Post by Bytor on May 3, 2011 13:12:21 GMT -5
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (零～紅い蝶～Zero: Akai Chō~) is the second installment in the series. It was released by Texhmo for the PlayStation 2 in Japan on November 27, 2003, in North America on December 10, 2003 and in Europe on April 30, 2004. It was also released as a Director's Cut on Xbox in Japan on November 1, 2004, in North America on November 11, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005. Keisuke Kikuchi produced and designed the game. The game is similar in design to the first installment although many feel it's actually scarier. The game garnered very high marks pretty much across the board and many felt it to be the scariest game ever released/
The story this time around actually centers on an entire village where the inhabitants were sacrificed in a ceremony gone terribly wrong. The two main characters, two sisters named Mio and Mayu Amakura are visiting the area they played in as younger children when Mayu spots a crimson butterfly which she follows into the doomed village. The story then unfolds as Mio follows her and quickly is forced to attempt to rescue her while unraveling the mystery of the doomed village and it's previous inhabitants. As in the first version there are a couple of different endings all pretty different.
The games plays pretty close to it's predecessor with a few small changes. Once again the weapon of choice is the camera although she can also use a flashlight to see around the darkened areas of the buildings and village. Once again the main focus is exploring, surviving and uncovering hints and pieces to a puzzle while trying to rescue your sister The majority of the game you play as Mio).
The story this go around is much darker and the game play has been made a tad less difficult, especially the exploring aspect, even though there is tons more areas to explore, and the horror factor has been raised even higher than the first game. While receiving high reviews just as I did the series has remained somewhat of a "cult classic" with average gamers not clamoring aboard as much as in some other series which are similar.
