ONION GAMES RULE OF ROSE SERIES

You'll wander the same lonely corridors again and again, collecting objects and solving a nominal handful of barely taxing puzzles as you go. As far as survival horror games go, Rule of Rose is about as traditional as it gets. Where it all starts to go hideously wrong though is in the gameplay itself. Thanks to some brilliant characterizations, a consistently intriguing, imaginative narrative and lovingly rendered locations, Rule of Rose is undoubtedly one of the most compelling, involving games we've played in a long, long time. If there's one area where Rule of Rose warrants nothing but praise, it's in its attempt to present a complex psychological yarn that's certainly a step over the usual alien-encounter pap we're generally treated to as gamers.

ONION GAMES RULE OF ROSE SERIES

You see, without wanting to give too much away, the game unfolds as a series of vignettes all representing moments from Jennifer's tortured past and, the further you proceed, the clearer her memories become. There are certainly a few sequences here that'll no doubt raise an eyebrow - anyone who's played the game will probably flinch at the words 'onion bag' for ever more - but it's all presented with remarkable restraint. Just to get it out of the way once and for all though - is the game a obscene proponent of child torture? No, of course it isn't. In case you're wondering about that 'controversial' element, it's here - with a minority of the beautifully-presented cut scenes focussing on Jennifer's torment at the hands of the Red Crayon Aristocrats.

Along the way, you'll fall foul of the Red Crayon Aristocrats, a domineering clique of children with a fondness for humiliating punishments, exacted on anyone who crosses them. In a nutshell, Rule of Rose sees you take on the role of nineteen year-old Jennifer, an 'unlucky girl' (as the game would have it) as you search to uncover the meaning behind your incarceration in strange, fish-shaped zeppelin high over 1930s England. Unfortunately, there's one thing it does so desperately wrong, it may as well not have bothered with anything else. Actually, that's probably a little unfair - there's an incredible amount that Rule of Rose does very, very right.

Well, for all the brouhaha surrounding Rule of Rose, for all its 'controversial' subject matter and clamouring for the game's ban, there's one simple fact, almost guaranteed to ensure the game never corrupts the European masses - it's a bit rubbish.

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