Deep in the heart of London's bustling West End, in a secret location (so secret I walked past it four times,) Rising Star presented a sneak peak at their latest offering from Japan - JU-ON: The Grudge.

This new game - already released in Japan - is being touted as a "Fright Simulator", and shouldn't be confused with your standard horror game. There is no ammo to find, and no monsters to shoot. There is only you, a flashlight and your wits.

Trapped in a pitch black room, and armed only with a Wii Remote I got to try one of the game's five "scenarios". These were all already unlocked, but I was told that in the final game you have access to one to begin with and the rest unlock as you progress. Each scenario is designed to last around 30 minutes, so you could feasibly make your way through in about two and a half hours.

Make no mistake, this game is not one to play alone. Not because of the scares, but because it'd be pretty short and boring. The game has been designed to play with a group of friends, and in short bursts (which is why each scenario only lasts about 30 minutes).

Sarah Michelle Gellar would know what to do.

Controls are simple and straight forward - you use the pointer to aim your flashlight, The B-Trigger moves you forward and 'A' interacts. That's it. Nothing complicated here, and for a pick-up-and-play title it works well, albeit a little clunky. It was very easy to lose the pointer off screen, but what pointer-oriented game isn't?

The scenario I played was an abandoned apartment complex. A short bit of text at the beginning sets up the premise and then you take over. Moving the flashlight around I noticed something glinting in the distance and slowly made my way over to it shining the flashlight on everything as I explored the area. The shiny item was a battery, which is a good thing if your torch runs out of power before you reach the end of the scenario, otherwise it's curtains for you. All the time that you're playing you'll find the battery level going down, so you better keep moving and pick up as many batteries as you can.

All around me were ambient noises - weird chattering, wind, crows cawing. The sound design really stood out as one of the best aspects of the game. All the sounds were recorded in actual derelict environments relating to the scenarios by the people involved with the original movies. I was told the signature "croaking" (you know what I mean!) was actually performed by the movie's director, Takeshi Shimizu, himself.

There was a lot of downtime between events, and this is where it becomes essential to have friends with you, for there is a multiplayer element designed to make you hate your friends. Anyone within reach of a second remote can trigger instant scares, like bugs swarming the screen or sudden images of the Screaming Ghost Boy, simply by pressing one of the buttons or directions. Once one of these random scares is activated you have to wait at least 20 seconds before another one can be set off, so there's little danger of spamming.

We keep telling those malevolent spirits to wash their hands before they smear them all over our living room walls, but they never listen.

Once you're done with your scenario (whether it's by completion or failure) you get assigned a score based on how scared you were and how far you progressed. All the way through the scenario the Wii Remote is recording how much you're hand is shaking, and how much of a reaction you give when something makes you jump. Before starting the game it asks for your star sign, and at the end it gives a little advice tailored to how you've reacted matched with your star sign (that kinda thing's reasonably popular in Japan).

The graphics, whilst nothing special, are very good and functional. Everything is in near darkness and you have to rely heavily on the torch. Derelict rooms and warehouses are suitably grimy, random blood stains and weird hairy effects take you very effectively into the world of The Grudge as seen in the movies. You really do need to play in as dark a room as possible though to get the most of what's on offer.

Before you buy the game, it's important to know exactly what Rising Star are offering here. It's basically a video game version of a Ghost Train at the funfair. You pay your money, go for a ride with a few friends, things pop out and make you jump, and as quickly as it started it's all over and you get off pointing and laughing as you rib your friends for jumping at plastic skeletons.

A very simple, very social game coming out at the right time of year (aiming for Halloween '09) and priced at around �30. This is for anyone who's ever had a few friends round to watch a movie and randomly shouted "BOO!" during the quiet bits.

Andy Pocock
- Staff Writer (Kombo.com)