Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

 PlayStation 2
  • Publisher: Tecmo
  • Release Date: Dec 10, 2003
User Score
8.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 186 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 162 out of 186
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 186
  3. Negative: 7 out of 186
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  1. MattS.
    Dec 12, 2003
    5
    People, let's be reasonable, this area is to rate games, not to give it a 10 when you haven't played it and say " I can't wait to play it, it looks great!". This is not a message board, so unless you can say something helpful, please post your messages elsewhere
  2. LopsterPopster
    Apr 1, 2012
    5
    The atmosphere is definitely creepy, but this just wasn't my cup of tea. I like to fight monsters, not take a picture of them to "fight" them. Granted the ghosts were pretty terrifying-looking, I was never scared. I just didn't find the game fun at all.
  3. PatA.
    May 5, 2004
    5
    Where is the scary parts? i was expecting what i was told was going to be the scariest game ever played, too short and not as scary as silent hill. What about it was so scary to you people?
  4. llamayarmybar
    Jul 21, 2011
    7
    Controlling you're character and getting that camera to work just how you want it are in fact more nightmarish than the game itself. Yes it is plagued by Resident Evil syndrome wherein you have predesignated camera angles in rooms that add frustration to the clunky movement of you're character. Thank god the game is incredibly easy and I mean its really just running around-bump intoControlling you're character and getting that camera to work just how you want it are in fact more nightmarish than the game itself. Yes it is plagued by Resident Evil syndrome wherein you have predesignated camera angles in rooms that add frustration to the clunky movement of you're character. Thank god the game is incredibly easy and I mean its really just running around-bump into ghost (or wall)-simple attack pattern-click-flash-fatal frame-dead-dead ghost. Thats the game outside of some pretty average puzzles and tracking down keys along finding some cryptic clues have yet to explain many things in full about the ultimate plot. I'm guessing thats not the focus here though. The camera is an excellent concept, the upgrading is cool and customization is fantastic. It is however, overpowered and dispatches those pesky ghosts pretty quickly especially when you find the more powerful film soon after the beginning. The unsettling details of terrible deaths and even "replayed" said terrible deaths are more intense then the combat alone though. You will quickly start asking yourself: "why are the rooms up until the ghosts creepier than my fights with ghosts?" Its also not very scary, but the atmosphere is quite good and enjoyable if you like that sort of theme in you're horror genre. Another thing that I found odd was- exactly how are you killed by a ghost? I mean when a ghost touches my ankle how exactly do I take damage from that? When a ghost gives me a hug- how exactly did that detract from my health? It also doesn't establish why some ghosts are just neutral. Like the many apparitions you take snapshots of or clues that require you to "exercise" a ghostly spirit for some reason they aren't harmful? Oh, but restless ghostly spirits are though! Right. It kind of just makes up these pre-established rules, but its not a huge deal. Its still great if you enjoy this series. It does a lot of things right and its fun too. The village is quite linear though and the game is a bit on the short side although over-all its a great experience.… Expand
  5. DemonicRobots
    Oct 19, 2021
    7
    Wow. This game. Fatal Frame 2 was a great sequel in almost all aspects. The story was infinitely better and created a real depth that the first one desperately needed. The graphics were improved and the location offered a lot of variances as it was an entire village rather than one mansion, so you had more indoor and outdoor locations and not nearly as much backtracking. The ghost designWow. This game. Fatal Frame 2 was a great sequel in almost all aspects. The story was infinitely better and created a real depth that the first one desperately needed. The graphics were improved and the location offered a lot of variances as it was an entire village rather than one mansion, so you had more indoor and outdoor locations and not nearly as much backtracking. The ghost design was more haunting, and having other characters/survivors around created a lot more tension. The bond between the two main characters was great and really connected them to the story and what happened before you arrived rather than seeing the aftermath through a window. But my god, the gameplay. The gameplay was absolutely horrendous. In the first game, you would aim your camera at ghosts and the longer you stared at them, the more damage you did. There were also 'fatal frame' moves that acted like a parry, and if you shot your camera right as you were about to be hit you got essentially a critical hit. They COMPLETELY changed it in Fatal Frame 2, and severely downgraded it. The combat was now trying to be more complicated and totally failed, as now it was based more on the range. No matter how long you had your camera on an enemy, you had to get close to them. The problem was that unless you got a Fatal Frame shot, you simply didn't do damage. Even strong film against the weakest enemies didn't do much, and really made you want to just run past as many enemies as possible out of annoyance rather than fear or lack of resources. It is such a shame because really, this is a great game in every other way but the core gameplay is so bad that it doesn't make me want to return back to it. Great story, great graphics, horrendous gameplay. If this game had the same gameplay and camera mechanics as the first game, it would probably be one of my favorite games of all time and would bump it up to an eight or nine, maybe even a ten.… Expand
  6. MaikaoX.
    Feb 17, 2004
    5
    It was alright. Not much different from the first. I was expecting more from this one, so a little disappointed.
  7. frederik1478
    Mar 20, 2020
    6
    A really fun horror game can't be spooky sometimes it's good that you have your ghost camera , Just a really good game in general
  8. BeeSting1
    Jan 1, 2021
    7
    Creepy, but can feel like a fetch quest.

    Good - more save points - the story is again fed in nice little bits, hinting and adding to the mysterious plot - the controls feel much smoother. Flat land to staircase transition feels fluent. The camera angle transitions are better - the hand on the shoulder scary part. - using sister as bait, then getting zero shot. Gameplay    Creepy, but can feel like a fetch quest.

    Good

    - more save points

    - the story is again fed in nice little bits, hinting and adding to the mysterious plot

    - the controls feel much smoother. Flat land to staircase transition feels fluent. The camera angle transitions are better

    - the hand on the shoulder scary part.

    - using sister as bait, then getting zero shot. Gameplay strategy. Having twin around and her having unlimited health is helpful.

    - character size 2 environments ratio is very imbalanced. This isn't a bad thing. The character is just really small, which gives me a lot of space to run from ghosts, which makes the battles very easy. Most of the ghosts were quite slow, and took a long time to reach me. It was still challenging to get zero shots, but never did I fear the risk of dying.

    - the images for each area in the map help a lot

    - glad I got to use the abilities this time around. First fatal frame didn't offer enough points for me to try much of them out, plus the limitation of the spirit orbs. I like FF2's ability design much more.

    - hearing voices of the dead through the radio added to the creepiness

    - enemies start picking up difficulty in chap 5

    - those sequences with the red butterflies on the backdrop of grainy black and white film style was Aerie

    - the children ghost fight was creepy, gave me goosebumps.

    - when I put the camera on mayu when she was trapped in the cell and it showed a circle over her, that was an indirect confirmation that she was a ghost. This was a clever way of telling the player

    - random objects move when navigating some areas, giving me a mini jump scare. Like doll falling off shelf after finding doll design plan

    - limiting stone mirror is a good idea

    - a lot of scary ghosts, like jumping woman, the ring, children. The lights out fights against the twins was scary too.

    - ending was sad.

    Bad

    - there's a lot of health items. Maybe too much.

    - majority of the ghosts are too passive. 90% of the fight I'm just standing in front of the ghost and waiting for zero shot. Maybe only had to move a few times. There was no risk of dying which took away a lot of the tension. Even if a battle were to go south I'd have more than enough healing items, to live ten times over. Sometimes the ghosts attack animation we're 10 times slower and their movements, which gave me ridiculous amount of time to just run out of the way. All of this made me feel like I was just running from 1 location to the next going through the plot, rather than being scared for of the next encounter. The survival horror element in fatal frame 2 is definitely weaker than fatal frame 1.

    - I do miss the character accumulation when targeting a ghost in ff1 which they took out on ff2

    - sequencing issue: after sister gets trapped I was told to go to Osaka house, but I searched the place top to bottom and found nothing. Turns out I had to talk to the white hair boy first before the pinwheel puzzle was triggered. This made no sense, since the protagonist already knows to go to the Osaka house and did examine the altar

    - although the twin ghosts were creepy to fight, they also felt a little unfair, since there was no way to discern which twin was the one that could take damage and which one couldn't. This made each fight a 50-50 chance of getting it right. They should have given even just a tiny indication which was the real twin

    - still no film swapping shortcut - chasing red kimono girl was too long. It transitioned from being scary to being annoying. - Some of the houses felt like a maze. So many rooms and hallways. It didn't help that they almost all look identical. It became hard to remember where certain things were, meaning I had to constantly bring up the map from the menu, which was annoying. A mini map in the corner would have helped a lot.    … Expand
  9. The_D4RknesS
    Apr 27, 2023
    7
    it has beautiful graphics and is very scary, To be worth 10, it only lacked a camera in 3rd or first person because the one in the game is horrible
    (It only stays in first when using the camera )

Awards & Rankings

50
#50 Best PS2 Game of 2003
22
#22 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2003
16
#16 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2003

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 40
  3. Negative: 0 out of 40
  1. games(TM)
    60
    Exploring the lost village is a terrifying experience that's enhanced by a greatly improved graphics engine and a well-structured soundtrack. Tecmo's latest effort may be flawed and far from innovative, but it's still an enjoyably scary experience. [Feb 2004, p.114]
  2. PSX Nation
    90
    Warning though, this one's not for kids (unless you don't mind them staying up all night, too scared to go to sleep).
    Read full review
  3. Times Online
    80
    There’s not much innovation here — the gameplay is far too linear and there is too much emphasis on key searching to trigger the next cut scene — but for atmosphere alone it is hard to beat.
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