Fatal Frame: Under the Moonlight with My Camera Gun

 Recently, I played through the first Fatal Frame game, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The game is written well and the atmosphere and gameplay segments are good most of the time, with only a minimal amount of annoyances in combat and enemy placement. There weren't many times where I had to look up a guide to figure out the next step. The design for the most part pushes the player in the proper directions. Now, I am going to be going into more detail on the game with light spoilers on the story.

In Fatal Frame, the game starts with Mafuyu arriving at the Himuro Mansion in order to look Junsei Takamine. A writer and folklorist who had gone missing along with his assistant, Tomoe Hirasaka, and editor, Koji Ogata. With Takamine wanting to do location research for his next book, the decision to come to the Himuro Mansion would prove fatal. But Mafuyu doesn't know that, He just becomes aware of the disappearance and decides to investigate. After Mafuyu himself goes missing, his sister, Miku decides to look for him.

This is our fearful protagonist, whom we stick with for the rest of the game. It is apparent from the outset that this mansion is not in a normal state. The place is falling apart, the air is chilling, and it is filled with vengeful spirits looking to kill you at every turn. So, how do we defend ourselves? We obviously use our trusty Camera Obscura. 

A camera that has the ability to not only capture phantoms on film, but harm them as well. The Camera Obscura might as well be a gun with different ammo types. I would refer to the different film rolls not by their proper name, but by common survival horror weapon names. The Type 14 would be handgun ammo and the Type 28 would be shotgun ammo and vice versa. It is easily translatable for others that play survival horror games. This might seem weird for non-horror game players but just trust me on this. 

The camera is also upgradeable in how much can be put into frame, how fast it takes to charge or focus a shot, and the overall power of your shots. There are extra abilities that can be unlocked, yet they are not necessary for a single playthrough on Normal. The most important part is exorcising the spirits in this game. By the end, I was just firing off shots to get normal ghosts out of the way and only saving Zero Shot timing, which is your critical hit, and stronger ammo types for boss fights. The timing for the Zero Shot can be scary for those that do not want to get in the face of these ghouls, but the score and damage is worth of it for the most part. However, you can get a low score on a Zero Shot sometimes which sucks but it happens. 

Enough about the camera. Our playable character, Miku, is fairly competent throughout the game. She can take some pretty heavy hits and doesn't really backdown from the eeriness at the Himuro Mansion. From being lead around by a mysterious child ghost in a white kimono as well as being stalked by the bloodied Rope Maiden throughout the main story, she keeps it held together for the most part. That is not to say that the events are not devastating to her or unaffecting, but her composure appears to be strong in the face of looming danger. 

That is also withholding the interactions with the spirts of Takamine and his crew that leave her shaken but not stirred. I would say that outside of the main plot, my favorite storyline involved the situation involving Takamine. Each character in this group is losing their mind as told through notes and interactions throughout the mansion. Their emotions feel real and they are heavily distressed. It doesn't strike me that these are video game characters. The situation is described in a tone that is reminiscent in many unexplainable tales from people with stories of the undead. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, the people that speak like they are, do so in a way where they don't understand what is happening until it's too late. 

This first act of the game is very strong and I enjoy it very much. You deal with Ogata, Hirasaka, and Takamine in specific areas and learn of their demise. It sets the game up well for the player as they move through the rest of the story. Yet, I can say that I am not a huge fan of the second part B-story that deals with another folklorist that happens to be connected to Miku and Mafuyu through their grandmother. This section is not explained very well and brings the quality of the writing down a bit. Messy and not really worth going through. 

The third act delves deep into the last Rope Maiden, Kirie, and what happened during the Calamity. The culmination is well worth it and the payoff is deserved. All of the bizarre happenings and heinous energy that emanates from the Himuro Mansion bursts out in the climax. I highly recommend if you are able, to play this game. The horror aspects are extremely strong and the combat is easily understandable and only takes a bit to get used to. 

The drawbacks aside from the second act of the game include some bizarre movement controls when using the camera that cannot be changed along with a pretty bad English dub. The script isn't bad, yet you can tell that the direction was hindering a good script for the most part. You had flat delivery from most of the men with the women carrying the game as per usual. I had no problem with Miku, yet Mafuyu was clearly phoning it in. A little tragic, but not so bad that the game becomes unserious. 

Other issues I had include score inconsistency, some photos not counting, or the photographable moments that you would have to know were happening in order to get them, and the enemy placement in certain sections being too frequent or unforgiving. It's hard having to do a duo boss fight and then another boss fight in the next room with minimal amounts of healing items. Those are the main issues that I think the game suffers from. Everything else is good or passable.

That's what I really want out of my horror games. Give me some interesting mechanics and storytelling. Having that is enough for me to want to come back. And Fatal Frame does just that. It's a game that I want to play again despite its flaws. A pleasant horror experience that is making me think about it after the fact. Staring up at the Moonlit sky with my camera gun.