Gamertell

I am a coward.

At sleepovers in my childhood, I’d close my eyes during particularly scary portions of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, I’m 25 years old and still can’t listen to Reagan’s “possessed” voice in The Exorcist and I only was able to watch about a half hour of the remake of The Omen. For a brief time after watching all of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, I’d make a conscious decision to be in bed and asleep by 3am.

But I’d like to think I’m getting better, and its all because of Fatal Frame.

It all started around Halloween in 2002. I was in college, and taking a night Japanese class with my friends Shawna and Vivienne (not their real names). Often, when class would get out, we’d feel like actually doing something, rather than going home, studying and getting to bed. You know - productive stuff.

Shawna was, and still is, a horror game fan - and good at it too. She suggested we rent Fatal Frame from Blockbuster and return to Vivienne’s nearby home for a game-a-thon. Vivienne and I had never heard of the game, but Shawna made it sound interesting, so we instantly agreed. We figured it may help us get in the spirit of the season.

The premise is this - the heroine Miku comes to a haunted house that her older brother, Mafuyu, disappeared in when he was examining it with a novelist and his crew. Since no-one seems to be willing to go and find him, Miku does. Once inside, she learns the house is haunted by a shrine maiden and many maleficent ghosts. Luckily, her brother had brought their mother’s enchanted camera with them, and dropped it. The camera can purify spirits, so Miku takes it up and goes forth to reclaim her brother.

Shawna agreed to play the game, while Vivienne and I would watch. After all, I was a coward and only half-decent at action games, and Vivienne wanted to see how it worked.

It was scary.

And it didn’t just have cheap scares, or a scary premise, or scary graphics or scary music. No. It had every frightening aspect you could possibly imagine in a game. It was all of those terrifiying things crammed into a single disc.

Yet, I loved it.

That first time, both Vivienne and I offered moral support to Shawna - often hiding behind fingers or pillows when we knew a ghost was going to just pop up in a doorway unannounced. Sometimes, we’d open our eyes long enough to shout “Over there!” or “The bar is glowing! A ghost’s nearby!”

But, during the next few Fatal Frame meet-ups, Vivienne and I actually played. When the game had to be returned, I went to GameStop and purchased a used copy. Then, Shawna would bring her Codebreaker along (for infinite film of course), and the three of us took turns playing, until we’d beaten the game. It became sort of a bonding experience.

It didn’t end there. When Silent Hill 3 and Fatal Frame 2 came out, we went through the same ritual. Only this time, Anna, our other friend, would also join sometimes and watch. We’d even begin making jokes at the seriously scary parts.

So what if I’m a coward - I’m getting better. Since then, I’ve gone back, played and finished Fatal Frame, Silent Hill 3, Clocktower 3, Fatal Frame, Haunting Ground, Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 2 on my own. Though I’ve still never played a Fatal Frame game after dark.

But who knows? Fatal Frame 4 is coming to the Wii. Maybe I’ll become a horror game master after all.

Site [Fatal Frame 4 (Japanese)] Site [Tecmo]