Rule of Rose

Mama always said to not go out into the middle of the forest at night.

The term survival horror game conjures up vivid images of mobs of flesh eating zombies, packs of undead dogs, and firearms --lots of firearms. However, cognitive gamers will recall a time when survival horror was less about the massive legions of supernatural monsters and more about the ambiance of the environment.

Rule of Rose belongs to this old school fraternal genre which puts as much emphasis on the shock value as the disturbing value. These games differ from your average survival horror titles because it's really all about the journey and the individual gamers mind rather than ammo, health packs, and reaction time.

What? My Thirteen-Year-Old British Girl Can't Wield A Rocket Launcher?

In Rule of Rose, you'll assume the role of Jennifer, a prepubescent English girl who is given an eerie book by a mysterious boy on a bus. You follow the boy off the bus into the woods and discover an old abandoned orphanage where very strange and horrible things start to happen. Soon after, you'll find yourself in indentured servitude to a sick and twisted group of rug rats who call themselves "The Aristocrats of the Red Canyon." You must please these little monsters or they will kill you.

Our hands-on build of Rule of Rose sports eerie, almost otherworldly, fantastical environments. While the game supposedly takes place in 1930's England, things happen in the game that really can't be explained by traditional logic. You get the overwhelming feeling that something is really wrong with this world and Jennifer really needs to escape. The game also sports a very similar style of presentation to the original Silent Hill PlayStation game with its grainy filtered graphics, and simple controls.

A Mansion Full Of Terror

Rule of Rose's control interface seems pretty comparable to other survival horror genre titles like Fatal Frame, and Resident Evil. You'll have all the prerequisite movement controls at your disposable, including movement, interaction, attack stance, attack, reload, and limited camera controls. The only real deviance from the traditional control scheme is the added shake off feature instituted by moving the left thumbstick back and forth.

One of the cool features of Rule of Rose is that you'll be able to add a canine companion, named Brown, to your arsenal of items and abilities. You can order Brown to find specific items, move around, give hugs, and even bark at perceived threats.

Dogs Don't Do Well Against Monsters

Since you are playing as a little girl, you won't be karate kicking and double-wielding pistols in this game. Weapons are limited to ordinary or improvised weapons --the first weapon you'll receive is a salad fork. It's especially important to remember that you're not supposed to fight every enemy you come across.

However, the biggest controversy surrounding Rule of Rose is the subject matter. Rule of Rose was designed and developed by Sony Japan earlier this year, but they didn't want to localize and publish the game over here, so Atlus picked it up. Many people assume that it's because of the subject matter. The entire game revolves around little girls. Some of these miniature terrors are disturbingly evil. While you can't kill any of the children in the game, some of the early enemies resemble little children and it's a little sick and twisted to stab a little Imp boy to death with a salad fork to progress the storyline.

Oh No, More Fodder for Jackie Boy

Additionally, you'll find the game full of implied adult subject matter. The game doesn't seem to show any nudity or racy scenes, but there are hints at sadomasochism, and lesbianism. Nothing is overtly shown in the game, but the CG cut scenes will definitely have you squirming uncomfortably in your chair.

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