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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. * 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. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (2003) Fatal Frame 2 is the second game in the series. The game also 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. Twin sisters Mio Amakura and Mayu Amakura are visiting their 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. This village has a dark past of rituals where they take a set of twins and has one kill the other in order to appease the gate to hell it sits on. As they 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. As it turns out, Mayu, the more spiritually aware of the twins, becomes possessed by the vengeful spirit of last murdered shrine maiden, Sae, who tried and failed to escape with her twin sister and now seeks to complete the horrifying ritual through the twins. 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. 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. There was a short dispute about this game being a prequel set 30 years prior to the events in the original. Actually, the Amakura twins set 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 itself was stuck in time. So in reference, the game is both a prequel and a sequel. It goes back and tells about the bizarre rituals that took place in All God's Village, but the timeline the twins set foot in the village itself takes place after the first game. The link to the article of proof is right here. Alternative names: in Japan & Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly in Europe Fatal Frame III: The Tormented (2005) 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. Futher, a mysterious tattoo begins to appear on Rei's body. Accompanying Rei Kurosawa is Kei Amakura, a friend of her deceased fiance and nonfiction writer, as well as Miku Hinasaki, our heroine from Fatal Frame I, now Rei's assistant. Kei is also the uncle to Miyo and Mayu Amakura from Fatal Frame II. Fatal Frame III is very similar to Fatal Frame II, in which the player will control the character of either Rei, Miku or Kei and use the Camera Obscura to capture and hunt down the ghosts. Rei enters the so-called House of Sleep through dreaming. She sees a figure resembling her dead fiance and follows him into the house, where she encounters various ghosts and mysteries to be solved. After solving the mysteries and fulfilling the mission of each chapter, Rei will wake up in her house, and the blue tattoo will gradually cover more and more of her In some chapters, the player will play as Miku or Kei. They have different special abilities from Rei, 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 charm that decreases the speed of spirits when used. 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 sit to avoid being seen by some spirits. The central antagonist is a mutilated female ghost with a blue tattoo covering much of her body. She appears throughout the game, but cannot be confronted until the end of the game. 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. Mio from Fatal Frame II and Kei's niece also appears briefly at various points in the game. Moreover, the red flying butterflies also recur from the previous episode. 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. Alternative names: in Japan & Project Zero III: The Tormented in Europe Fatal Frame: The Movie (2006) 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 have tipped Courtney Webb to play the lead heroine, although she has recently changed talent agencies and has since been led away from the project. No other casting announcements have been made. 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. See also Official websites Fatal Frame Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Fatal Frame III: The Tormented Unofficial websites General information Reference | |||||||||
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