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Rule of Rose

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Rule of Rose
Developer(s)Punchline
Publisher(s)Sony Computer Entertainment(JP)
Atlus (US)
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
Release January 19, 2006
September 12, 2006
November 3, 2006
Canceled
Genre(s)Survival horror Psychological horror
Mode(s)Single player

Rule of Rose is a survival horror game for the PlayStation 2. Its plot, set in 1930s England, revolves around a nineteen year old woman named Jennifer, who becomes trapped in a world ruled by young girls who have established a class hierarchy called the Red Crayon Aristocrats. The game's graphics are heavily stylised, incorporating a series of visual filters similar to those used in the Silent Hill series. There are also similarities to Haunting Ground, another survival horror game where the main character is accompanied by a canine companion. The enemies are doll-like, yet bleed when attacked, and let out loud child-like yells. The music features heavy use of strings, while three vocal songs in 1930s style are included.

The major theme in the game is the difference between a child's and an adult's way of thinking. This is shown through how Jennifer feels as she is a prisoner of the malicious children, whose behavior is very childlike even while being evil.

Gameplay

Players control Jennifer, a young woman who is lead to an abandoned mansion by a small boy. After experiencing a traumatic event, she wakes up on a virtually abandoned airship which is ruled by a cruel group of children known as the Red Crayon Aristocrats. Under the threat of death, Jennifer must appease the Aristocrats by finding an offering for them each month, whilst piecing together clues and recalling forgotten memories which will ultimately allow her to escape their clutches.

The game flows like many games in the survival horror genre: the player explores the game environment looking for restorative items, furthering the plot by accomplashing tasks and experiencing cut-scenes whilst sporadically encountering enemies and bosses.

In addition to the standard survival horror gameplay, Rule of Rose incorporates the repeated use of Brown's ability to locate items in order to further the plot. When players select an item from the inventory for Brown to locate, they can instruct him to lead the way to that item. This system is used to locate a variety of items and is an integral aspect of both game progression and finding health restoratives. Brown can also be commanded to return to Jennifer and to 'stay'.

Most items can be used to locate between one and three other types of item, be they a scrap of paper needed to proceed further in the game or a marble. These possible finds are affixed to that particular item, so in order to find the bulk of items available in any chapter, Brown must be shown various items.

Most food items and trinkets are hidden and must be uncovered by Brown, though the player can choose to avoid searching for these items in order to progress more quickly. Food is used to restore Jennifer's energy, there are different types which heal varying amounts of health. Bones and other items can be used to restore Brown's health if he becomes injured. Trinkets such as marbles and ribbons have no immediate use, but may be traded with the Aristocrats in order to obtain food and other items.

Combat is almost exclusively melee, with a variety of improvised weapons available, such as kitchen knives and pipes. Jennifer is a timid character, her melee attacks are neither powerful nor long-ranged. Evasion of enemies is often used instead of standing and fighting. With the exception of a handful of bosses, all enemies in the game are imps - skinny, almost doll-like creatures the size of small children. Their skin is a sickly grey colour, the black openings of their mouths and eyes give them a ghost-like appearance. Different animal-headed imps appear throughout the game, alongside their regular brethren.

Brown does not attack enemies, but will growl and distract both enemies and bosses, particularly the smaller imps. He can be injured to the point of collapse, however, so the player must defend Brown if they want him to continue past enemies and locate items.

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Story

The game focuses on Jennifer, an "unlucky girl" who, after stumbling onto an old orphanage finds herself on a fantastical Zeppelin which appears to be run by a group of children called the Aristocrats of the Red Crayon. She must perform a variety of tasks for the Red Crayon Aristocrats while trying to understand her situation.

Characters

Main characters

  • Amanda: The small-hearted Princess. Prior to Jennifer's arrival, Amanda held the lowest social ranking: Miserable. Initially thankful to Jennifer for lessening the ill treatment she receives, Amanda expressed remorse for following the Aristocrat Club's orders at the end of April. However, as time goes on and Jennifer succeeds Amanda's ranking, a newfound hatred grows within her.
  • Brown: The faithful companion of Jennifer who she found as a child. In the beginning of the game, he can be found bound and hung from the ceiling. After freeing him, he stays with her throughout the game and assists her both in combat and finding key items and food.
  • Diana: The strong-willed Princess, ranked Duchess; the highest social placement in the Aristocracy under the Princess of the Red Rose. She is the object of affection for Meg.
  • Eleanor: The cold Princess, ranked Countess. She carries around an often-empty birdcage. Her special level (The Bird Of Happiness) was one in which Jennifer was to try to rescue The Bird Of Happiness by finding the combination to the many layers of lock boxes it was locked in. This, however, ends badly in the death of Eleanor's bird in which she spent the level whistling for. She doesn't say anything; just grabs the bird's corpse from Jennifer and drops it into the monthly gift box. Jennifer then finds a part of her promise to her "dear friend": "Everlasting."
  • Gregory M. Wilson: A man whose son died. Whether it be in part due to the aforementioned potential guilt or solely due to the loss of his son, Gregory was emotionally unstable when he rescued Jennifer from the airship. He took her back to his home; thereafter, he treated her like his son and called her by his name.
  • Jennifer: The poor, unlucky girl whose parents died aboard an airship. She was taken in by Gregory Wilson, whose son died. In the game, she is (or appears to be) 19. (When she speaks against The Red Crayon Aristocrats at the end of November). Brown, a yellow labrador retriever she found as a child when he was still a puppy, is found in the beginning.
  • Meg (Margaret): The wise-looking Princess, ranked Baroness. In September, she wrote a love letter to Diana, which went ill-received. Her special Level in which illustrates this (The Goat Sisters) is one in which she is looking frantically for something when Jennifer sees her.
  • Wendy: She is a very sickly girl who spends most of her time either laying in the bed in the sickbay or playing with caged animals.

Minor characters

  • Clara: The frightened princess. A certain scene in November suggests that Mr. Hoffman engaged in sexual activities with her against her will. In the Mermaid Princess chapter, Clara legs are tied in the likeness of a mermaid fin, and hung from the ceiling, earning her the title of The Unmarried Mermaid.
  • Mr. Hoffman: The headmaster of the Rose Garden Orphanage, and can be found in the sickbay on the airship. He didn't much mind caring for the orphanage, and rather took a liking to the children; Clara especially. But with Jennifer's arrival, he finally found a child whom he utterly abhorred and eventually fled the place.
  • Joshua the Bear: A teddy bear who sits beside the doll with the red dress in the Aristocrat Club. It was Jennifer's when she lived with Gregory, but she traded it to Wendy for her rose broach in June. Although Joshua the Bear has strong ties to Jennifer, it eventually leads to Jennifer's ruination when she is framed for stealing it and ripping its tail off.
  • Martha: The Queen of Cleaning, as dubbed by the Aristocrat Club. An older woman, she scrubs the orphanage and airship, referring to Jennifer as a "filthy wretch". Whilst aboard the airship, she is beaten severely by imps for being suspected as a witch. During her stay at the orphanage, she is the only adult who tries to get in contact with the police, about the disappearing children and Wendy's training of the mysterious man hanging around the orphanage, Gregory. Her warnings and suspicions fall of deaf ears, and she eventually leaves the orphanage.
  • Nicholas: The sloppy Prince. He and Xavier often play with makeshift swords.
  • Olivia: The tearful Princess. She's very young, and as her title suggests, is easily brought to tears. She can often be seen crouched over on the floor and weeping. Sometimes she cries out "Oh, daddy, don't go!!".
  • Peter the Rabbit: A rabbit that Wendy acquired not long after Jennifer met Brown. Jennifer remarks in January that she wondered if Wendy really cared for it at all.
  • Susan: The impetuous Princess. She looks up to Meg almost like an older sister, since Meg taught her how to read. There is evidence of this in the first chapter, where Susan is slowly reading The Unlucky Clover Field to Meg.
  • Thomas: The mischievous Prince. He has an obsession with trains that is rumored to be connected to his birth in some manner.
  • Xavier: The gluttonous Prince. He and Nicholas often play with makeshift swords.

Bosses

Certain chapters of Rule of Rose contain boss characters. Unlike ordinary enemies they can absorb a lot of damage and possess highly damaging attacks.

  • Mr. Hoffman: The first boss players confront in the game. Mr. Hoffman appears to have been bound with wool or string into an uncomfortable position, allowing him to move but causing him to stagger. He appears demented and glares at Jennifer lopsidedly as he moves in to attack. He attacks by striking at Jennifer with a whip or by trying to leap on top of her, pinning her down and sapping her energy.
  • Goat Sisters: The Goat Sisters are a pair of goat imps, one black and one white, that attack Jennifer with a pitchfork and a large pair of scissors. Jennifer and Brown are locked in a small luggage room with them and are forced to defeat them before they can escape. It's rumored that these goats are Mary and Sally, the ones mentioned previously in the chapter, and they can be found somewhere on the airship.
  • Unmarried Mermaid: The Unmarried Mermaid is the boss of the Chapter The Mermaid Princess. The Mermaid appears as Clara, with her feet and her legs bound to suggest her being a mermaid. She is hoisted by a winch, dropping from the ceiling to attack then being reeled back up. She attacks in three ways, trying to land on Jennifer while falling from the ceiling, striking at Jennifer by swinging her arms, or by vomiting a thick liquid onto the floor that continually hurts Jennifer if she happens to be standing in it.
  • Stray Dog: Stray Dog is the final boss of the game, he is a huge, broad-shouldered man, clad only in shorts and walking on all-fours like a dog. He growls constantly, attacking Jennifer by swinging at her, leaping at her, or attacking with a double uppercut using both of his fists. Stray Dog is mentioned all through the game, though his true form and nature is not revealed until players are forced to defeat him.

Controversy

At E3 2006 Atlus announced that they would be releasing Rule of Rose in the United States, following Sony's decision to pass on a US release. This was on the grounds of the game's erotic undertones involving a cast of female minors. The developers have disagreed with this, saying that the sexual themes are not the main focus and are only a small part of the game.

Release of this game raised controversies in Poland, where the conservative Ministry of Education raised questions concerning its appropriateness for minors (it's rated 16+) because of the themes of child violence and sexuality. The Ministry informed the official prosecutor's office of possible crime.

European Union justice minister Franco Frattini attacked the game as "obscene" and wrote to governments urging tighter controls on games which "glorify violence, sometimes extreme violence".

According to news site The Register, Frattini received a letter from Viviane Reding, commissioner for the information society and media, who criticises Frattinis actions: "It is...very unfortunate that my services were not pre-consulted before your letter to the Ministers of Interior was sent out," Reding writes, reminding him of the commission backed self-regulating ratings system called PEGI that has operated across the EU since 2003.

The PEGI system of classification, according to the Reding letter, offers "informed adult choice" without censoring content. "This is in line with the Commission's view that measures taken to protect minors and human dignity must be carefully balanced with the fundamental right to freedom of expression as laid down in the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the European Union," writes Reding to Frattini.

The publisher has chosen to cancel the release of the game in the UK following complaints by Frattini and other EU officials, and "largely misleading" commentary from the UK press. It will however be released in the rest of Europe. Review copies of the title had already shipped to UK journalists when this was announced. The UK body which had granted the title its 16+ PEGI rating (the Video Standards Council) responded to the press and Frattini's comments thus:

I have no idea where the suggestion of in-game sadomasochism has come from, nor children being buried underground. These are things that have been completely made up. We’re not worried about our integrity being called into question, because Mr Frattini’s quotes are nonsense.

The game was also banned in Australia.

Critical response

Critical response to the title has been lukewarm, with a few very positive and very negative reviews. The game has obtained a Metacritic metascore of 59 and a Game Rankings average ratio of 61%. It is generally agreed that the title has an interesting plot, with The Onion observing that "aside from a few deep curtsies and an unlockable gothic Lolita costume, the characters are more sinister than sexualised". However the gameplay is widely lambasted as clumsy, archaic, and unrewarding. The press was generally divided upon how much the gameplay detracts from one's ability to enjoy the story itself. A few notable exceptions are Edge magazine, which found neither plot nor gameplay appealing "It’s just a murky brew of meaningless, exploitative dysfunction filling an empty game, and it leaves a bitter taste" and Acegamez, which not only admired the game's plot, but also found the gameplay appealing if slow, "a wonderful psychological thriller that will draw you in with its bizarrely compelling narrative, atmospheric presentation and thoughtful story-based gameplay".

References

  1. Brudvig, Erik (2006-05-11). ""E3 2006: Rule of Rose Hands-On"". IGN. Retrieved 2006-08-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Speer, Justin. ""Rule of Rose Preview"". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-03-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. Sinclair, Brendan (2006-05-11). ""E3 06: Rule of Rose headed to USA"". GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-06-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. Anderson, Nate (2006-06-08). ""Citing its underage eroticism, Sony America pulls plug on Japanese video game"". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2006-08-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. Piotr Waglowski (2006-11-18). ""Rządy Róży - kontrowersyjna gra na Play Station 2"" (in Polish). Retrieved 2006-11-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Text "Waglowski, Piotr "VaGla"" ignored (help)
  6. ""EU minister attacks horror game"". BBC News Online. 2006-11-16. Retrieved 2006-11-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ""Euro commissioners swap slaps in video game row"". The Register. 2006-11-27. Retrieved 2006-11-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. "Rule of Rose Plucked From UK Shelves". IGN. 2006-11-24. Retrieved 2006-11-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ""505 Games pulls Rule Of Rose release"". MCV. 2006-11-24. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ""Rule Of Rose's UK Release Cancelled"". Gamasutra. 2006-11-24. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "Rule of Rose Games Homepage". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. "Rule of Rose Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2007-03-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. Dahlen, Chris (2006-09-11). "Rule of Rose Review". The Onion. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. "PS2 Review - 'Rule of Rose'". Worth Playing. 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. Gallaway, Brad (2006-09-20). "Rule of Rose Review". Game Critics. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. Lachel, Cyril (2006-09-12). "Rule of Rose Review". Gaming Nexus. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. Kasavin, Greg (2006-09-23). "Rule of Rose for PlayStation 2 Review". Gamespot. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. Litten, Matt. "Reviewed - Rule of Rose". Ace Gamez. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

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