Rule of Rose

List Price: $39.99 Discount Price: $37.78

Features:

• Befriend a faithful dog and work together to locate crucial items
• Intense melee combat against bloodthirsty monsters
• Musical score by Yutaka Minobe (Panzer Dragoon Saga, Skies of Arcadia)
• An immersive storyline with 50 minutes of award-nominated CG scenes (Official Selection of the Annecy 2006 International Animated Film Festival)
• Multiple endings and hidden extras

Accessories:
PlayStation: The Official Magazine (1-year)	Electronic Gaming Monthly	Play	Tips & Tricks Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Such a sad, unlucky girl... [Posted on 2008-07-06]
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.

Get ready to die... over and over and over again ! [Posted on 2008-09-21]
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.

Rule of Rose [Posted on 2008-09-26]
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

The Need to Know Basis on Rule of Rose: [Posted on 2008-10-03]
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.

Rule of rose PS2 Game [Posted on 2008-10-30]
Have not played the game. as we brought it and did not realise that it would not be compatible with NZ PS2 console.

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