I know I've said this before, but I just prefer the atmosphere and look of the Fatal Frame series to both Resident Evil and Silent Hill. RE still has this cheesy veneer to it (although I can't wait for the online-enabled RE Outbreak.) And Silent Hill just gets too disgusting to stay scary. What the hell were those twitchy, pulpy things in SH3 anyway?
Fatal Frame 2 is just like the first... a slow spooky walk through abandoned Japanese villages. It's the pace that gets you; heroine Mio just doesn't have any hustle to her. And wouldn't you know it, this village is also guarding a gate to Hell! If anything, FF2 is too similar to FF. Both cast you as innocent waifs chasing a sibling through an ethereal spiral into the horrible past of ancient Japan, where children must be monstrously maimed and sacrificed to appease the demons of Hell. Despite how moody and involving the sequel is, it does feel like you've been through this already if you played the first Fatal Frame.
In a game like Ratchet & Clank 2, that feeling isn't as important. In Fatal Frame 2, where the storyline is so integral, it hurts it a little bit.
But I still love it; I'll still be playing it at 2am and happily freaking myself out. No game does scary audio like Fatal Frame. In fact, remember the exorcismally-sensitive camera of FF? FF2 adds in a radio. The radio replays spectral recordings of the spirits you meet. In true FF fashion, they are wonderfully frightening and haunting.
I was wondering what happened to Tecmo's other dark and gloomy game series, Deception. I adored all three PS1 games in the series and that franchise just seems long overdue.
