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Published
by Tecmo
Developed by Tecmo
Release Date: 4th February 2005
Price: £39.99
Project
Zero was an excellent survival horror title that was really
only spoilt by it's lack of subtitles. Now, almost a year
after PlayStation 2 gamers got their hands on the sequel,
Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly arrives on the Xbox.
It's often the case where a delay in bringing a game to
another platform results in some new features being added
to enhance the experience and that is exactly what's happened
here. Let's take a look at Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly
Director's Cut and see what extras Xbox gamers have in store
for them.
Crimson
Butterfly begins with two twin sisters, Mio and Mayu sitting
next to a stream in the mountain forest. Whilst Mio is talking
to Mayu, Mayu is lured away by a crimson coloured butterfly.
Mio turns to find her sister walking away and begins to
follow her. Before long they have both reached a point of
no return. Long ago there was a village, All God's Village,
that held a ceremony, the Ritual of Crimson Sacrifice, that
went horribly wrong. All but one, a woman, was massacred
and as a result the village vanished almost without a trace.
The only thing that remains of the village is the Twin Deity
statues that used to mark the entrance to the village. However
if you pass through this entrance you'll be taken back to
the village, which is now permanently reliving that horrific
night when almost all its inhabitants were slaughtered.
This is exactly the position that Mio and Mayu now find
themselves in and they'll have to search through the various
buildings in the village in order to find a way out. For
most of the game you'll control Mio but there are moments
where you'll control Mayu.
Throughout
the game Mio and Mayu will encounter, and have to deal with,
some rather aggressive spirits. Initially you'll only have
the easy and normal difficulty levels available with the
hard and nightmare modes having to be unlocked. Both the
easy and normal difficulty levels will cause no problems
at all for players of Project Zero. If you have played Project
Zero/Fatal Frame you'll know how the combat works in Project
Zero II. You're armed with nothing but a camera. It's no
ordinary camera though, it's Dr Aso's Camera Obscura that
has special abilities. The camera can capture photographs
of beings in the spiritual plane as well as revealing events
of the past by capturing lingering thoughts left behind
by some of the villages' former inhabitants. Most importantly
of all though, it can capture the evil spirits by photographing
them. The camera's strength is dependent on the film and
the lens that's used. As you progress through the game you'll
find more advanced film that will allow you to take care
of the stronger spirits. You do have to be careful not to
waste this film. This is especially so on the harder difficulty
settings where films are even harder to obtain. Camera upgrades
are purchased with spirit points (although you'll need spirit
stones too before you can upgrade) that you'll obtain from
suitable photographs. These upgrades have various strength
levels and make taking the more aggressive spirits out much
less stressful.
So
let's take a look at the exclusive Xbox features then. Well
most importantly of all the game can now be played entirely
in first-person mode. When you begin a new game you'll have
the chance of playing the game in it's original third-person
mode or the new FPS mode. It's important to point out that
you can't switch between the two once a game has begun.
This may seem like a silly thing to say but the FPS mode
makes the game a whole new experience. Movement is controlled
by the left analogue stick with your view direction being
controlled by the right analogue stick. Pushing up on the
right analogue stick will move the camera down, and vice
versa (once you've stopped pushing up or down though the
view snaps back to normal which helps prevent things from
getting awkward). Holding down the left trigger will make
your character run. As you're playing in first person mode
you get no sudden change of camera angles that you get in
the third person mode (and games such as Resident Evil and
Silent Hill) and it feels a lot smoother and more natural.
Of course your vision of your surrounding is unnaturally
wide in third-person mode and you can see more at a glance
than you can from a FPS mode. This doesn't prove to be a
problem though. What I like is when you are near to an object
that can be picked up you'll receive the text message 'Press
A button' so even if you're not adjusting your view to look
on the floor you shouldn't miss anything. In third-person
mode the camera is automatically focused on a ghost that
should cross your path. In FPS mode this is not always so
but to accompany the sound effect that alerts gamers to
the ghost's presence the screen also goes noticeably grainy
so deaf gamers will be alerted to the nearby ghost. That
said though playing in FPS mode is more of a challenge and
for the first time through it's definitely easier to play
in the original mode.
As
well as the FPS mode there is also a Survival mode that's
unlocked when you've completed the game once. Survival mode
is much more difficult and you'll have swarms of ghosts
coming toward you at once. Should you be touched by a ghost
that's it, it's game over so you're going to have to be
skilled to get through the game on this mode. Other additions
include a new ending and an option to purchase new items
with the points you earn from capturing the spirits. On
the whole these new features make the Xbox version the best
on offer and even those of you who've played through the
PlayStation 2 version and enjoyed it might want to purchase
the game for the additional challenge of the FPS mode and
the daunting Survival mode.
Those
expecting Crimson Butterfly to look dramatically better
on the Xbox will be disappointed as while the whole thing
looks sharper with cleaner textures it can't be said that
it's a big improvement. Load times are much improved and
task such as saving your game are a lot quicker thanks to
the Xbox hard drive. What you will notice though, especially
when you see the characters close up, is colour banding.
I'm pretty sure this wasn't the case with the PlayStation
2 version and whilst it doesn't spoil anything it's a little
disappointing to see. If you're not using your Xbox in PAL
60 mode you'll also notice a small amount of tearing (Tecmo
really know how to make the Xbox reach 60 fps constantly
and not running in PAL 60 mode also caused Ninja Gaiden
to tear too) so it's best to put your console into 60Hz
mode if you can.
For
the most part Crimson butterfly on the Xbox, just like the
PlayStation 2 version, is fine for deaf gamers; it's great
to see that the cutscenes are subtitled and this really
helps you follow the games' story. Throughout the game you'll
find notebooks and other scraps of information that will
help you piece the events of what happened to the village
together. This information is all in text so again there
are no problems. Occasionally you'll see flashbacks of events
that happened in the village and speech during these flashbacks
is subtitled. After you've successfully battled a ghost
with the camera they'll leave a stone and this stone can
be placed in the spirit radio and it will play back a short
message. These messages are also subtitled. Good use of
force feedback has also been made and it helps to add suspense
to the game, which is important as a lot of the creepy atmosphere
is created by the nerve jangling sound and deaf gamers will
miss out on this aspect.
There
are some elements that could have been better though and
it's a shame that these haven't been made more deaf gamer
friendly for the Xbox version. Speech from the ghosts outside
of these flashbacks is not subtitled. Mayu will occasionally
call you back or tell you to wait for her and this is not
subtitled but the camera does focus on her so while you
can't see what she's saying you'll know this is cue for
you to return to her. Sound captions would have also been
a nice touch but there aren't any. Sometimes there will
be a spirit crying or moaning etc., on the other side of
a door and this isn't visually depicted to inform deaf gamers
of what's going on, which is a shame. The camera provides
a good amount of feedback in that the capture circle will
change colour depending on whether you're focusing on an
enemy or a hint. There is also a filament that will glow
blue when you're faced with a hidden or vanishing ghost
or brown with attacking ghosts. All things considered it
provides better feedback for deaf gamers than Project Zero
did but there is still room for improvement.
Project
Zero II: Crimson Butterfly Director's Cut manages to improve
upon Project Zero in just about ever way aside from the
graphics. Thankfully this even includes it's provision for
deaf gamers which is much better this time around. The Xbox
exclusive features are certainly worthwhile and even if
you've already purchased the PlayStation 2 version of the
game there's enough here to warrant a purchase if you were
a fan of the original game. The FPS mode alone makes the
whole thing a different, and more challenging experience
whilst the Survival mode really is a test of how good your
skills are at this game. Definitely the best survival horror
title we've seen on the Xbox to date.
Overall
Game Rating: 8.5/10
If you're looking for a fear inducing game on the Xbox then
Project Zero: Crimson Butterfly Director's Cut is the game
you need. Tense, atmospheric and definitely frightening,
Crimson Butterfly is one of those games that will make you
afraid to turn the lights out at night.
Deaf
Gamers Classification:
(Click
the letter or here
for details)
Some spirit noises are not subtitled
and the inclusion of captions would have been great but
on the whole Tecmo have done a much better job with Project
Zero II than they did with Project Zero in catering for
deaf gamers.
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