Gather round boys and
girls, it’s time for our bedtime story: “Once
upon a time there were two sisters. Little sister studies her notes.
Big sister tears them to shreds. Little sister wrote a letter. Big
sister munched it up. Little sister wanted to read big sister the
letter, so she fetched it from her
sister’s stomach. But with big sister dead in a pool of amber blood, who
is there to read the letter to? The End.” Welcome, boys and girls, to the
Aristocrats Club. Welcome to the twisted world of Rule of Rose.

It is the year 1930. Poor,
unlucky Jennifer lost her parents in a horrible accident. Now she
is in a bus on her way to the “Rose
Garden” Orphanage. There, she will be introduced to the Red
Crayon Aristocrats Club, a club formed by the kids that reside in
the orphanage. Jennifer will soon realize that she’s trapped
in the bizarre games of the Aristocrats Club, from which there seems
to be no escape. But what she will soon also realize is that there
is something darker and more menacing hidden under the playful mask
of the club. Something that will turn her stay at the orphanage into
a living nightmare.

So you pop the game disk
into your PS2, watch the stunningly beautiful trailer and are about
to start a new game. Not just yet. First you
have to check the options menu. Now why should that be the first
thing you have to do? Well, simply because if, during play, you realize
you are not happy with the music volume level, the contrast, the
vibration, etc your only choice is reboot your machine, since there
is no way to access the options from within the game! An incredible
oversight on behalf of the developers, which I do not believe I have
witnessed in any other game! Oh well, it’s just a trivial criticism,
so let’s start the game.

Immediately noticeable is that the controls are of the 2D kind,
i.e. left to walk left, up to walk towards the top of the screen
etc. I have always found this kind of controls problematic for this
kind of games, as opposed to the much more functional 3D controls
(up to walk forward, left/right to turn around). That is because
camera angles change and before you know it up becomes down, left
becomes right and your character becomes a break-dancer wannabe!
No matter how many games I play, I will never stop having problems
with 2D controls, and I wish games would provide a choice between
the two.

Something else that is
bothersome in console games is the always unacceptable save points.
In Rule of Rose (RoR) you can only save
at a “bucket knight”, a scarecrow-knight made of brooms
and a bucket for the kids to practice sword fighting. Besides saving,
the bucket knight will also provide clues when asked. Always located
near a bucket knight are trashcans, the equivalent of the communicating
chests in the old Resident Evil games. There you can store any item
you want, and retrieve it from any other trashcan in the game. To
make things even easier, you can just drop items anywhere in the
game, and they will automatically end up in the trashcans. Thumbs
up for this excellent user-friendly feature!

RoR takes place between
March/December 1930, with each month as a separate chapter. The
game begins with Jennifer alone at the bus
stop outside the “Rose Garden” orphanage, but she won’t
be alone for too long as she is soon joined by a lovely Labrador
retriever who answers to the name Brown. Brown will be Jennifer’s
companion throughout the biggest part of the game. Now, if your brain
instinctively pops up a light bulb with “Haunting Ground” written
inside, you’re not very far from the truth. The girl-dog situation
in RoR can’t help but recall the relationship between Fiona
and Hewey in Haunting Ground, and if you have played that game you’ll
feel right at home. But there are also several differences along
with the similarities between Brown and Hewey.

To begin with, there is
no friendship meter. For those who haven’t
played Haunting Ground here’s how it worked: Hewey would feel
less or more friendly towards Fiona, according to how well she treated
him, and his obedience levels would fluctuate accordingly. Brown
though will always obey Jennifer’s commands, even if Jennifer
never feeds him or praises him. This lack of the friendship meter
makes Brown appear more mechanized, whereas Hewey had more personality,
which in turn made him more likable – even though there were instances
when you just wanted to wring his little defiant neck!

Brown’s main purpose in the game is to sniff things out of
hidden places. There are dozens of objects to be found in RoR, which
can be divided into four main categories. First, there are key items
that are needed for the game to progress. Without Brown finding those
items, Jennifer will just walk around the same screens for eternity.
Then, there are food items that are necessary to rejuvenate Jennifer’s
and Brown’s health. Food items can also be found lying around
in the open, but only in small numbers. Brown’s help will prove
crucial in order to maintain a balanced diet. Along with the food
items, there are junk items, like socks, marbles, ribbons etc, that
can be exchanged at the Aristocrats Club for food items. Junk items
are always hidden. Finally, there are film reels and records, which
hold the cut-scenes and the game music. The more of those you find,
the more you can reminisce after you have reached the end of the
game!

How often you use Brown
is entirely up to you and this makes RoR possible to be played
in three different ways. One way is speed-play,
using Brown only to find key items and skip everything else. If you
play this way, you had better be very confident about your gaming
abilities since health items will be scarcer than hair follicles
on Kojak’s skull. On the upside, Jennifer and Brown have their
health fully restored after the end of each chapter/month, so that
can make things a little less overwhelming and can also help with
health item management. The second way you can play is casual-play.
Use Brown only to find key items and some health items when you see
that you’re running low. Be careful though, because Brown needs
a starting item to smell first in order to sniff out another one,
and if your pockets look like Swiss cheese, Brown won’t have
anything to work with. The last way to play is milking the game dry.
That is, by using Brown to find everything that is available in every
room. Playing this way will reward you with so many health items
(including ones that were exchanged at the Aristocrats Club) that
you could play the game blindfolded and still never run out. This
way you can also come across a couple of useful bonus items and of
course gather all the films and records.

Gathering all the films
and records, although a great idea in its concept, turned out to
be an incredibly tedious process, due to the
way searching works. Let’s take records for example. Records
are named after the zodiac signs and the days of the week. In order
to find a new record you can only give the previous one to Brown
to smell. So, if you want to find “Taurus” you have to
give “Aries” to Brown. Also, certain records appear only
on certain chapters. So, “Taurus” will only appear on
its respective chapter. Therefore, if you miss one record, all the
others after that can never be found. Because of this linearity,
if there are four records to be found on one chapter, they can only
be found in order, which may mean a lot of going back and forth the
same areas, sniffing again and again. Now how will you know if you
have found all the records on one chapter? If there’s nothing
left to find, Brown will whimper when you give him a record to smell.
But Brown’s sense of scent doesn’t cover miles, so in
order to be absolutely sure there’s nothing anywhere in the
chapter, you need to walk around everywhere and have him try again
and again. I’m sure now you can see the tediousness in this
process.

The core of the game is
very short, and it can easily be finished on one Sunday, using
speed play. I played the game once by using
Brown everywhere and finding everything and once by finding only
key items and a couple of health items, and the time difference between
those two games was close to 20 hours! The problem is, most of those
20 hours was running back and forth with Brown sniffing around, and
that is not really my idea of fun. My advice would be to do a casual-play
and skip the films and records. But if you must find them, look up
their exact locations on a walkthrough. You’ll thank me in
the end!

Sniffing around may be
Brown’s main job, but he can also help
with fighting. As opposed to Hewey, Brown will not bite and hurt
enemies, but he will growl and bark which will temporarily immobilize
them. Enemies will strike back though and If Brown gets hit too many
times, he will fall helpless to the floor, but he can never die.
Leaving the area will bring him back to his paws, but he will walk
slower. His health can be restored by feeding him some bacon or anything
else that’s meant for him, or waiting for the chapter to finish.
If Brown is told to “stay” during a fight, he will not
be hit, except accidentally when an enemy is trying to hit Jennifer.
Telling Brown to “stay” and fighting away from him will
ensure his well being, and is the best thing to do most of the times,
since he is not too much help during fighting anyway.

As a general rule, fights
can and should be avoided. Enemies don’t
appear very often, but when they do it is usually in overwhelming
hordes. Most enemies can be very easily evaded though. But there
are times that fighting is mandatory, either when Jennifer is locked
up in a room with one or more enemies, or during boss or sub-boss
fights. Jennifer’s arsenal mainly consists of melee weapons
like knives, cleavers, shovels etc. There is also a gun available
as a hidden item, which uses bullets that only Brown can find. Finally,
Jennifer can use her fists, but since she couldn’t even inflict
much damage to an amputated teddy bear, it’s better to not
even try.

One thing to always keep
in mind during fighting is not to let Jennifer get surrounded.
When Jennifer receives a blow, she will be immobilized
for a second or fall on the ground. During that time she will be
invincible. The problem is, when coming around, Jennifer will become
vulnerable again a few fractions of a second before being able to
move. If that time coincides with an enemy’s blow, she will
get hit again and you won’t be able to do a thing. Now that
is very unlikely to happen when only one enemy is near her, but if
she is surrounded, this can keep happening again and again and the
only thing that you can do is grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.
Add to that Jennifer’s stiffness and slow responses when she
is trying to strike an enemy, and you are left with a fighting system
that doesn’t work out very well.

So, with a dysfunctional fighting system, a short game and nothing
much to do besides sending Brown to sniffing escapades, what is it
that RoR has to offer? Well, nothing short of two of the most important
elements in survival horror: atmosphere and story. When it comes
to story, RoR is second to none! I have played many survival horror
games – all the most known titles and plenty of the least known –
and I can easily state that RoR positions itself at the top story-wise,
along with Silent Hill 2.

The story begins as what
seems like a normal horror theme, but convolutes with every moment
that passes, becoming a twisted dark mystery that
will have your head spinning trying to figure out what’s going
on. What is the Aristocrats Club? Who is that weird man that keeps
popping up? What is that ghost ship and how did you get there? What
is going on in the “Rose Garden” Orphanage? And every
time you think you found an answer, things will sink you even deeper.
Don’t worry though, all answers will be provided in the end.
Or should I say, all answers may be there in the end! Because in
order to find the answers, you must get the “good” game
ending. By doing so, the game goes forward to an extra month, which
includes explanations of everything that has happened. Just be sure
to pay attention to every detail of what you’ve encountered,
cause every detail counts. Also, the good ending opens a new room
that contains three new outfits with respective weapons and if you
have found a certain item, there will be a fourth outfit and weapon.
An outfit and weapon that make the game irresistible to play again!

Such a storyline could risk falling flat on its face if presented
under a blunt, indifferent ambience. But fear not, for RoR features
one of the most gripping atmospheres I have experienced in a game.
From the very first second you will be taken by the dark and moody
surroundings, and things will pick up and get creepier and creepier.
Everything has been attended to down to the last detail. From the
presentation of the story as a morbid fairy tale, down to the very
last sound effect, RoR is meant to disturb you, and trust me, it
will.

To ensure such a riveting
atmosphere, some really beautiful music and graphics are called
upon. The visuals may not be stunning, but
are certainly pretty, depicting every area in detail and giving you
the illusion that you are indeed in the year 1930. What is stunning
though is the exquisite cut-scenes, which are a visual pleasure.
Also, again with superb attention to detail, everything is designed
as if created by children. Inventory items are children’s drawings,
writing is in chalk and the introductions are animated stick men.
Even the save game icon on the memory card is a kid’s drawing!
On the downside, clipping makes a starring appearance yet again,
with Jennifer and Brown able to fuse together, walls turning to hot
butter allowing weapons to go through them and so on. The music is
of the classical violin and piano type, fitting perfectly for the
1930’s era and adding to the immersion. According to what is
going on, the score can be slow and tranquil or fast and foreboding.
What really stands out though is the acting. And I am not just talking
about the voice-acting, which is brilliant, but also the children
in the cut-scenes. Especially the fat, slightly deranged Amanda,
a combination of marvelous 3D design and astonishing voice-acting
that is guaranteed to give you the chills! Overall, presentation-wise
RoR is absolutely magnificent.

Now what is it that you
are mainly looking for when playing a survival horror game? Is
it decapitating monsters, zombies, telemarketers?
If so, then RoR will disappoint. Actually, due to its limited fighting,
this survival horror game could be considered ideal for adventure
gamers, but unfortunately it also lacks in puzzles, which are almost
non-existent, other than Brown sniffing out stuff. The girl-dog idea
is indeed an excellent idea, but in this case the scales were tipped
heavily towards using the dog’s nose, which made the game very
unbalanced. But if what you’re after is a good twisted mystery
and a game that will creep you out, in deeper ways and beyond “boo,
I jumped out of the closet”, then you should consider checking-out
RoR. See it from the point of view of the story and you will certainly
be rewarded.