Fatal Frame 4 - The one that got away

Fatal Frame is often considered one of the best survival horror franchises of all time, mostly because it is one of the few that dared to stay true to its roots and not succumb to the practice of change for the sake of change. The first game began as a "based on true events" kind of thing that ended spawning its own story. The second one expanded the horror atmosphere with bigger places to explore and a deeper sense of horror and the third one had a story that connected the happenings of the first two games. After that, it was obvious to expect a fourth installment in the series and with the PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii already there, it was just a matter of how good it would be, either with advanced graphics (for the time) or with motion controls.

Two years after that generation was up and running, the game was made. it was Zero: Tsukihami No Kamen, Project Zero 4 in Europe or just Fatal Frame 4 (informal name in America). The game was developed by Tecmo LTD/Grasshopper Manufacture and Published by Nintendo and all seemed good and dandy except for the fact that the game never made it to our shores.

The art for this game was so hype inducing, but in the end we got nothing.

Why wasn't the game released in America?

There has never been a clear answer about the reasons why this game was only released on Japan and Europe. Most probably it was a weird business decision coming from Nintendo that even caused frustration on Tecmo because they did not expected "the big N" to do that. Curiously enough, the game became the best selling Fatal Frame in the franchise with 75,000 copies sold in Japan alone (I know this doesn't seem much, but for a genre that was starting to become niche, it is a good number).

What was the story of the game about?

The story on this Fatal Frame title is about a group of five girls that were kidnapped by a apparent serial killer called Yu Haibara. The girls were taken hostage in an abandoned sanatorium located in Rougetsu Island, located south of Honshu and went through an unexplained ordeal, but were rescued by a clever detective who had been following Haibara for some time. Even though all of the girls survived, they all lost their memories and could not remember anything about the time in which they were held hostage, so they just continued their lives as if nothing ever happened.

Ten years later, 2 of the girls die in mysterious circumstances and the three remaining ones (which are 17 years old by now) decide to go back to the island not only because they were afraid of ending up like the other two, but to find the truth by recovering their lost memories of the events that transpired on that island ten years ago.

Some would accuse this  "powerful flashlight" mechanic of making the game easier on purpose.

Is the game play identical to the other titles?

Yes and no. The original survival horror atmosphere is there, but some reviewers have stated that the development of the story and game lore was a little slower, taking the player a longer time to really understand what was really happening. As far as game mechanics go, it seems that the game developers did not used the wiimote at a horizontal position for the Camera Oscura, but used a wiimote + nunchuck combination that still had motion control, but was not even near to what some of us had expected. There is also the implementation of "waggle" controls for mundane things like turning a door knob or some other simple tasks.

One new thing on this game was that you could use a flash light that had the same powers the Camera Oscura had. It was weaker than the camera, but it gave the player a little more flexibility when fighting ghosts as you could use motion controls to point to the enemy without the need of a first person view. This was probably mostly use to fend the ghost off a little in order to gain some time to position yourself and finish them off with the camera.

Any real noticeable flaws on this game?

If the game were to be released today as it was back in 2008, it would had been heavily criticized because of frame rate issues and sluggish movement (compared to the previous games). Also the waggle controls would had been seen as unnecessary, but all the other good stuff was there.

Wrapping it up

Fatal Frame 4 is not the best of the franchise (even if it is the one that sold more copies). Based on how some reviewers describe it, it was an experimental attempt to take the franchise to the Wii that was not horrible, but it wasn't ground breaking either. In summary, it was a good game made for the fans of the series and an American version would had been quite appreciated if they had taken the risk and released it. Who knows, maybe with the current trend of releasing older games on current generation consoles we may still get the chance of comfortably playing the game at last.

This is just a mock up pic I made just to show how awesome a Fatal Frame on Wii U could be.

Bonus Stage!

We did not had Fatal Frame 4, but it has been recently announced that there is a new Fatal Frame game in the works for the Wii U! Once again the chances of this game been awesome are there, as the Wii U Pad fits perfectly with the camera mechanics and if they once again hold their ground and keep loyal to the franchise roots (and release the game in America) it will be one survival horror gem for Wii U in a time where the console needs these types of games the most.

Update:
 A Japanese teaser video was released and the game looks beautiful, check it out.

Will Sony really bring a new PS2 era?

Right now, the PS4 is the industry leader everywhere in the world except for Japan, where the Wii U is still beating Sony's machine. At first, one of the initial promises that Sony had with the PS4 was that they were going to bring a new PS2-like era in gaming and that was one of the things that attracted many gamers to their side right at the beginning of this generation. Because of this, expectations have always been high with the platform and almost every PS4 owner is eagerly waiting for Sony to drop or at least mention their intention to drop some of the big bombs of that "new PS2 era" or at least something that resembles it. Up until now there are no signs of that happening in the near future and it is almost certain that many of the first adopters are starting to wonder if this is ever going to happen.


The first "PS2 era" aspect that hasn't happened with the PS4 is the inclusion of a definitive JRPG on the console. If we remember back at the PS2 days, one of the games that even came with the console's demo disc was Final Fantasy X and that was a very big deal at the time. Nowadays with the PS4 we have some rpg games on the way for the near future like Natural Doctrine and Hyper Dimension Neptunia VII, but both of them are basically dedicated for a niche within the JRPG niche, which are tactic rpgs and fan service rpgs. Up until this moment there are no indications of a role playing release of giant proportions like a Nino Kuni sequel or even the revival of slumbering franchises like Wild Arms, Suikoden, Shadow Hearts or any of those that had very good offerings for the PS2.


Another aspect that is not there yet is the appearance of a PS2 era heavy hitter. Jack and Daxter is still out of the picture since the last days of the PS2 lifespan, Dark Cloud are two words that wont even appear on a Ouija board, The Last Guardian is starting to become like the Sony's Shenmue (a game that pulls a sad sigh out of developers every time it is mentioned), Tekken ended up stranded on the Wii U, Twisted Metal has been missing in action for years and action adventure games like Maximo, Medievil and Ape Escape are not even close. To be fair, they don't necessarily have to make direct sequels or reboots. They can come with new things that cater to those experiences, it should not be that hard considering all they have to gain from it.


Last but not least, if we have something to acknowledge about the PS2 is that it was the powerhouse of horror. Not only did it snatched Resident Evil from Nintendo's hands and had the best Silent Hill games around, but also had Siren (which had a pretty good chapter based game on the PS3), Fatal Frame which seems to be the horror franchise nobody (except for Nintendo) wants any more, The Suffering, Haunting Grounds, Clock Tower,  Rule of Rose, Trapt, Manhunt, Run Like Hell and others. Right now the only horror titles roaming the PS4 are Outlast, The Evil Within and The Order 1886 which is the only horror exclusive.

Wrapping it up

Instead of all those things that would had made for a promise in the process of been fulfilled, we are getting sort of a "PS3 Plus" deal here with all those types of games heading to the older console instead of the PS4, which is a mistake if they really want to widen the gap between them and the competition. With the Wii U and Xbox One beginning to solidify their game libraries, Sony should keep firing shots at them by giving the players a definite reason to hang on to their platform and the best bet they have right now is to rally the troops with their long time fans by giving them something to really hype for, other than The Order 1886, Bloodborne and No Mans Sky. Still, is it needed to say to all those gamers out there to NOT become pessimistic as the promised new PS2 era can still happen, let's just hope that Sony realizes that they have more to gain than the risk involved in that kind of strategy.