• Publisher: Tecmo
  • Release Date: Mar 4, 2002
Fatal Frame Image
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 131 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • 10
  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0
  • Summary: Immerse yourself in a world full of supernatural spirits and sheer terror. Guided by her sixth sense and armed only with an antique camera, Miku sets to solve the mystery of her brother's sudden disappearance. He was a journalist on a quest to gather research about the mansion's hauntedImmerse yourself in a world full of supernatural spirits and sheer terror. Guided by her sixth sense and armed only with an antique camera, Miku sets to solve the mystery of her brother's sudden disappearance. He was a journalist on a quest to gather research about the mansion's haunted history. As the story unfolds, Miku discovers gruesome details about the Himura mansion's troubled past. The property and surroundng area have a dark history involving grisly murders, and evil cult and restless spirits. [Tecmo] Expand
Buy Now
Buy on

Trailer

Play Sound
Please enter your birth date to watch this video:
You are not allowed to view this material at this time.
Fatal Frame Trailer 1
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 22
  2. Negative: 1 out of 22
  1. I am happy to report that after many hours of lost sleep, hearing things that weren’t really there, and near fatal heart attacks it definitely is not only the most terrifying game experience I have ever had, but one of the more solid ones I have had as well.
  2. If you're one of those gamers with a predilection for The Creeps - you know who you are - Fatal Frame is simply a must-see.
  3. Fatal Frame is damn scary. For the first time ever, I not only had to play a game with the lights on, but I had to throw in another game afterward playing this to kill the mood of it all.
  4. 79
    Quite an inventive piece of survival horror, managing to keep the fright up and the frustration down with a few smart design decisions and an abundance of creepy style.
  5. Electronic Gaming Monthly
    72
    The enemies are tougher and more frequent in the brutal second half, but I still enjoyed every thrilling moment. [May 2002, p.106]
  6. Miku might be doing the same thing over and over through four chapters (divided in the game as 'Night 1-4'), but the tension and atmosphere of dread that this game continually builds is about on par with that of an interactive version of "The Sixth Sense".
  7. With gameplay as shallow as this, you’d expect it all to work smoothly. Unfortunately, it doesn't.

See all 22 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 30
  2. Negative: 2 out of 30
  1. EmilyB.
    Nov 20, 2003
    10
    Loved it.
  2. FonstleL.
    Mar 15, 2004
    10
    This is extremely scary man.
  3. CloudStrife
    Apr 10, 2005
    10
    One of the best Horror Games, or the best? Anyway it is VERY Scary even if you play it at daylight! i tried to play it once with headphones One of the best Horror Games, or the best? Anyway it is VERY Scary even if you play it at daylight! i tried to play it once with headphones and i almost pee on me!! Expand
  4. JIFAN
    Nov 13, 2003
    9
    This is the scariest game I've ever played, indeed, I have not finished it yet, too scary.......... ha
  5. Jan 1, 2021
    8
    Like a good Japanese horror film.

    Good - using the camera as basically a gun taking down spirits is an interesting take. The only other
    Like a good Japanese horror film.

    Good

    - using the camera as basically a gun taking down spirits is an interesting take. The only other game that I experienced this was outlast, which obviously came out much later. So much respect to fatal frame as far as I know, being the first for integrating a camera so heavily into the gameplay.

    - the game faithfully recreates the terror I feel when watching an Asian horror, more specifically a Japanese horror film. It has the long haired young female spirits that haunts. As well as the jump-scares, and the creepy camera angles where you see the ghost suddenly appear behind the protagonist.

    - the music and the sound in the background is eerie. There is moaning, deep whispering, and just all sorts of terrifying ambient sounds. But at the same time, it's not too overwhelming where it would become annoying. It had the perfect balance, which heightened the tension.

    - I like being able to follow the story of the previous group of people that visited this mansion through notebooks crafts and tapes. The information is given bit by bit which I'm covers their story at a good pace.

    - the voices in the tapes were bad quality, which contributed to the atmosphere perfectly

    - enemies move an unpredictable ways making the combats a bit challenging. But most importantly it's maintains a level of adrenaline. Ghosts can disappear in front of you and reappear behind you, so I had to keep moving around. Being immobile while zoomed in with the camera also added to the tension, forcing me to juggle how much damage I want to inflict versus keeping a safe distance. The game forced me to find that balance between aggressiveness and defense.

    - it's interesting being able to use the camera and find points of interests like ghosts and hidden things. Kind of like a dowsing tool, it was fun to uncover secrets like these using the light.

    - the hovering head ghost was probably the scariest one, since it was small and it could go between floors and through walls straight at me. Plus a travelled fast. And when I zoomed in with the camera, I saw the face directly.

    - upgrades were pretty cool. Once my camera started to get a lot of upgrades, I felt like I could take on more powerful ghosts which made the game play more fun.

    - sometimes the difficulty comes from limited space.

    - the game uses very scary sounds, and unique sounds. Such as tightening of a rope which fits with the story.

    - The lighting was balanced perfectly. It was just dark enough that I could see what I needed, most of the time. This maintained a perpetual tension every where I went.

    Bad

    - the constant camera angle changes can be disorientating

    - despite there being so many control configuration options, there isn't a single one that allows me to use the left control stick to move, and the right control stick to aim. I would have preferred that because every single shooter out there does it like that, but for fatal frame it's backwards, which feels very awkward.

    - some parts of the game has me back tracking to places without hints. At times I'd just be wandering around old areas to try and find a cutscene trigger or an old item I can now scan with camera

    - sometimes the ghosts well teleport right behind you and you'll have zero reaction time to run. sometimes they'll even come straight through a wall right beside you, again giving you no time to react. Some ghosts will even stunlock you, in a very unfair way.

    - the fix camera angle works against the first person shooting sequences. Because every time there's a camera change the direction controls change as well, which highly affects the fights, since positioning is so important.

    - there are too many camera angle changes. Many times I feel like I'm being challenged not because of the difficulty the ghosts have, but rather my struggle with the constant change of directional inputs. Sometimes I be running away from the ghosts, but the camera suddenly changes, and I end up running into a wall and the ghost gets me.

    - some ghosts shorts a bit unfair to fight. Like the blind ghost, at times I just be walking very slowly far away from her, but she's still dash straight towards me, despite her not hearing anything. And then there's another ghost that randomly teleports right behind me and attacks me, allowing me no chance to react I do anything. Healing items we're kind of scarce, and I'd usually just have enough to survive. So these unfair encounters we're a little annoying.

    - there needs to be a shortcut for changing films. Very inconvenient to have to go into menu every time.

    - the voice actors of the main characters aren't that great
    Expand
  6. Sep 26, 2013
    8
    I got this game on day 1. It was scary, deeply atmospheric and some fantastic visuals. Not to mention the ghost hunting with a camera was aI got this game on day 1. It was scary, deeply atmospheric and some fantastic visuals. Not to mention the ghost hunting with a camera was a great, and unique way of combat that really felt refreshingly different.

    Controls are a little clunky and slow at times and the story a little hard to follow at times, however the deeper into the game you get the clearer things get and the easier they become.

    Overall:
    A spooky and deeply atmospheric game that really does something different to the survival horror genre.
    Expand
  7. Apr 6, 2018
    2
    O delay dos disparos da câmera de Miku são terríveis, a ponto de acabar com a graça do jogo. Se tivesse começado a jogar a série pelo primeiroO delay dos disparos da câmera de Miku são terríveis, a ponto de acabar com a graça do jogo. Se tivesse começado a jogar a série pelo primeiro jogo provavelmente não jogaria os demais. Expand

See all 30 User Reviews

Trailers

Awards & Rankings

86
27
#27 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2002
92
#92 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2002