I picked this up recently, out of curiosity. The game claims to be a "haunted house simulator" for the Wii, and it got passable reviews from some (but not many) outlets, so I figured what the hell.

The controls are terrible. You move slowly when you walk. When you move the remote to move where your flashlight is pointing, it moves slower than you would like. Every review has panned the controls for being poorly executed, but I have to wonder if it was intentional. The controls in every pre-4 Resident Evil were clunky, and some claim that added an element of realism to the game; in a tense situation, you had to respond quickly and accurately, or you were fucked. But the Grudge is not survival horror. It is a haunted house simulator, and the focus is on exploration. You wander around dark, creepy locations with nothing but a flashlight and try not to get yourself killed. The focus is on exploration, and the slowness with which you move adds more tension to the game. You know something is probably going to jump out at you when you get to the end of the hallway, but you can't just run there and see. No, your character will take about a minute to walk down the creepy hallway, which makes it all the more creepy.

Is the game scary? Yes. If you play this game in the dark, in an otherwise silent room, it's creepy as hell. The locales are eerily, and the score and sound effects augment them well. Of course, since the game delivers what it promises, all of the scares are visceral. You're walking along, then "BOO!", something jumps out at you.

There's not a lot of depth here, and the $29.99 they want for it is at least $10 too much, but it was interesting idea, and it's not without its charm.