Fatal Frame
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fatal Frame, known as Project Zero in Europe and Zero (零 Zero?, this is a pun; this kanji is normally read rei, which can also mean "ghost") in Japan, is a survival horror series, so far consisting of three games. The first and second games in the series were released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The third game is currently only available for the PlayStation 2. The series deals with exorcism, dark Shinto rituals, and above all, ghosts.
Created by Tecmo, Fatal Frame is one of the most well received survival horror games to date, largely due to the atmospheric music, dark and claustrophobic environments, emphasis on aesthetics and art design and the variety of spirits encountered during the course of the game. The main object of the game is to solve a mystery which is linked to old Japanese superstitions. The player's main enemies are ghosts; a few are friendly, but most are not. The only form of defense is a camera obscura, which allows the player to exorcise ghosts by taking a picture of them and thus, sealing their spirit in the film.
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[edit] Fatal Frame Series
The Fatal Frame series currently exists as a trilogy for the PlayStation 2, though a fourth game is expected on an unconfirmed date and on an as of yet unnamed console, according to Tecmo Games Producer Keisuke Kikuchi. [1]
[edit] Fatal Frame (2001)
After having received no news for over a week, Miku Hinasaki goes into the Himuro Mansion to look for her missing brother, Mafuyu Hinasaki. With a flashlight in hand, she ventures along the hallways and rooms of the mansion but finds no traces or clues of her brother save for her mother's old camera. Realizing later that she is now trapped within the mansion, Miku continues searching for her brother and clues for a way out. The game was later ported to the Xbox. The Xbox version included smoother graphics, & an exclusive Fatal Mode that must be unlocked by completing the main game.
[edit] Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (2003)
| Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Developer(s) | Tecmo |
| Publisher(s) | Tecmo |
| Designer(s) | Keisuke Kikuchi |
| Release date(s) | 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Media | DVD |
Fatal Frame 2 is the second game in the series. In this title, twin sisters Mio Amakura and Mayu Amakura are visiting a childhood play spot when Mayu, who walks with a perpetual limp after a childhood accident, follows a mysterious crimson butterfly deep into the woods. Mio, concerned for her twin, follows Mayu, and the two girls are led to a lost village. While curiously empty, the village appears to have been cursed by some past event. The curse appears to be related to a failed ritual of human sacrifice involving twins, where one twin sacrifices another.
As the Amakura twins investigate, they discover the Camera Obscura and are set upon by ghosts. Separated from her sister, Mio becomes determined to save Mayu and escape before they meet the same cursed fate as the village's former residents. Unfortunately, Mayu, the more spiritually aware of the twins, becomes possessed by the vengeful spirit of the last murdered shrine maiden, Sae, who tried and failed to escape with her twin sister and now seeks to complete the horrifying ritual through Mayu and Mio. The player plays as Mio, seeking to unravel the mystery of the cursed village and the ritual.
The game's aesthetic presentation was highly praised by both critics and fans alike. As the name would suggest, the dominant color for the game was a brilliant red, creating a very bold and striking contrast in comparison to much of the game's shadowed and nocturnal settings. The title was ranked #3 in X-Play's "Top Ten Scariest Games of All Time".
Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2003, a Director's Cut edition was later released for the Xbox in 2004. The director's cut added in several updates to the gameplay, such as a first-person play mode, a survival mode, a new ending, enhanced graphics, and a greater number of alternate costumes to unlock.
The game also had a Japanese theme song called Chou (Butterfly) by the Japanese artist Amano Tsukiko, said to be Sae's (and possibly Mayu's) point of view.
The game visits two minor characters that were in the first game, Ryozo and Yae Munakata. The main characters have visions of these two characters before their demise in Himuro Mansion. Upon the game's release, there was a dispute about this title being a prequel set 30 years prior to the events in the original. Actually, the Amakura twins stumble upon this village a year and a half after the events of the original Fatal Frame, essentially meaning that the game itself took place in 1988, but the village was stuck in time. In effect, the game is both a prequel and a sequel.
Alternate titles: Rei ~akai chō~ (零～紅い蝶～? lit. Zero ~crimson butterfly~) in Japan and Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly in Europe.
[edit] Fatal Frame III: The Tormented (2005)
| Fatal Frame III: The Tormented | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Tecmo |
| Publisher(s) | Tecmo |
| Designer(s) | Keisuke Kikuchi |
| Release date(s) | 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Media | DVD |
Fatal Frame III follows Rei Kurosawa, a 23 year old freelance photographer. While on a freelance assignment taking pictures of a supposedly haunted mansion, the image of her deceased fiance appears in the photographs. Afterwards, Rei begins having strange recurring dreams. In these dreams, she finds herself at an old Japanese manor house during a heavy snowfall and observes her fiance entering the house. Seeking to again see him, she follows his figure into the house, where the dream becomes a nightmare. Waking up gasping from a particularly frightening encounter, Rei notices a mysterious and threatening tattoo slowly appearing on parts of her body.
Accompanying Rei Kurosawa is Kei Amakura, a friend of her deceased fiance and non-fiction writer, as well as Miku Hinasaki, the heroine from Fatal Frame I, now Rei's assistant. Kei is the uncle to Mio and Mayu Amakura from Fatal Frame II, and Mio appears briefly at various points in the game. Moreover, the red flying butterflies also briefly recur from the previous episode.
Fatal Frame III is similar to Fatal Frame II, in that the player controls the character of either Rei, Miku or Kei, and uses the Camera Obscura to photograph and fight off ghosts. Unlike the previous title, the game is split into day and night sequences. During the day, Rei moves about her home, speaking with the other characters and developing photographs. At night, while sleeping, Rei enters the so-called "Manor of Sleep" in her dreams. Upon completing each chapter (or "hour"), Rei wakes up back in the "normal" world. However, as the game plot proceeds, the lines between the two worlds begin to blur for Rei. As a result, she starts to have visions of ghosts even when awake, and the mysterious tattoo grows to cover an ever-increasing percentage of her body.
In some chapters, the player plays as Miku or Kei. Each character has different special abilities, making each of their play styles unique. Rei is capable of using the camera's flash to scare off some spirits, but can only use it a limited number of times. Miku has a special "Sacred Stone" charm that decreases the speed of spirits when used. Additionally, using her "Double" ability, she can shoot twice in rapid succession with the camera after charging her first shot. Kei, with his greater physical strength, can perform actions such as moving a bookcase or jumping from the roof of one building to another. Moreover, he can crouch to avoid being seen by some spirits.
The central antagonist is a tattoed female ghost. As the apparent source of Rei's own tattoo, she appears throughout the game, but cannot be confronted until the end. Unlike the previous game, the dominant contrasting color throughout the game is a luminescent but somber blue, signifying and setting the tone for the theme of dreams and ethereal slumber.
This game also had a Japanese theme song named "Koe" (Voice) by the Japanese artist Amano Tsukiko, about a woman who goes insane after the death of her lover, even forgetting his voice.
Alternate titles: Rei ~shisei no koe~ (零～刺青の聲～ lit. Zero ~voice of the tattoo~?) in Japan, and Project Zero III: The Tormented in Europe.
[edit] Fatal Frame: The Movie (20??)
A movie was announced to be made by John Rogers of Dreamworks SKG in 2002. The movie has slated to start filming in 2006 in Japan and many fan sites tipped Courtney Webb to play the lead heroine, although she has recently changed talent agencies and has since been led away from the project, Courtney Webb's company said she officially was dropping her interest in pursuing the project[citation needed]. No other casting announcements have been made.
It apparently started in 2002, with a press release by Tecmo & Dreamworks, stating that Dreamworks had bought the rights to produce a movie based on the Fatal Frame gaming franchise. In 2003, news were leaked that the movie would be potentially 'fast tracked' with promises of actual production in 2004. However, no information of any kind were given at either E3 or TGS, considered the world's two largest game conventions.
Over the past few years, the Fatal Frame Movie has faded in and out of news. MoviesOnline was reporting tips that the movie may be out in November 2005 or 2006[citation needed], but history proved this information to have been erroneous.
[edit] Fatal Frame IV (20??)
| Fatal Frame PS3(working title) | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Tecmo |
| Publisher(s) | Tecmo |
| Designer(s) | Keisuke Kikuchi |
| Release date(s) | 20?? |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3 possible ports to Xbox 360 and Wii |
| Media | DVD, Blu-Ray |
IGN reports in a recent interview with Japanese website IT Games, producer Keisuke Kikuchi said that there would be twice as many game characters in the game world at the same time.[2]
[edit] Story background and history
Throughout the series, references are made to Kunihiko Asou, a fictitious Japanese "Occultist" that lived during the late nineteenth century. Using western technology, he developed inventions that would allow him and others to make contact with spirits in the "other world." His inventions include the camera obscura, the primary weapon used to defend against ghosts throughout the series, the spirit stone radio, introduced in Fatal Frame II as a means to listen to the thoughts and memories of spirits that had been stored in special crystals, and a projector capable of displaying ghostly images captured on film that motion picture cameras could not see. According to Fatal Frame III, Asou's various inventions were eventually scattered about Japan and are now heavily sought after by collectors. The camera obscura used by Miku in the first game had once belonged to her mother, and Mio finds a different camera obscura while exploring the lost village. It is likely that the broken camera obscura Rei finds (which was sent to her fiancé by Mio's uncle Kei) is the same camera that Mio used in the second game.
[edit] See also
- Camera Obscura
- Yūrei- Japanese Ghost
- Onryō- vengeful Japanese ghosts
[edit] External links
[edit] Official websites
Fatal Frame
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
Fatal Frame III: The Tormented
[edit] Unofficial websites
General information
Reference
- Beyond the Camera's Lens - A Fatal Frame fansite devoted to unraveling the fact and fiction within the Fatal Frame. It has up to date news on the game series and everything relating to it.
Reviews
- Interlaced - Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly review.
- Asplera Blog's Review - Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented review with screenshots.
- Gamer Within Project Zero 3: The Tormented (Fatal Frame) review.
- Game Review
Misc
- Fatal Frame: the Card Game (fourhman.com) - A free card game based on "Fatal Frame II."
