At E3 I played Ju-On: The Grudge with magical auto-recharging flashlight batteries. In the game you play as a family member afflicted by the curse and explore haunted areas only carrying a flashlight. When the batteries run out you’re toast. I didn’t have to worry about that, but I stopped to pick up extra batteries as I wandered through the dark building.
Ju-On: The Grudge goes for shock scares. A ghastly looking girl grabbed my arm when I tried to open a door. I shook her off by waving the remote and then opened the door again. This time she was gone and I met a new ghost. Sort of. A pale faced kid just popped up on the screen with tense music. Then bloody footprints started appearing. The ghosts didn’t attack me and it wasn’t like I had anything to fight them with. Ju-On: The Grudge is completely about exploration and finding keys to press forward.
I didn’t get to scare anyone or myself with a second remote, but I asked about the frighten-a-friend system. When you press buttons on another Wii remote you can scare a player with events like the ghoulish kid jumping out of nowhere.
My impression of Ju-On: The Grudge is it probably wont satiate anyone who would have bought Fatal Frame IV. As Xseed says this title is a “haunted house simulator” with J-horror and Ju-On will be priced accordingly. Xseed plans on selling Ju-On: The Grudge for $29.99, way less than most Wii games.
When I asked what rating Ju-On would get a representative from Xseed said they weren’t sure. It might be “T”, but it could be “M” since the scenes at the end of the game are graphic.
