The fourth in the Fatal Frame series is the first on a Nintendo console, and it's great to see Nintendo supporting a mature third-party title by taking on the role of publisher. And with No More Heroes' Suda 51 assisting on directorial duties, Tecmo's survival horror has an impressive heritage.
It's fair to say that Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse doesn't deviate too far from the Fatal Frame template, which generally involves young waif-like girls wandering around a haunted house, encountering ghosts which they must destroy using a special camera. The Camera Obscura carries a special kind of film which harms the spirits if you get a decent shot of them. The longer you wait, and the closer they get, the more damage you'll do. It's a genius mechanic that makes an already spooky game even scarier, as you wait until these ghosts lunge at you, eyes wide, mouths agape and arms outstretched. This isn't your average family-friendly Wii game.
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Fright Club The story follows three 17-year-old girls as they return to a mysterious house where they were kidnapped ten years before. With two of the girls having recently died in strange circumstances, the remaining three all visit the place of their abduction in an attempt to find out the reason why they were taken. The mother of one of the girls, Ruka, implores the detective who saved them ten years ago to follow them to the island. Turns out this was a wise move, as some very bad things are happening in the house.
When we heard that Fatal Frame was coming to the Wii, we were excited about the pointer being used to control your torch. But that's not quite how things have turned out. Instead, you use the Remote's tilt function to manoeuvre the beam. Though this initially seems disappointing, after a few hours with the game, it makes perfect sense. The light would be wobbling all over the place if Tecmo had used IR control, and the relatively slow movement suits the game's funereal pace.
Similarly, the Camera Obscura would be too easy to use if you simply had to point and shoot. Using the Nunchuk analogue to move left and right and the Remote to move up and down might feel clumsy, but that's clearly a deliberate design decision to increase the tension. As you wander through the dimly-lit mansion, you'll often see ghosts appear suddenly. These won't harm you, but you have a limited window of opportunity to capture them on film. As the points you get for your pictures (both of the ghosts which threaten you and the non-deadly variety) allow you to upgrade your camera - making reload time quicker, and attacks more powerful - then it pays to get as many of these as you can. If you snap a ghoul when you're close to being throttled by them, you'll get substantially more points than if you're timidly shooting from a distance.
Shutter Speed We've played about three hours' worth so far, taking control of the three girls and detective Choushiro (who doesn't have the camera but an incredibly cool torch which does the same job). Already it's scared the bejeezus out of us several times, partly thanks to a clever new idea which sees you slowly reaching for items and occasionally being grabbed by a spooky hand when you touch something you shouldn't. Add some terrific Wii graphics - making it easily the best-looking in the series to date - and some eerie noises coming from the Remote speaker when you kill a ghost or answer a ringing phone, and you've got a game which will have you sleeping with the lights on. Sweet dreams...
