Before Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Director’s Cut there was little representation of the survival horror genre on the Xbox. This new entry into the genre, however, is definitely a welcomed one and will bring chills to anyone who plays it. You may remember the original Fatal Frame on Xbox or even PlayStation 2; like those previous versions, you are in a game heavy with dark, brooding atmosphere, with a lot of traditional Japanese style. Your only weapon is a camera that will capture the souls of spirits and send them packing. The story follows the horrifying journey of Mio and her twin sister, Mayu, as a lost village and a strange, symbolic crimson butterfly lead them on a strange and frightful journey that will leave you trembling for more.

Gameplay

The game starts you off in a forest with the two sisters Mio and Mayu Amakura. Mysterious crimson butterflies lead you to an abandoned Japanese village. You see ancient rituals going on at first, but then they suddenly disappear. You go inside a building in the village and then the “creepy” factor gets kicked up a notch. You see ghosts staring out you down the hall in the corner of your eye, and then they disappear. They might also walk by as if they are fetching something in the other room. Regardless of what they may be doing, it's guaranteed to scare the crap out of you. As you go through the game, you see flashbacks from the girls of what happened to the village, effectively shedding light onto what happened. The majority of the game has you take on the role of Mio, but it isn’t really a downfall since the two characters are joined at the hip (not literally) for most of the game.

Not too long after you find the village and go into a building, you pick up the camera that makes ghosts disappear when you take a picture of them. The camera can also help you find your way through the town, unlocking doors held by spirit blocks. You have the option of saving every single picture you take so that you can look at it later if you feel like it. To get into the camera mode you press B, and then line up the aim circle with whatever you want to take a picture of. The circle helps you out a lot- if it is green there is something to capture in the area, if its locked on red you have a sure shot of a spirit coming towards you. The first few spirits are fairly easy to capture as they don’t move around a lot and remain visible at all times. When you finally come to a spirit that isn't just messing around, it's actually exciting to try and destroy them with the camera. They disappear in and out as they come towards you, and you must time it just right before they grab you and take their picture. It is even more heart pounding thanks to the chaotic sounds the ghost makes, along with the static of the camera. The camera itself is more complex then you would have originally believed. There are three different grades of film to choose from, each with different levels of power. To put it in ammunition terminology, the low-grade film that comes with the camera is pistol bullets, the mid-grade is shotgun shells, and the high-grade is rocket launcher ammo. The camera can even be leveled-up, RPG style. To do this, you have to get a new upgrade for it, and enough spirit points for that upgrade. To get spirit points, you have to capture spirits with your camera.

The photography can get boring and lack challenge, especially when there are so many generic ghosts in comparison to ones of any significant importance. The more important ghosts seem to move quicker and give you a better fight in the end. Still, you'll probably never come to a spot in the game where you're completely in danger of dying, since you'll always have plentiful amounts of low-grade film and healing items. It is made especially easier once you get more upgrades to your camera and the ghosts seem to stay at the same experience level.