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Ju-on: The Grudge (video game)
Encyclopedia
Ju-on: The Grudge—Haunted House Simulator, known in Japan as titled Ju-On: The Grudge—A Fright Simulator in Europe, is a first-person
graphic adventure
video game developed for the Wii
game device. It is an adaptation of the Japan
ese horror film
series Ju-on
directed by Takashi Shimizu
, who also helmed the original films. The game was developed by feelplus
and published in Japan by AQ Interactive
on July 30, 2009, and in North America and Europe in October of the same year by Xseed Games
and Rising Star Games
, respectively.
The Wii Remote
is used to direct the player character
's flashlight; however, rather than using the controller's infrared
functionality, the games uses the Wii remote's accelerometer
to guide the onscreen tool. Movement is executed by the Wii Remote's control pad and B Button, and the character is steered in the direction their flashlight is being held. The player is pressured not to remain in the same place for too long or move too slowly, as this will cause the onryō to appear to the player. If there is a second Wii Remote synced to the console in the game's "courage test", each of the buttons on that controller can be used to trigger a unique scenario for the player to experience. The game also features a mechanic that measures the Wii Remote's movements during gameplay, so that the more the player flinches, the worse their success rate becomes.
As evidenced from the game's few teaser trailers, there were five stages expected to be playable in Ju-on: The Grudge: a warehouse, a hospital and a mannequin
factory, in addition to an abandoned apartment complex and the Saeki residence. A blurb summarizing the game's plot implied that the warehouse would be the first playable level. In most cases, the flashlight provides the only means of visibility for the player, so it is necessary to replenish the power of the tool using batteries found throughout the level, which do not spawn in the same location with each play. If the flashlight runs out of batteries, ghosts will appear and attack the player which will result in a game-over. This battery power is displayed in the form of a meter on the lower-left corner of the heads-up display
and acts like a health bar. If the game's lead specter Kayako Saeki takes hold of the player, the Wii Remote can be shaken to break her grip. Furthermore, when in Kayako's grip, her death rattle
can be heard through the Wii Remote's speaker.
in Nerima, Japan
, was murdered in a grisly fashion, it gave rise to a curse so powerful that it threatens to kill at a pace thought unimaginable before. The curse manifests on those who encounter the curse by any means, such as entering Saeki House or being in contact with somebody who is already cursed. Once Erika Yamada is exposed to the curse, while searching for her dog in an abandoned warehouse, the entire Yamada family is put in grave danger when she returns home. Each family member must face his or her individual challenge alone, and only by overcoming the curse together will the family become free again.
Each story is viewed from the perspective of the character being played in scenarios called episodes. There are four episodes; a fifth and final level may be unlocked by finding special items hidden in the levels. All the playable characters are part of the same family.
factory as a security guard
. He notices a person wandering around on a security camera, and then the power goes out. After he restores the power, he begins to exit the building, but Kayako attacks and she kills him.
brutally murdered his wife
and son. She finds that her house is abandoned, and Erika is locked and trapped inside by Kayako, forcing Erika to continue exploring the house. She is tormented by visions of her violently killed family still in the house, and then discovers her father's body in the attic. She is led downstairs by Ivy's barking. When she makes it downstairs, she realizes that the barking wasn't Ivy's, and it was used as a lure. Kayako crawls down the stairs, and she subdues Erika. Erika, powerless and unable to fight back, is dragged to the attic and killed. The last scene shows Erika dropping the flashlight, which had just ran out of battery power.
," rather than a traditional survival horror game. The game does not feature any combat, as its format relies on subtle exploration and scare tactics. Joystiq
reviewers who were present for the demo's screening at the E3 justified this, observing that, "In most horror games, a skilled player can actually defeat the creatures (with notable exceptions like Silent Hill 2
s Pyramid Head
...), making the game more of a power fantasy than a true fright. In both of these games [Silent Hill 2 and Ju-on: The Grudge], you can escape the creatures at best."
Xseed president Jun Iwasaki explained, "Ju-on: The Grudge makes quick scares accessible to anyone with a Wii, players can even hand the Wii Remote to their mother and enjoy watching her play and get scared." Rising Star Games' Yen Hau has also likened it to "as close as you can get to an interactive horror movie." Xseed has attested that the game can be completed in "a little less than ten hours." Developers allegedly paid a visit to the location where the Saeki residence scenes were filmed, so they could have a better idea of how to map the house for one of the game's stages.
rated Ju-on: The Grudge at a 22 out of 40 from four reviewers, a week before the game was released in Japan. Ju-on: The Grudge received negative reviews, with an average of 42 out of 100 in Metacritic
. Also, Gamespot
, giving the game a "Poor" 4, complained about the controls and the length of the game, while IGN
basically ranted:
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
graphic adventure
Graphic adventure game
A graphic adventure game is a form of adventure game. They are distinct from text adventures. Whereas a player must actively observe using commands such as "look" in a text-based adventure, graphic adventures revolutionized gameplay by making use of natural human perception...
video game developed for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
game device. It is an adaptation of the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
series Ju-on
Ju-on
is the title of a series of horror films by Japanese director Takashi Shimizu. Shimizu attended the Film School of Tokyo, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Kurosawa helped Shimizu shepherd the Ju-on projects to fruition.-History:...
directed by Takashi Shimizu
Takashi Shimizu
Takashi Shimizu is a Japanese film director, best known for the Ju-on series of horror films.-Filmography:...
, who also helmed the original films. The game was developed by feelplus
Feelplus Inc.
feelplus Inc. was a Japanese video game developer and a subsidiary of AQ Interactive. The studio was conceived initially by Microsoft Game Studios specifically to aid Mistwalker in video game development. It was composed of former employees of Nautilus, Square Enix and Scarab.On August 2010,...
and published in Japan by AQ Interactive
AQ Interactive
AQ Interactive was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. AQ stands for Artistic Quality. It was the parent company of the developers Artoon, Cavia and feelplus, and most recently the U.S. publisher Xseed Games...
on July 30, 2009, and in North America and Europe in October of the same year by Xseed Games
XSEED Games
XSEED redirects here. For the proposed supertall structure see X-Seed 4000.Xseed Games is a video game publisher and distributor founded by former members of Square Enix USA. Their goal is to bring high-quality interactive entertainment to the North American market...
and Rising Star Games
Rising Star Games
Rising Star Games is a video games publisher formed as a joint business venture between Scandinavian distributor Bergsala and Japanese video game publisher and content developer Intergrow....
, respectively.
Gameplay
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
is used to direct the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
's flashlight; however, rather than using the controller's infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
functionality, the games uses the Wii remote's accelerometer
Accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, also called the four-acceleration. This is not necessarily the same as the coordinate acceleration , but is rather the type of acceleration associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a test mass that resides in the frame...
to guide the onscreen tool. Movement is executed by the Wii Remote's control pad and B Button, and the character is steered in the direction their flashlight is being held. The player is pressured not to remain in the same place for too long or move too slowly, as this will cause the onryō to appear to the player. If there is a second Wii Remote synced to the console in the game's "courage test", each of the buttons on that controller can be used to trigger a unique scenario for the player to experience. The game also features a mechanic that measures the Wii Remote's movements during gameplay, so that the more the player flinches, the worse their success rate becomes.
As evidenced from the game's few teaser trailers, there were five stages expected to be playable in Ju-on: The Grudge: a warehouse, a hospital and a mannequin
Mannequin
A mannequin is an often articulated doll used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, and others especially to display or fit clothing...
factory, in addition to an abandoned apartment complex and the Saeki residence. A blurb summarizing the game's plot implied that the warehouse would be the first playable level. In most cases, the flashlight provides the only means of visibility for the player, so it is necessary to replenish the power of the tool using batteries found throughout the level, which do not spawn in the same location with each play. If the flashlight runs out of batteries, ghosts will appear and attack the player which will result in a game-over. This battery power is displayed in the form of a meter on the lower-left corner of the heads-up display
HUD (video gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
and acts like a health bar. If the game's lead specter Kayako Saeki takes hold of the player, the Wii Remote can be shaken to break her grip. Furthermore, when in Kayako's grip, her death rattle
Death rattle
A death rattle is a medical term that describes the sound produced by someone who is near death when saliva accumulates in the throat. Those who are dying may lose their ability to swallow, resulting in such an accumulation...
can be heard through the Wii Remote's speaker.
Plot
The game claims that when a person dies with a deep and burning grudge, a curse is born. When an average housewifeKayako Saeki
Kayako Saeki is a fictional character from the Ju-on series of Japanese-horror movies and The Grudge trilogy of American remakes. In all of the films, except for the third, she is played by actress Takako Fuji. In The Grudge 3, Kayako is played by Aiko Horiuchi, Fuji having turned down the role...
in Nerima, Japan
Nerima, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. In English, it calls itself Nerima City.As of August 1, 2007, the ward has an estimated population of 703,005 , and a density of 14,443 persons per km². 12,897 foreign residents are registered in the ward. 18.4% of the ward's population is over the...
, was murdered in a grisly fashion, it gave rise to a curse so powerful that it threatens to kill at a pace thought unimaginable before. The curse manifests on those who encounter the curse by any means, such as entering Saeki House or being in contact with somebody who is already cursed. Once Erika Yamada is exposed to the curse, while searching for her dog in an abandoned warehouse, the entire Yamada family is put in grave danger when she returns home. Each family member must face his or her individual challenge alone, and only by overcoming the curse together will the family become free again.
Each story is viewed from the perspective of the character being played in scenarios called episodes. There are four episodes; a fifth and final level may be unlocked by finding special items hidden in the levels. All the playable characters are part of the same family.
Run-down Factory
Erika's family moves into the Saeki home. While at home, the family dog, Ivy, runs off into an abandoned factory. Erika decides to venture into the factory to find Ivy. Erika soon comes across a broken-down elevator, which she restores power to. After entering the elevator, Ivy runs in and reunites with Erika. Kayako attacks but Ivy chases her off, and they escape the factory. She calls the other members of her family, but no one answers. Erika heads home to find out what is going on.Abandoned Hospital
Michiko ("Miki"), the mother of Erika, has been hospitalized for about a month. Occasionally, her children and husband go to visit her. One night, she wakes up in the hospital and notices a small boy (Toshio Saeki) running around. The phone is ringing, and all of the staff and patients seem to have disappeared. She ultimately makes her way to the roof of the hospital. Toshio tries to push Miki off of the roof, but fails. Then, Kayako appears, and she pushes Miki off of the roof and kills her.Derelict Apartments
Kenji ("Ken"), a delivery boy, the brother of Erika, and son of Michiko, is on his way home from his delivery route, and sees a package on the sidewalk in front of three apartment buildings. The package is addressed to "Building 3 apartment 301", so he decides to deliver it. When he reaches his destination, the package turns into Kayako. Ken runs for his life while Kayako, with Toshio, chases him. Ken stops before the exit and turns around to see whether he is being followed, but no one is there. Just as he is about to leave, Kayako suddenly appears in front of Kenji and kills him.Security Guard's Ordeal
The father of the family, Hiroshi ("Hiro"), is working a late-night shift at a mannequinMannequin
A mannequin is an often articulated doll used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, and others especially to display or fit clothing...
factory as a security guard
Security guard
A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...
. He notices a person wandering around on a security camera, and then the power goes out. After he restores the power, he begins to exit the building, but Kayako attacks and she kills him.
Cursed House
After surviving her ordeal, Erika makes it home. She and her family live at the same house where Takeo SaekiTakeo Saeki
Takeo Saeki is a fictional character created by Takashi Shimizu for the Ju-on/The Grudge saga. He is depicted by long-time veteran actor Takashi Matsuyama.-Character history:...
brutally murdered his wife
Kayako Saeki
Kayako Saeki is a fictional character from the Ju-on series of Japanese-horror movies and The Grudge trilogy of American remakes. In all of the films, except for the third, she is played by actress Takako Fuji. In The Grudge 3, Kayako is played by Aiko Horiuchi, Fuji having turned down the role...
and son. She finds that her house is abandoned, and Erika is locked and trapped inside by Kayako, forcing Erika to continue exploring the house. She is tormented by visions of her violently killed family still in the house, and then discovers her father's body in the attic. She is led downstairs by Ivy's barking. When she makes it downstairs, she realizes that the barking wasn't Ivy's, and it was used as a lure. Kayako crawls down the stairs, and she subdues Erika. Erika, powerless and unable to fight back, is dragged to the attic and killed. The last scene shows Erika dropping the flashlight, which had just ran out of battery power.
Development
A video game adaptation of the Ju-on series was confirmed on May 22, 2009. Shortly afterwards, a demo of the game was unveiled at E3 2009, where Xseed Games described it as a "haunted house simulatorSimulation video game
A simulation video game describes a diverse super-category of computer and video games, generally designed to closely simulate aspects of a real or fictional reality.-Sub-genres:-Construction and management simulation:...
," rather than a traditional survival horror game. The game does not feature any combat, as its format relies on subtle exploration and scare tactics. Joystiq
Joystiq
Joystiq is a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 that has since become one of the most successful sites within the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs. It is the centerpiece of WIN's own network of video gaming blogs, which also includes a blog dealing specifically with the popular MMORPG World of...
reviewers who were present for the demo's screening at the E3 justified this, observing that, "In most horror games, a skilled player can actually defeat the creatures (with notable exceptions like Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2 is a survival horror video game published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and developed by Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo...
s Pyramid Head
Pyramid Head
Pyramid Head, also known as Red Pyramid Thing or in Japan, is a fictional character from the Silent Hill series of survival horror video games published by Konami. Introduced in the 2001 installment Silent Hill 2, he stalks James Sunderland, the primary player character, who comes to the town of...
...), making the game more of a power fantasy than a true fright. In both of these games [Silent Hill 2 and Ju-on: The Grudge], you can escape the creatures at best."
Xseed president Jun Iwasaki explained, "Ju-on: The Grudge makes quick scares accessible to anyone with a Wii, players can even hand the Wii Remote to their mother and enjoy watching her play and get scared." Rising Star Games' Yen Hau has also likened it to "as close as you can get to an interactive horror movie." Xseed has attested that the game can be completed in "a little less than ten hours." Developers allegedly paid a visit to the location where the Saeki residence scenes were filmed, so they could have a better idea of how to map the house for one of the game's stages.
Reception
Weekly FamitsuFamitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
rated Ju-on: The Grudge at a 22 out of 40 from four reviewers, a week before the game was released in Japan. Ju-on: The Grudge received negative reviews, with an average of 42 out of 100 in Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Also, Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
, giving the game a "Poor" 4, complained about the controls and the length of the game, while IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
basically ranted:
- "JU-ON: The Grudge Haunted House Simulator is bad. The graphics are bad, the presentation is bad, and the gameplay is bad. In fact, it's all so bad the game actually ends up being terrible."