All right folks, I’m about to reveal one of my guilty pleasures.  I like ghost shows.  You know those shows on the Discovery Channel where investigators or ‘ghost hunters’ will explore haunted places to try and find proof of ghosts?  Yeah I know those shows are dumb and probably are over exaggerated and maybe even faked at times.  But I still like ‘em anyway!  I just think ghosts are cool.  But there’s not a whole lot of horror themed video games where you fight ghosts.  It’s usually zombies or something else.  But even though I usually like happy, colorful, kid friendly games, I do have a passing interest in the Fatal Frame series, where you use a special camera to fight ghosts by taking pictures of them.  This series of games goes all the way back to the PS2 and I’ve played pretty much all of them.  The latest one, Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, just came out and it’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

In Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, five girls were raised on an island, but now four of the five ladies has either gone missing or passed away mysteriously.  As the last member of the group, you must go to the island and find out why this is happening.  You have no memory of being on this island as a child, but the island is home to many mysterious rituals involving masks and the moon.  And lots of mass deaths, too.  Shortly after arriving, you find a special camera you can use to take pictures of attacking ghosts to fend them off.  Now you must explore spooky locations, defeat the ghosts, and solve the mystery!

In the missions, when you come across a ghost, you can pull out your camera and take pictures of it, which will damage it.  If you can shoot multiple ghosts in one shot, or take a picture of one right before it attacks, you’ll do extra damage.  You can equip different kinds of film and lenses for various effects.  Explore the locations to find hidden healing items and film, as well as notes to enhance the story.  Sometimes you must use your camera in other ways besides fighting ghosts.  You might need to take a picture of something to uncover it, or find a certain area to take a picture of, which will reveal the way elsewhere.

Unfortunately I’d have to say this is one of the weaker entries in the series.  As in the other games, your character moves WAY too slow.  There is a ‘run’ button, but it just looks like your character just picks up her feet a little higher, but doesn’t move much faster.  It’s like these ghost hunters took some valium before going out.  It doesn’t help that the ghosts can zip around and attack before you can even react, making this one of the hardest games in the series.  Because of that, I couldn’t get very far.  I do like that there are lanterns in the middle of missions where you can save, though.  Because these games are steeped in Japanese folklore, the themes may not feel as scary to Western gamers.  I’d say just stick with the previous game in the series: Maiden of Black Water.  It’s practically the same kind of game, just more playable.

Kid Factor:

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood and Gore, Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, and Mild Language.  I’m surprised this one got away with the T rating since most of the other ones were rated M.  The story and ghosts are still bloody and gory and can latch onto you to drain your energy.  Some of the female characters wear slightly impractical clothes for ghost hunting, but this is Tecmo, makers of the Dead or Alive series, so there you go.  I didn’t notice too much bad language, though.  Because of the subject matter and high difficulty, I’d say this is still best for older gamers only.

Tags: Game Reviews