Here is something I didn’t know about until the internet came around. I might have come across this in the early 2000s, but I’m not entirely sure. I had a Dreamcast back in the day but didn’t spend as much time with it after the PS2 was released.
When I first picked up The Ring: Terror’s Realm, I thought it was based on the movies. Much like Parasite Eve, I had no idea The Ring was originally a novel. I wondered how many other horror games were based on Japanese novels.
I noticed that the Dreamcast horror games are much shorter than those on the PS1 or PS2. It’s like Sega was trying to get as many games out for the system before the wheels fell off, and they had to give up on the console. Sadly, none of these games were good enough to keep Sega in the home console game.
TLDR: The Ring: Terror’s Realm Tries and Fails to be Resident Evil.
History
This game is based on the Koji Suzuki series of novels. The films were based on the same novels, but the game is set in the US. The game takes several liberties with the source material, which is understandable for the time.
The first novel, Ring, introduces the cursed VHS tape and the main villain. The second novel, Spiral, introduces the Ring Virus, which the game used. Loop seems to have been ignored for a movie adaptation, which is fair since it deals with something else entirely.
That is where this game comes in. It starts off being closer to the Loop, which was the most recent book at the time. Both the book and the game deal with alternate reality and being pulled into it.
This is where things differ. The game tries to incorporate parts of the three books, making this something entirely different. It makes for a strange combination of the books, and I’m not entirely sure it works.
While loosely based on the novels, it really needs to be seen as its own thing. The ties to the rest of the Ring franchise needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Let’s look at the game and see what it has to offer.
Narrative
This game is about the RING virus. You play as a scientist working for the CDC, and your facility goes into lockdown. Our main character has to figure out what is going on. This is the synopsis on the Wikipedia page; I’m sure there is more to it.
Meg is going out for dinner with Robert. On her way to pick him up, he dies from some mysterious cause. We also get introduced to Jack. I have some idea of what is happening, but I could be very wrong.
This all has to do with a computer program Robert was working on. The other scientists researching it are killed at the same time. The plot synopsis says four people were killed, and I’m not sure where they got that from, as the game mentions Robert and two others were killed. It’s odd when something like this happens.
Meg decides to go to Robert’s lab to investigate because this is a video game, and everyone else is useless. There is some talk of a company, which I guess Meg, Robert, and Jack all work for. Maybe this is where the virus is coming from.
I guess that Meg got Robert’s job at this company. There is nothing in his office, so what the heck is happening? Three people died at the same time. They all worked at the CDC, which might have to do with Robert’s computer.
Meg boots up the computer and is sucked into some kind of virtual reality. Everyone seems confused by this, and I can’t blame them. This appears similar to the third novel in the series, Loop.
You have to get the vaccine for the RING virus. I’m not sure if there are multiple endings to this game. The one I got suggested that people were rioting over not getting the cure fast enough. A small part of me wants to see if there are alternate endings, but I would rather play something else.
Gameplay
I don’t like the gameplay at all. It tries to be Resident Evil and fails spectacularly at it. I don’t get why I can’t use the analog stick to move around. Instead, I’m stuck using similar controls to Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
Oh God! The controls are terrible! The game uses the same tank controls from Resident Evil and other survival horror games, but they feel horrible. It is like your character is learning how to walk for the first time.
This game is closer to a Resident Evil clone. You can see your weapons, items, and health when you open the menu. It feels like I’m playing a Resident Evil rip-off.
I have nothing good to say about the controls. Moving around is way too difficult, and I feel like I could do better in real life than my character does in the game. Moving around a largely empty facility shouldn’t be such a struggle.
I think this would have been a better game if the controls had been better. Moving around is a chore, and fighting can be an issue. I think the flashlight mechanic is a great idea, and I wish other games had used it.
Visuals
The Ring: Terror’s Realm looks very good. The graphics are good, the cutscenes look excellent, and the voice acting isn’t too bad. I like the way Dreamcast games look, so I might be a little biased.
It isn’t all great. Some character models are a little strange, and things don’t always look good when the characters start talking. The in-game graphics are good when you can actually see what’s happening.
I do like the cutscenes. The Dreamcast graphics look very good compared to the PS1 and the N64. They aren’t as good as the PS2, but they aren’t too far off.
I do like the camera in this game. You have a few options on what camera you want to use. I left that alone, and it reminded me of the camera angles from the Resident Evil games. This gives that game a cinematic look, as if a hidden camera crew was recording all this nonsense.
I should mention the voice acting in this game. It isn’t great, but it isn’t as terrible as some of the other games from the mid to late 1990s. There is some overlapping dialog in the beginning, which I liked. You also have those awkward moments where the characters don’t sound like normal people.
Unfortunately, the graphics can’t make up for the gameplay. I like the way everything looks in this game. Aside from some strange looking character models, the game looks very good!
5/10. This game has some redeeming qualities, but overall, it is pretty bad. It tries to be Resident Evil, but doesn’t come close to being as good as those games. It has good graphics, but the controls are lousy.
Conclusion
I didn’t like this game. It has some good ideas as far as the story goes, but the controls hold it back from being good. The Ring: Terror’s Realm is a great-looking game, but that doesn’t cover up the flaws in the gameplay.
I wonder how many people looked into this game to see what it was based on. They probably assumed it was based on the movie like I did. Once I did some digging, I learned it was closer to Loop than either Ring or Spiral.
The Ring: Terror’s Realm could have been a better game. It also made me think about what a video game based on the movie would be like. I guess it would be close to Fatal Frame or Sweet Home.
There are a lot of playthroughs and speedruns of this game on YouTube. Here is the one I used as a guide when I got stuck (Link). If you liked this review, please check out my post on Blue Stinger.