adventure

I consider myself a pragmatic person. The line between reality and fiction firmly grasped; premises behind movies and games easily established ... but Oh My God this game is scary as hell. First off it's based on a true story, so that kind of sticks in the back of your mind as you begin playing. Coupled with the dynamic soundtrack and your game pad shaking like crazy anytime a ghost comes near you, it's a great psych out.

The game's premise is similar to the Pokemon game (if you ever played that on N64) ... except it's cranked up 100 notches for adult play. You walk around this haunted house armed with only a camera which captures the ghosts and prevents them from harming you .... but it's not only the capturing of them that makes this game enthralling, it's the visual and sound effects, along with the physical vibe of your game controller that really creeps you out.

It's also really challenging; a good combination of dextrous play and puzzle solving. And the endings for this game differ from the PS2 version to the XBOX version, which is unique.

But it's not for the faint of heart.

If you're looking for spectacular graphics, a great story line and wonderful almost cinematic combinations of sight, sound and feel, do yourself a favor and pick up this game. It hasn't left my XBOX since the UPS guy delivered it from Amazon.(com)

Some games scare you by surprise (Resident Evil), others by what you can't see (Silent Hill), some games play with your mind (Eternal Darkness) and some games scare you by the fact that its based on a true story...
I know a lot of people don't believe in ghosts, but I have had the misfortune of living in a haunted house twice in my life. My experiences were not pleasant by any means, and so for the first time in my life there's a game that not only scares me, but makes me entirely uncomfortable to the point where I cannot play this game alone. It's not as gory as other games in the genre, but it plays of off my fear of ghosts as being a very real phenomenon very well. It's creepy, its spooky, and many of the ghosts in this game do not go down easily, thus presenting a greater challenge than other Survival Horror games, as its not a simple matter of shooting the ghost before it gets to you, or bashing the fiend to death with a lead pipe... these things are as fast as they are creepy looking, and worse yet... its based on a true story.
Graphically, although enhanced over the PS 2 version this game does not take advantage of the Xbox, as it should have. It does not look good on my Widescreen TV as images look somewhat stretched. Most Xbox games I have make the conversion pretty smoothly, including Taco's Dead or Alive 3,and Extreme Beach Volleyball. Worse yet, although the poly-counts are high, and look really good in some ways the lack of detail in the fingers (and the lack of fingernails) is annoying. Particularly since the character faces look so good. The biggest problem is that some of the in game graphics are grainy, and there is this odd effect that causes some colors to smear and blend poorly, as well as pixilation in some textures. This game looks like a port, and is nowhere near as polished as other horror games ported to Xbox (Silent Hill 2). Despite some enhancements this game could have been improved more in many areas. Never the less leave it to my Widescreen TV to bring out flaws that would most likely not be noticeable on a regular TV.
Sound effects and music in this game are a part of what make this game so terrifying. Creepy, and intense the sound effects deserve a perfect score except... the voice acting in this game is simply ghastly. The voice-overs range from mediocre to poor, which is sadly typical of this genre. Never the less none of the flaws interfere with the truly terrifying experience, or the appeal intrigue of this true story. Just trust me, and don't play this game alone. Even with the lights on its still ultra scary.

I love the horror survival genre (it is the only reason I play video games). I will start off on the pro side of the game, it has a creepy look and soundtrack and the concept is really good. The con side is that the game controls like crap! The character is not fluid at all. It turned me off the game. I played for about 2 hours and gave up. The controls are that frustrating. If you have patience, get this game, it is a really great story/concept. I will probably do the same thing my friend did when he tried to play the game, turn around and sell it... So I give this 1 star, the controls ruined the whole game.