Video Games : Rule of Rose

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from: Atlus Video Games

: Rule of Rose

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Amazon Minimum Age: 204 months
Binding: Video Game
Brand: Atlus
EAN: 0730865530205
ESRB Age Rating: Mature
Label: Atlus Video Games
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Manufacturer: Atlus Video Games
Model: RR530205
Platform: PlayStation2
Publisher: Atlus Video Games
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Sales Rank: 1961
Studio: Atlus Video Games

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Rule Of Rose takes you into the past for incredible and strange gaming action. It is March, 1930 when young Jennifer's parents are killed in a tragic airship accident. She is sent to Rose Garden Orphanage, in a remote portion of the English countryside. In this dilapidated building, a ragtag mob of children who call themselves the "Aristocracy of the Red Crayon" rule. They kidnap her and take her into the dark heart of an impossibly large zeppelin, on a meandering course for a distant land. Now, with the help of a canine companion named Brown, Jennifer has to find valuable gifts for the Aristocracy, or suffer a fatal punishment for her insolence...



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - The Need to Know Basis on Rule of Rose:
The storyline of this game is fantastic and the horror elements incorporated into the world to make it not only surreal but deeply and disturbingly haunted are wonderful. The music is also absolutely amazing.

However, like many reviewers before me, I have to admit that the game play itself is terrible. The game is not fun or easy unless you are a seriously hardened Horror/Survival player. Your heroin Jennifer is a delicate flower who is killed far too quickly and managing your saves effectively to combat this is not easy. She -will- die and you will repeat sections of this game over and over and over again. Jennifer is ineffective in battle, in most cases you can escape but bosses can be a ridiculous affair if you have not greedily stock piled every health boost.

My advice to any potential buyer is to know what you want from this game. I read the reviews (if you would like even more details definitely read the other great reviews) but I decided to buy it anyway for the storyline. So, if you're like me and in to a good nightmare then the game really -is- worth every penny and the frustration the game play inspires.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Rule of Rose
Creepy game with a twisted story line and characters that are sadistic to boot. worth the buy and the story telling of the game make it worth replying more than once


Rating: 1 out of 5 stars - Get ready to die... over and over and over again !
Combat system is so bad that you might as well plan on dying and replaying since your last save. One little girl with a dinner knife against 50 imps is sure death. Expect to replay many sections over and over and over again.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Such a sad, unlucky girl...
What an oddity 'Rule of Rose' is! Why would anyone choose to play a game in which the main character is a nervous, awkward teenage girl and the story the game tells could best be described as disturbing? And yet, there's lots of good answers to this question. How about, just for starters: beautiful graphics, unique gameplay, and a compelling and rich plotline?

The graphics of 'Rule of Rose' are one of the things that sold me on the game almost immediately. Just watch the game's opening trailer to get a taste of what you'll see -- visually lush and beautiful animations, expressive characters, and a style perfectly suited to the game's story. Like the 'Silent Hill' series, 'Rule of Rose' takes a simple real-world environment and wraps it in darkness and just a slight tinge of surrealism to keep you off-guard. As gorgeous as the backdrop is, the creatures and dark edges of the story are rendered just as lovingly, products of a twisted imagination. In some scenes, sun streams through huge windows and bathes the world in a golden glow, while later the same windows are darkened except for occasional flashes of lightning, illuminating shuffling figures and featureless masks for faces. The visual style of 'Rule of Rose' is breathtaking, both terrible and beautiful.

Playing through 'Rule of Rose' can be frustrating at times. Jennifer, the main character of the game, is awkward, kind of slow, and clumsy with weapons. She is no fighter and is easily overpowered. This makes sense for the way the game's story is told, but can still make the experience difficult sometimes. This is more than offset, though, by the added dynamic of Jennifer's faithful friend, Brown the dog. Once you find and befriend him (early on in the game), Brown becomes your indispensible companion. He will help you find everything from restorative items (scones and lollipops for Jennifer, bacon and bones for Brown) to the next item needed to progress the story (everything from keys to teddy bears) and more. Brown also helps Jennifer in combat by frightening some enemies and giving Jennifer a better chance to strike or run away. Jennifer by herself may have made for a somewhat weak and frustrating experience overall, but playing 'Rule of Rose' with Jennifer and Brown is considerably more interesting.

Which all leads to the story. Told mainly through a series of crudely-drawn storybooks Jennifer finds and assembles along the way, 'Rule of Rose' is like a modern-day Grimm's fairytale gone horribly wrong. Thematically, the nearest comparison I can think of is William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies,' as 'Rule of Rose' is another story is which children are left to discover a society all of their own making (the mysterious Aristocrats of the Red Crayon), and the result is seldom pretty to look at. The children in 'Rule of Rose' are cruel and malicious to one another, as conniving and manipulative as any adults, and as selfish. Even so, 'Rule of Rose' is hard to turn away from, once begun. The storybook motif and the way the stories translate to Jennifer's reality are compelling, and in their own twisted way, beautiful too. Discovering the fate of the Aristocrats and the identity of the mysterious Stray Dog kept me playing to the bitter end.

Add in a surprisingly touching music score by Yutaka Minobe, consisting mainly of string arrangements that are positively haunting, and chillingly effective voice acting for each character, and 'Rule of Rose' comes together as an occasionally frustrating but overall compelling game.

Mind you, 'Rule of Rose' is not for everyone. The story features cruel behavior among children, and hints at physical and sexual abuse and cruelty to animals. There is very little that is overtly shown, but the undercurrent of dread and the implications of the story will frighten some and downright offend others. On the other end of the spectrum, those who like action games packed with blood and mayhem are likely to be disappointed by the slow pace of the story and the limited combat moves of the the teenage heroine. For those, however, who can appreciate a dark fairy tale, who can see beauty even in terror, who believe that even the story of a sad, unlucky, lonely girl has merit, 'Rule of Rose' is a game well worth the playing.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Worth your time if...
Rule of Rose is a great game if you are into symbolism. The combat is very limited and is not the mail focus of the game (as made clear by the poor choice of weapons). You are given items such as a fork and small knife to fight initially, so really you are merely meant to explore and survive rather than track down monsters and be a slayer (except of course during boss battles).
What's great about this game is the mystery. Each level is separated into two parts basically: exploration time and escape/fight time. During exploration time, little to no monsters are present and your character is free to check all of the accessible rooms and read clues as to what is going on. It's very hard to get lost and its usually pretty obvious what you have to do, thanks to Brown -the dog.
If you play through it once, you probably will not understand everything that happened (especially if you achieve the game over ending).
What I liked most about this game was reading about the children and analyzing them and Jennifer. The complex characters and mystery of just what is going on makes this game great.
To put simply what I should have started out saying, if you're into a lot of action and killing, this may not be your type of game. If you prefer to run from monsters and focus on plot and characters (and you don't mind lesbians, cruelty and animal violence) then this game you may find suitable for your taste.
The game's theme of the cruelty of children from an adult's perspective is really rather thought provoking and just plain awesome.

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