It's a proven fact at this point: little kids in videogames (and real life at times) can be every bit as scary as even the most gruesome creature that any imaginative game developer or artist can conceive. Many games have used children to generate chills (F.E.A.R. comes to mind as one), but none have done it as disturbingly well as Atlus USA's wicked new survival horror adventure on the PS2, Rule of Rose.

Although sticking tightly to almost every survival horror convention, Rule of Rose is more along the lines of Silent Hill than the guns blazing Resident Evil series; it's a psychological horror adventure where the emphasis is firmly on weaving a twisted and compelling narrative that's permeated with a dark and dreary cinematic atmosphere. Nineteen-year-old Jennifer is the sad and unfortunate star of this cruel tale, and you follow along in her agony as she becomes a pawn in a torturous game run by the demented group of children known as the Aristocrats of the Red Crayon. Shortly following her arrival at the Rose Garden Orphanage, where she is sent after losing her parents in an airship accident, Jennifer is kidnapped by the Aristocrat Club and taken aboard a huge zeppelin, where she is forced to find and bring certain gifts to the club's offering door every month - or else face the consequences, which include being stuffed in a bag and having a bunch of nasty bugs tossed in, or having a dead rat on a stick put in her face (damn, these kids are vicious!)

The developers clearly aimed to present the storyline in a fairytale, storybook style, and boy did they pull it off with tremendous success! The story unfolds through collecting and reading various storybooks that set the scene for the events of the chapter at hand, while the in-engine cut scenes, amazing CG sequences and brief on-screen text messages all meld together into a truly engaging narrative. With multiple endings depending upon how the final boss is defeated, as well as all sorts of hidden items and optional material to uncover, the story also has plenty of depth and longevity beyond its initial eight hours of completion time.

Superb audio and graphical design play prominent roles in the impact of the storytelling and atmosphere, led most of all by the cinematic musical score, which happens to be one of the best game soundtracks of the year. The voice acting is another high point, although I wish more were recorded to back the entire script, rather than only the important scenes as was ultimately done, and the creepy ambiance of environmental creaks, groans and bone-chilling chants, whispers and giggles of the children all amount to one aurally atmospheric gem.

The same goes for the graphical quality, consisting of realistically modeled characters, detailed environments, outstanding lighting and shadowing and the gorgeously rendered CG videos (of which there is nearly an hour's worth throughout the game). You'll be whisked through the woods early on prior to reaching the orphanage, then aboard the dark, mysterious and almost labyrinthine zeppelin after being kidnapped, and back for a longer return visit through the orphanage mansion in the end, all the while dealing with the children among the Aristocrat Club monitoring your every move from around seemingly every corner and avoiding (or fighting) some of the strangest imp creatures you've ever seen. The art style used in the environments and character outfits fit the 1930s England setting very well, and the creature designs exude creativity. Some minor object clipping and issues with hard-to-read text sully the presentation every so slightly, but overall this is a fine visual showcase for the PS2.

Great story, audio and graphics are nothing without solid gameplay though, and thankfully Rule of Rose is up to the task in this area. Similarly to other story-based horror games, Rule of Rose's gameplay focuses on exploration and puzzle solving rather than action, and as expected these elements have all been implemented very well. The puzzles aren't of the typical block and switch variety either, but more along the lines of searching environments, finding items and using collected clues to make it through the Aristocrat Club's sick game and unravel the mystery behind them. To help in this, Jennifer is aided by Brown, her loyal canine companion, who acts as a guide through the ominous environments. Upon finding an item, you can equip it and have Brown track its scent to lead you to important areas of interest, and by using a simple control scheme of commands you can order Brown to stay or follow at the push of a button, or even have him bark and distract enemies to give you an opening to run by or sneak in for a clear attack.

The exploration does drag things down at times when some backtracking is required, coupled with frequent load times between rooms, but ultimately the adventure elements here work very well and the command mechanics with Brown provide a unique feel to the gameplay. As a long-time survival horror fan, I also appreciated how well the inventory system has been put together, mainly the simple ability to drop an item no matter where you are and have it automatically allocated to your stock bucket in the save point rooms. It may not be realistic, but it eliminates the hassle of having to go out of the way to find a save room in order to clear out your inventory so you can pick up an important item - I'll take playability over hyper-realism any day.

The combat and action seem like an afterthought in Rule of Rose, however, and it definitely shows. The majority of the time simply running away from the bizarre creatures, that come at you is the best way to survive, because Jennifer and her arsenal of pipes, knives, axes, shovels and ice picks isn't capable of taking on large groups of enemies without exerting a lot of energy - and rightly so, considering the crazy monstrosities she's up against, including the imp-like monsters that appear to be mutated kids with pig, rabbit, bird, goat, fish and other animal heads. On the other hand, occasional boss fights and forced combat situations do make sure there is a little action and challenge to break up the pace, and overall the combat fares well. The combat system itself can be a bit clunky due to the lack of any type of targeting system, which leads to a lot of swinging and missing until you learn the ropes, but once you have it down, landing blows becomes quite satisfying as the blood sprays and enemies squeal in pain.

Rule of Rose is without doubt a showcase game for the survival horror genre, standing tall above many of the top contenders. Action junkies looking for the next Resident Evil might find the pace a little slow, and the core gameplay doesn't do anything wildly different, but this is still a wonderful psychological thriller that will draw you in with its bizarrely compelling narrative, atmospheric presentation and thoughtful story-based gameplay. So wait until you're alone, turn out the lights and prepare to discover just how disturbing it can be when children go bad...

Reviewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).