Rule of Rose

excellent
key review info
  • Game: Rule of Rose
  • Platform: Playstation
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: N/a
  • Reviewed on:

I never thought that a horror survival game could get any better while playing the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. The creators of this production found a way to prove me wrong: Rule of Rose. Superb storytelling and the creepiest kids I have ever seen changed my days into living nightmares, controllers attached. Some people play games to relax, you know! Rule of Rose kept me tense with its obscure atmosphere and stressful action. The fear was present and heart attack was not very far away. If anyone thinks he ever had childhood trouble, wait till you see the disturbed kids that Punchline pulled out of the hat together with a sadistic rabbit.

Story The game begins with some children with bags on their heads beating something that's half dead and held inside a bag. It seems to be a dog by the sound it makes... Jennifer, a "poor little girl", as the story calls her has just arrived at a seemingly deserted boarding school. She'll explore the location, discovering a secret society that enjoys animal cruelty and has only children as faithful members. Its name is The Aristocrats of the Red Crayon and you'd better remember that, because whenever you'll see a wall with red drawings, you should know that they did it. Rule of Rose has all the child prototypes that we know: the evil fat girl, the annoying little girl with eye glasses, the retarded little boy and some adults: the cleaning lady or the sadistic and creepy headmaster. Everyone is called "prince" or "princes", especially in the case of children that are part of the Aristocrats.

The action of the game takes place in 1930 and I didn't even need to read an in-game document to confirm that as I saw a Zeppelin in the intro and placed the action approximately between the two great world conflicts. You may wonder what's Jennifer doing in this orphanage. She was sent there after her parents died and as you'll find out, every chapter of the game mocks past events of her life. The Aristocrats' main hobby is torturing Jennifer after she'll unwillingly enter their society.

Concept Rule of Rose is a shocking game in any sense that you can think of, considering that you have to deal with crazed children and Stephen King-like storytelling. This is a horror survival game, you know, that third person semi quest game, that involved getting scared and running from vicious zombies and monsters till you got bored. The main character is 80% percent of the times a female, in this sort of games and Rule of Rose is no exception. Jennifer will have a very helpful dog, named Brown and for the first time ever a dog will do something useful in a horror game: he'll sniff items. The player has to select an item from the menu and choose the find option to let Brown sniff the clue in order to find the needed object. Jeniffer will be able to control the dog with her voice by ordering him to come, stay or find something. That can be done by using the square, triangle or circle buttons and if you leave the canine companion still for a couple of minutes he'll lay down and play nice.

It puzzled me to finally see a game that doesn't rely exclusively on the analog control and you can use the directional pad again. Too bad that you can't mess around with the camera with the right analog stick, as many games have this option today and I quite got used to it. Jennifer will not battle thousands of zombies, but weapons will be quite useful in Rule of Rose. I'm talking about knives, pipes, swords or guns and I must say that I have a curiosity. Where does this fetish of having the horror game characters use steel pipes come from? Dying in Rule of Rose is something that you won't do too often, but saving the game is a priority, especially if you live in an area where power failures happen often. In this crazy universe I'm not surprised to see objects talking to me and that is the case of the "saving point" also. Jennifer will meet some sort of dummy made out of a couple of brooms and a bucket and the weird creature, called buckethead knight will save your game or give you hints.

Considering that, the poor unlucky girl is not Rambo, she won't be able to carry more than 12 items and things will tend to get crowded, so you'll better drop the useless objects every now and then. There are special bins designed for that sole purpose and they were strategically placed near the save points. I played half of the game thinking that Jennifer couldn't die, to wake up killed by a group of little zombies. In fact, there's even a very subtle health meter hidden in the menu brought up by the start button. It's a shaking line drawn near the picture of a girl and her dog. Rule of Rose is divided into chapters; you'll notice that by seeing the names of the saved games that usually are months' names.

Gameplay I had absolutely no problem with playing this game, no annoying control system, no camera problems, no crazy menu stuff, it was all OK. However the constant running around and getting lost kind of frustrated me. There were maps, but in order to find them you had to get lost and accidentally bump into them. There are some....zombies in the game although I had said earlier that this is a horror game without dark creatures. As Jennifer strolls around a Zeppelin and an orphanage she'll wield a pretty big pipe that would make a double light saber jealous. A curiosity of mine is where the young girl hides that giant weapon when she equips a knife. Back to the "normal" stuff, if you'll ever get hurt and need health bad you should use lollipops and other such items.

Brown, the canine character of this sadistic adventure, will give a helping...paw when you'll fight bosses by biting them or barking. His usual job description is: a great item finder. The Silent Hill fans will want to prove that they have a pretty big IQ, solving the puzzles of the cult horror game, but instead they'll wake up chasing butterflies or rabbits in order to put them in a wooden box. Bizarre? That's the middle name of the game, considering that bins, doors and boxes talk to you. I am going to try a description of the foes... They are little, dry creatures, that resemble mummified children or men with rabbit heads.

They prefer to attack in groups as size is not their advantage and their only "move" is hopping on your belly and biting you. You can shake them off by using the left analog stick and moving it forward and backward. A very critic gamer might say that Jeniffer is a kind girl that really doesn't know how to use sharp objects, but he might also say that the controls were badly implemented. Picking up objects is a very weird matter, because the young miss will bend and pick the item up a meter away from its placement on the screen. Also, the way Jennifer fights is interesting: she'll cover her eyes and hit the air randomly, cutting a few foes in the process.

Video The game began with graphics that disappointed me, but as things progressed so did the visual part. The cutscenes are very well done and the grotesque atmosphere suits the game perfectly. Candles are lit all over the place and the childish, but simple drawings could freak even the bravest man out. If you really take all the drawings and symbols from the game and try to put all this together, you'll get a really good horror book, with storytelling a la Stephen King. The plot unfolds in a very elaborate way and the old-movie style is present, when black screens appear on the screen telling your sad sick story.

Back to the ugly part, I really do not appreciate the fact that Jennifer can pass through Brown or many walls for that matter. Taking a closer look, the door opening animations remind me of the good old days of Resident Evil when each open door meant a new frightening situation. Some may claim that all the environments are the same, but each room will change in a very freaky way as you progress through the game. Spider webs will appear all of a sudden and I haven't even started mentioning the horrible drawings on the wall: fishes, faces, dogs being tortured. They're all drawn in red crayon...or was it blood? Consoles never benefited of such well done graphical engines, I can tell you that.

At one point of the game, Jennifer was running down a hall and a huge shadow moved on the wall and I instantly realized that it was Brown running to catch up with me. That shadow was superbly done, you could see each paw lifting as the animal ran. It was funny for a gamer caught in the midst of wetting his pants with fear to see how the blood of the monsters looks like. Whenever they'll get hit or cut, the screen will get splashed with some sort of a red liquid wave of..."blood". Those are not setbacks, but little defects, that won't take away the beautiful atmosphere of this horror game.

Sound This game has the perfect sound. If I'll ever make a horror game, this is the way that I'll want it to sound. Silent Hill was the only game that had such a dark and creepy soundtrack, but Rule of Rose manages to take things to a new level. You'll hear children whispering exactly the things that are happening in that moment. The characters may be children that are 14 years old, but some of them sure sound like they were 30. Those pure voices, those lovely accents, the soft-spoken words before the torture...lovely, just lovely. I can say that the producers went a bit off the edge with the sounds made by the hellish creatures that will attack Jennifer. They scream too loud and sound like baby birds crying for food, but I must say that little miss main character has a pretty nice scream and voice.

Some little child will cry and you'll hear him miles away, while the poor Brown being tortured will be a very painful audio experience. The cello is the main instrument that you'll hear and if this doesn't get you depressed, wait till you hear the piano. This sort of music is perfect for Rule of Rose, as it suits the historic time and the paranoia that this game can cause. Whispers come from all around, while engine noises, cries, barking sounds will make you tremble.

Conclusion If you need a reason to stay up at night, other than homework, Rule of Rose is the perfect thing for you. Take the deep sensation of fear from Silent Hill, the alert gameplay of Resident Evil and maybe the useful dog of Forbidden Siren 2, put them all in a blender and you'll get a cocktail called success. I was afraid that 2006 would end without a decent new horror game. Punchline had the guts to try something new and created a universe not for the faint-hearted.

Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
Review image
story 9
gameplay 8
concept 8
graphics 8
audio 10
multiplayer 0
final rating 9
Editor's review
excellent