Nintendo this week announced via its Nintendo Direct video newsletter that the very creepy horror game Project Zero II will be coming to Wii. Talking about the game in the video announcement, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata described it as a “horror adventure where you explore a village that has vanished from the map.” Gameplay involves a lot of poking around in dark corners where you use your Wii Remote as a torch and take pictures with your camera to exorcise spirits. Iwata goes on to explain that the Wii version is actually a remake of the 2003 game, Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly, and that Nintendo has been working in co-operation with Tecmo Koei Games to create the new version, with the graphics and character modeling all being redone, and the camera angles and controls reworked from scratch to maximize the experience of playing the game with the Wii Remote. “You will be able to experience the kind of atmosphere you can only find in Japanese-style horror” says Iwata, who adds that the new version of the game also lets two people play together, and features a brand new mode, although he’s not giving away any more details about that just yet.
Iwata also introduced a preview clip from the game, which, despite being in Japanese and not having any subtitles, still managed to get across the point that the game is pretty scary and unsettling. If you’ve played either the first or original version of the second game on other consoles, you’ll know that it’s very typical Japanese-style psychological horror similar to movies such as The Ring and The Grudge. It’s probably one of the most disturbing games to grace the Wii to date, but good to see Nintendo still prepared to try something a little different on the old console.
Project Zero II: Wii Edition will be released in Japan on June 28, but no word yet as to when it will be released elsewhere, although it has most definitely been confirmed by Nintendo for a European release, where it will provisionally have an 16 age certificate.
Source: Nintendo
