I only knew about Fatal Frame from videos of people freaking out at it online, but that’s about it. I had no context to what the story was about or anything. Just some dudes on webcam, losing their shit. I don’t really like horror games, but it’s fun to watch people be scared at them. One afternoon, I turned on my PS3 and went to the Playstation Store to see what was there.

They were selling the original Fatal Frame as a Playstation Classics thing. I became curious, not only because I was familiar with it, but because I’ve been looking for games to play with my girlfriend, and what’s a better game to experience with a significant other than a horror game?

(...probably Rayman: Origins, but we already played it.)

Anyway, we're about an hour into the game, right around where you find diaries about a girl in a white kimono. And although we're pretty early in the game (at least I’m assuming that we are), I have a few thoughts on it so far.

One thing that I didn't expect going in, but totally should have expected, was the god awful voice acting. I mean, just listen to these these audio logs. It’s basically on the same level as Bioshock Infinite. Not really. It’s pretty bad, laughably so, and you can say the same things about some of the writing in the game, too.

But the thing is, at it’s core, the game is fucking terrifying. The best moments in Fatal Frame come from the build up of the music when you’re about to run into a ghost. And when you do, fighting them is a horrific experience, mostly because you always think that L1 is going to bring up the camera view, similar to how a first person shooter would control. But no, that’s mapped to the circle button, and by the time I remember that, the ghost has only gotten closer to me.

In the camera mode, you’re basically shooting the ghost to make them go away. They lunge at you out of nowhere while you’re trying to do that, which is the scariest part of the whole game. But the satisfaction you get when you finally defeat a ghost is remarkable. It makes the stressful process of fighting it totally worthwhile. I’m pretty sure I exclaimed “Yes!” in every instance that I defeated one.

Now I know why people play horror games.

Fatal Frame is great so far. Yes, the controls are clunky, and yes, the voice acting is really bad. But not only does the game do everything else right, but to me, these faults add to the charm of the game. The bad voice acting is comic relief and the clunky controls successfully adds tension to the game. If the game had “modern” controls, I don’t think it would be nearly as frightening. I can’t wait to see what the game has in store from here.

Other Stuff

I've also been playing Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny lately on my Vita because it was free on Playstation Plus.

I did this one move and all this girl's clothes came off. Like I hit her and then poof! Vanished! The only things left on was her underwear.

I understand that fighting games typically sexualize characters literally all the time, and I'm talking about the same series where Ivy is a thing, and that I such be used to that by now.

But come on, this is just ridiculous.

...

The game’s really fun regardless, though. I like Soul Calibur so it’s nice to get a pretty good portable version of it.

That regular price for that game is forty dollars, though.

$40.

That’s insane.

----------------------------

I've also been playing Guacamelee! on my Vita as well. It’s really addicting and very fun to play. Totally recommend it for people who want a PSN game to play. Go read MooseyMcMan’s blog for the specifics on that, because he summed up my thoughts on it really well.

----------------------------

Anyway, that’s all from me for now.

My eyes are killing me, so I'm gonna go lay down.