• The game takes place in 2 haunting worlds - the nightmare and the real life -- as the player moves deeper into the game, the line between the two worlds becomes blurred, creating fear and unease
• Use the camera obscura as both a weapon & a guide, by taking pictures of the ghostly inhabitants and creepy objects within the House of Sleep
• More terrifying ghosts - Hideous facial expressions and creepy eye movements combined with the ghost's new ability to stare at the player
• Play as 3 different characters and strategize by using each of their different abilities
• Unexpected sounds and movements create a paranoid and terrifying gaming experience

• PlayStation: The Official Magazine (1-year)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly
• Play
• Tips & Tricks Magazine

Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented is a haunting Japanese style horror game where nightmares become reality. A young woman named Rei is having twisted nightmares. These dark dreams take her to the "House of Sleep", where she encounters hideously tortured souls who are being overtaken by a curse. Meanwhile, a deadly tattoo and deadllier secrets of life and death are waiting to destory her, unless she is quick enough to stop it. But Rei's dreams is only the beginning of the nightmare, making Fatal Frame III: The Tormented the most terrifying virtual experience to date.

Customer Rating:
Summary: It's so chilling!
Comment: I only played the beginning of Fatal Frame Three, the Tormented and for me it's very terrifying, ok the story is really good, it sounds more like some sort of legend about the Manor of Sleep and the long lost village which pretty much makes you to believe it could be true.
In the game, Everytime You go to sleep, you will return to the place-- the Manor of Sleep to search for info. along with the scary adventure!! And the sound is really chilling, the graphics are scary, you just don't know what you are going to see for every step you make, woo!! the creation is close to reality, like the shadows in the game which are just something you might see in reality, well, anyway you do feel the pressure and ghostly sorrow, I could hardly take a breath when I was totally involved in the game.
Don't fall to sleep in the game....just joking, ENJOY! :D

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first two but still creepy & fun
Comment: Of all the Fatal frame games thus far I found the camera options more difficult to navigate in this game than in previous ones. It is harder to capture the fleeting ghosts that appear. Most of the battles require you to shoot a frame and then run to evade losing all your energy, turn shoot, repeat. However, true to form it has lots of spooky music and creepy buildings with secrete passages to navigate. This game flips between "reality" and "ghost world" similar to Silent Hill "the room" which deviates from the first two games in the Fatal Frame series.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best games out there.
Comment: As a total Japanese/Asian horror admirer, I must say this game is definitely worth a play and buy. The murky atmosphere makes you feel uneasy and have a feeling like you are not alone. The soundtrack is so gloomy, which makes your heart bounce much faster than it usually does. Ghosts are most definitely the scariest creatures ever. I agree, Silent Hill is scary, BUT, the monsters are more disgusting than scary, unlike ghosts. They are so mysterious and the fact that you cannot see them, nor hear or just see through them, already makes you feel awkward and frightened.

Great, yet quite sad storyline. Controls sometimes were a little bit disobedient, but other than that, amazing game.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great series, should not be passed up
Comment: If you are hardcore into "shock thrills", gore, zombies, guns, and grotesque monsters that mirror our psychological inner demons yet can be bashed over the head with a board until they leak blood everywhere Fatal Frame 3 may not be for you. My first introduction of the series was when I watched one of my female friends play Fatal Frame 2 and honestly at the time I wasn't scared.

The thing is with a fatal frame game you actually have to play it to be frightened by it. It is definetly not a game that makes you jump when your friend is at the helm.

First of all let me admit I'm not a "long time fan" of the series. I have not seen or played Fatal frame 1 and I only know about Mio and her twin sister by having warched my friend go through Fatal Frame 2. Anotherwords my opinion here is non biased. I'm not trying to "hype up" Fatal Frame 3.

So what can a first time camera obscura photographer tell you about his first interactive experience? It was horrifying and I mean that in the most flattering sense.

For fans of the other two games FF 3 does tie into what has already been estabalished. Miku is the girl who lost her brother in Fatal Frame 1 and is an "assistant" to Rei who is the main character. Rei has her own tale of loss. Her boy friend Yuu died in a tragic car accident. After Rei believed to see his "ghost" she became a paranormal investigator. Lastly there is Kei, an occult researcher who was a friend of Yuu and who is the uncle of Mio and her twin. Is is estabalished right away how the characters fit into the overall plot. Even if you have not played the previous games you are given a wealth of information.

The game revolves around a mysterious tattooed priestess and the manor of sleep. The only good thing about this other worldly place is that it is said you can go there to visit with loved ones that have long since died. However beyond that the old occupants of the manor were apart of a sinister cult whom sacrificed maidens to prevent a type of "nightmare reality" from crossing over into normal existence. Poor Rei begins having the tattoo of the priestess and soon her and the other two protagonists find themselves fighting for their lives each time they visit the mansion in their dreams.

First I must say "ghosts" are hard to fight. You have an enemy with the basic intelligence of a human being and atop that they can "teleport" quickly and phase through walls. Luckily there is variety. Young shrine maidens have stakes and hammers and one of their most disturbing attacks is to nail your foot or ankle to the floor. The "men in white" come at you with hatchets and knives or try to simply grab you. As you can well guess even being touched with a ghost will sap your health. Luckily you can upgrade both your camera and its' lenses. A flash for example can knock spirits back and Miku can literally slow a ghost's movement making getting their "snap shots" easier.

If you have not played any Fatal Frame the combat goes into first person mode. Runes around your lens ratio will start to light up and that is symbolic of your attack meter charging. To do alot of damage you want the apparitions as close as possible when you take their picture. Yup, finally there is a survival horror franchise that sadistically makes having the enemy close a prime requisite.

When you lower your camera or get hit by a ghost you automatically go into 3rd person and I highly suggest that if a poltergeist or phantom suddenly "disappears" that you briefly lower your camera, get your bearings, and try to pin point where the next attack will come from.

Believe it or not none of this is as frustrating as it sounds and each time you defeat a spirit you get blue "ghost orbs" or "spirit points" to level up both your camera AND your diffirent lenses.

As expeted each character has merits and flaws. Kei is athletic and good both at running and hiding. His spirit power is weak luckily he eventually gets his own camera obscura so he can fight back. Kei also has the most health. Miku is neat because she can crawl into smaller places and she has the most spirit potential. She can double charge her spirit "zapping" power through her camera and she can slow enemies down. Rei is the traditional "average" yet "well balanced" main character and her main merit is having the largest capture lens ratio.

The manor itself is interesting and the puzzles are a bit challenging but not frusterating. You will do alot of back-tracking for keys or rolls of film to play in the projector room to glean more disturbing revelations. Normally this would damper my enjoyment but I found I liked repeatedly going to different places because they all were well designed and very ambient. This might be one of the few games that makes "return visits" to certain areas fun as opposed to tidous.

As I said before every character has good motivations. They all have "loved ones" they are trying to save from the manor and Rei has the additional motivation of finding a cure for the tattoo curse.

Each time you awake in Rei's house you are allowed to recover health, develop pictures taken in the manor, replenish film and herb supplies, and talk with Miku to exchange information. You will also get letters from Kei. While it may seem like you are safe here, a ghost does eventually begin haunting your abode though from what I've seen so far she is mischievous yet harmless. This may change later in the game but I'm unsure.

The only glaringly bad flaw with Fatal Frame 3 is the "english dubbing" but I would not let something as insignificant as bad lip synching ruin the whole game for you.

I'd love to go so much more into depth about the "unique ghost bosses",folk-lore erriness, and every snowy or shadowy crevice of the cold manor of sleep but I think I'll leave those things for you the reader to discover!


Pros

+ Subtle in the gore department yet still manages to make you uneasy and afraid.

+ An original take on "fighting enemies".

+Wonderful story line that does much to tie up loose ends from the other 2 games.

+ Being able to play as 3 characters all which are unique.

+ Besides for the shrine maidens and men in white the other apparitions are all varied, frightening, and have interesting attack patterns.

+ Spot on controls

+ Great atmosphere and sound effects.

Cons

- The females have odd mannerisms when running sometimes.

- You sorta get the impression Rei and Miku are well off just by interacting with their home. If you like "average blue collar citizens" as your heroes of choice this might present a problem.

-Bad dubbing (lip synching)

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Sweet
Comment: I really had a good experiance the game was delivered speedy and efficiently and it was in very good condition. I would recomend this to anybody else

---