It’s Halloween! But as with everything this year, it’s going to feel a little different. So, in the absence of being able to go and irritate your neighbours by begging for sugary treats, why not stay in and scare yourself silly instead? After all, isn’t that what Halloween is all about?
Of course it is. So let me provide you with some inspiration for this scary season, where you can experience the most chilling moments from three generations of games that have graced the Xbox family of consoles.
5. Project Zero 2 (Fatal Frame II): Crimson Butterfly – Using the “Camera Obscura” (Xbox/Wii)
This game was released as “Project Zero” in Japan and Europe, but was renamed “Fatal Frame” for the US market (hence the title above). It’s set in The Lost Village – an abandoned town where all of the residents disappeared after a failed attempt at an ancient ritual.
You play as one of the Amakura twins, Mio, who are visiting a special place from their childhood before it is lost to construction works. After your sister goes missing, you stumble upon the mysterious abandoned village. As you would expect, naturally you aren’t packing heat, so when you start to encounter restless spirits who turn violent, you really feel a sense of vulnerability. This is where the central game mechanic comes into play, and it’s quite ingenious.
You only have an item called the “Camera Obscura” with which to defend yourself effectively. It has the power to exorcise the spirits, but only when you take the optimum photograph of them. This often means you have to watch them sway or lunge towards you, holding your nerve until the last possible moment to take your shot. Certain symbols will light through the camera lens to signal when to take the most effective photo. It’s a truly chilling experience that you’re forced to relive over and over if you have any hope of beating the game.
Sadly, you’ll have to do a bit of searching for the original Xbox release if you wish to play it as the game was never brought to future iterations of the console. The game was, however, re-released for the Nintendo Wii back in 2012. Both versions are now pretty darn expensive and hard to find, but occasionally they do crop up on Amazon.
