Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water Reviews
It commits perhaps the worst sin a horror game – or indeed any game – could commit. It is boring. Once you've made the audience yawn, you've lost your ability to frighten them forever.
If this what Fatal Frame is now, I don't want it anymore.
With all this said, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is easily one of my favorite Wii U games to date. It feels like an old-school horror game but has the modern twists such as GamePad use and HD graphics to make it stand out in the gaming world today. It's a shame that this game didn't get a physical release, because I fear that it might hurt sales for this game. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a must own title for Wii U owners, and horror fans in general might want to pick up a Wii U just for this game – it's that good.
Although it's not a terrible game, the Wii U's edition of "Fatal Frame" feels awfully dated, with sloppy controls and the type of presentation you would have expected a few console generations ago.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water is a game that horror fans will want to love, but will end up causing frustration due to broken controls and an annoying mission structure. The scares are still there though, if you can forgive the other mistakes.
The introductory hours captivate with an authentically chilling vibe, but that entertainment eventually gives way to grating repetition
Excitement over the prospect of a new Fatal Frame game was quickly extinguished by the reality of a new Fatal Frame game. Rejecting genre conventions once allowed Fatal Frame to stand alongside Siren, Silent Hill and Resident Evil, but declaring antiquated ideas sacrosanct leaves it, ironically, in a modern version of the same company. Survival horror hit a wall, and Maiden of Black Water isn't the one to overcome it.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is old-school survival horror. While the story can be convoluted and the controls make navigation harder than it should be, it's dark take on death and atmosphere make it a ghost hunt worth taking.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a well-intentioned addition to the Wii U's mostly family-friendly library and does an excellent job of transporting you to another place and time. That's about it, though. Its story and characters are not compelling, and the GamePad-as-camera controls are frequently unreliable. These prevent the game from attaining any real sense of excitement or drama. With too much out of sync--from wildly variable handling to the way you use items to the unconvincing character relationships--Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water isn't anything more than a mediocre experience.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a disappointing Wii U exclusive horror story that is more likely to put players to sleep than it is to scare them.
If you're bored of relentless jump scares in horror games, you'll probably get a nice kick out of this paranormal adventure.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water has been put through a wringer of doubt and speculation in the run up to its release, but manages to come out the other side still just as drenched with atmosphere and intrigue as ever. Innovation should give fans that spark of renewed excitement, while newcomers are eased into an excellent horror adventure with plenty of time to learn the mechanics. A bit too much repetition and a few rough edges do mar the experience a little, but that absolutely shouldn't stop you from taking the plunge regardless. The water is lovely.
A compelling thriller that makes great use of the GamePad, but fails to truly scare or shock.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water certainly delivers when it comes to scaring the player witless, and its use of the Wii U GamePad is commendable. If only other developers had been so bold with their ideas, Nintendo's console might not be in the dismal commercial predicament it currently finds itself in.
Maiden of Black Water polishes an old formula almost perfectly, though the game itself isn't so polished in spots. Buy it anyway.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a heart-racing, immersive survival horror experience thoughtfully tailored for Wii U. The perfect treat for Halloween.
As for established fans, it is a solid game. If you are willing to adjust your gaming posture and stretch your back a bit, you'll find a nice package here. The new ideas can be a bit gimmicky, but they all work together nicely. It's the controls, both the motion and dual-analog, that are what hold it back from a full recommendation.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is one of the games that makes the most intelligent use of the Nintendo Wii U's screen controller. Its name as a "terrifying game", however, is swept away by an interesting story that proceeds extremely slowly and dispersively, through topics and folkloristic elements that are difficult to understand for a Westerner. Nevertheless, certain sequences are really disturbing, and in some moments we were disturbed by what appeared on the screen.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The latest Project Zero horror has a bleak and affecting story, but is let down by dull combat and awkward level design.
At its best, playing Fatal Frame feels like a more interactive version of movies like Ju-On, putting the player in a terrible place where the only relief is the occasional pause before inevitable doom. The situation is slightly more optimistic, but the feeling of inevitability is hard to shake. Even the few supposedly safe spaces (Ren's study, Yuri's apartment) feel like flickering candles in a world of ever-growing darkness. At its worst, Fatal Frame is bogged down by repetition and a frustrating, if inspired, combat system. Your ability to overlook this will likely depend on your appreciation of candlelight.