I managed to snag a few minutes last night after all the big Brother birthday stuff was done (I did a little party at my house for him) and played a tiny bit of Fatal Frame. (A game about a girl who's brother vanishes in a haunted house in Japan and she goes in looking for him - armed against the ghosts that occupy it with only a camera that captures them) I'm only about two minutes past the intro, but so far I'm enjoying it. Some things, for those of you who are thinking about checking it out:


1: The controls aren't as bad as all the reviews I've read say they are. They, like every other game, take a few minutes to orient yourself to, but once you've got it down, you'll have no problem with it. My only complaint is that in the intro, once you go into camera mode you stay in camera mode, but once out of the intro you don't (You have to hold down the circle button to go into camera mode, and keep it held to stay that way). I'm not sure if I like this or don't, but it does take a few minutes to get the hang of popping in and out of camera mode, and holding buttons down while doing stuff in camera mode. No big deal though.


2. The characters do move a bit slow, (but then again so would I if I was in that situation) and when your characters run it's not much of an improvement over walking. Once you get going, you really don't notice it anymore.


3. The intro (and flashbacks) are grainy and dark and mostly in greyscale and dark colors. The actual game (so far) isn't nearly this bad, and you can actually see outside of the beam of your flashlight. On a survival horror scale, this one is lighter then Silent Hill but a bit darker then Resident Evil. Just so you know. The game also has a kewl feature that lets you move your flashlight without moving your person, it's great for checking out dark corners.


4. All the characters are on valium, so be forwarned - the voice acting is bad. (Like most other games) They all sound like they're floating on a cloud of drugs.


5. The ghosts are super cool. They've made them the way I think ghosts should be: see through people who fade in and out. They talk too, sometimes what is being said is hard to catch, so paying attention is probably a good thing.


6. Examine everything, even if you've examined it before, examine it again. Sometimes things because of the camera angles and lighting is hard to get at or see, don't let it get you down, there are things that you need to know hidden all over the place.


7. The background music/sound effects can make you a bit wary, especally when you're trying to learn the controls while slinking around the house getting your barings hoping no Ghosties pop out to get you. Don't let it get you hyperventilating. I've noticed in most games, plot points circulate around the sudden change of background music or noise. This one is kind of the same, but also has that fun little tweak of changing for absolutely no reason other then changing rooms. One thing I've noticed so far, ghosts don't really pop out with no warning at all, there is a heartbeat sound and/or a rumble from the vibration (if you're doing the whole controler that vibrates thing) when one is there or is going to show up. So you don't have to be worried about getting caught completely unaware. Unlike the sudden chanting that starts out of nowhere, that's just plain creepy. The game also is sweet enough to give you a quick tutorial the first time you encounter a ghost you have to catch so you can get a feel for the controls.


Anyway, that's my assesment so far. I'll post some more when I've got more time to play, which unfortunatly won't be till probably this evening for me. I've got a whole crudload of stuff to do today (including cleaning up dishes from last night, I'm so bad)and tomorrow, and it stinks because I really wanted to slack off and play. Oh well, maybe I'll con Kev into letting me hook it up at my house. Whee.