending on how good you are at the game you may need to do this often and it's a nice way of giving the newer players a fighting chance. This game controls much the same as the previous entries in the series, although control seems to have been tightened up as the characters are far more responsive. The Camera controls, arguably the most important part of the game, are quite smooth although they take some getting used to for a newbie to the series. The game makes use of practically every button on the controller for one reason or another and you will really need to learn how to control this. The major improvements to the game have been in the graphics department, Fatal Frame 3 looks incredible. I would even go so far to say that the game rivals the graphics of the PS2 version of Resident Evil 4. The cutscenes all look fabulous and the animation is really quite smooth. All in all I found them to be quite appealing or horrifying depending on the content. Sound has always been something of an embarrassing factor in the Fatal Frame games. The voices always sounded incredibly stiff and unconvincing, even in the cutscenes. While The Tormented doesn't remedy the problem entirely, the cutscenes are at least voice acted far more convincingly. This is especially good, since this story is actually emotionally gripping. While the endings in both Fatal Frame 1 and 2 were sad, the ending for this one made my girlfriend start crying. Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented is a great game and, while not as visceral and combative as Resident Evil 4, it still manages to give you a number of great scares. Top that off with a very sad and emotionally involving story and this is one of the better games to be released in years. I can heartily recommend this game to anyone looking for a good survival horror game or even just a great game experience. The gameplay is just as good as the last one, if not more refined. Throw in two playable characters and it's even better. Not as visually stunning as Resident Evil 4 but it definitely looks good. The voice acting has improved a bit since the last game. In addition the music and sound effects are as good as ever. Take a variety of difficulty levels, numerous unlockables and a thorough mission mode and you have lots of replay. While the game is hard to get your hands on it is more than worth it. Reviewed by: misfit119 | Views: 21  Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented Playstation 2 Items
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