Ben-DutkaFatal Frame is now available in downloadable form on the PlayStation Network as a PS2 Classic, and that's an appropriate label.
Back when horror was indeed horror (before the necessity for action in all products prompted a genre shift), Fatal Frame was frightening, thrilling and unique. And to celebrate its return, the PlayStation Blog played host to reminiscence and various thoughts from series director Makoto Shibata.
It's definitely worth a read. It's interesting to learn that the title was initially given the "Project ZERO" code name when the PS2 development tools first came out. Shibata had already worked on the Deception games (those with a focus on setting traps and surviving), and he wanted to create a "new, yet complex game system" that would broaden the player experience. So while the PS2 gave them the chance to create better graphics, the team took a different approach by keeping everything simple. They wanted to "reach out to players and them to feel things they cannot actually see on screen."
See, that's the crux of true fear, which developers of "horror" games (and movies) don't seem to understand today. Added Shibata:
"In other words, my experience of seeing things that weren’t actually there — or noticing abnormal things around me — were some of the fear factors I thought would appeal to the emotional side of the player, if we were able to embed them on top of the adventure side of the gameplay."
The PS2 hardware let the team recreate some of the ways he had experienced seeing "things" in real life, and he also cited Silent Hill as an extra influence. For true horror aficionados, remembering those days must be bittersweet because horror did indeed feel like a separate, distinct genre. Now, we mostly just have scary third-person shooters.
…kinda depressing.
Related Game(s): Fatal Frame
Still debating getting this or not, since it's not an HD update I don't know what purpose I would have to play it on PS3.
I have all 3 Fatal Frame games and they are scarier than any horror movie I have seen.
Is the third game any good, I have the first two, but Project Zero 3: Torment (As it is called here in the UK) is such a rarity. So I have never played it.
Last edited by Vivi_Gamer on 5/2/2013 11:12:48 AM
Yea I'm definitely a fan of the "classic" horror games. The classic Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Fatal Frame games. However I think, out of three, Fatal Frame is less known by most people. Fatal Frame still holds its classic horror-feel throughout each sequel but it hasn't been releasing as much as Silent Hill or Resident Evil.
shame this is not a HD update.
oh well, hopefully this will sell well and maybe encourage a ps4 fatal frame sequel!
so happy to see the uprising of horror, from a dying almost dead genre to something that is starting to fight back.
so cant wait, especially ever since the evil within was announced its just made me so itchy to go play horror games again!
starting to get bored with SCP containment field, only so many times you can play a horror game before you start to get use to the scares and they loos their effectiveness.