Diehard GameFAN: Ju-on: The Grudge: Haunted House Simulator Review (Wii)

Speaking as someone who loves weird, wonky Japanese games, from Monster Hunter to Oneechanbara, from King's Field to Chulip and beyond, Ju-on: The Grudge: Haunted House Simulator is simply a boring, often unenjoyable experience that makes no truly convincing arguments in its favor and will be utterly impenetrable except to a small handful of gamers. The visuals are okay enough, the audio is generally very solid, and the controls are easy enough to figure out within minutes. Further, the game does offer some mild innovation with its design, enough that most players will probably not have seen something that does quite what this game does before. However, the story is bland and meager, the game is incredibly linear and shallow, and the experience is simply not scary in the least. On top of that, the gameplay alternates between being boring and frustrating, the multiplayer is practically worthless, and you can go through the game in a matter of three hours or less if you're a skillful searcher. Ju-on: The Grudge: Haunted House Simulator is basically not a game anyone needs to play any more than once and none but the most dedicated of horror or weird Japanese game fans will find any value to this that would make it worth owning. -