Great plot, great atmosphere, great characters... Really bad combat system.
Actually, I would go out to say this is one of the best survival horror games available on the PS2, ranking up there with the Silent Hill games on fright factor. You play as a young and frightened Jennifer, a girl who is approached by a young boy on the bus she's riding who asks she finishes the story book he thrusts into her arms. As the bus stops, the boy dashes off, leaving a very confused Jennifer. She chases him, attempting to find out what exactly was going on when the bus doors close behind her and her ride takes off. Alone and scared, she follows the path the boy went to get some answers, and maybe some help.
The graphics are great and dark, and help to set the creepy and disturbing atmosphere. The entire game is sent in one of two settings, or in the area surrounding them; An old, dark orphanage, and a giant airship. In both areas, it is rare to find an adult, and the ones you do find seem to hate Jennifer for unexplained reasons. What you will see a lot of, however, are children. And not any normal children, either. These kids are cruel, sadistic, and flat out evil. Your only companion is the dog you find tied upside down hanging in the air, who Jennifer names 'Brown' based on a collar she found at the beginning of the game.
When I mention the dog, any survival horror fan would probably think of Haunting Ground and your combat system, based completely around your canine companion. However, in Rule of Rose, Brown is only there to help you navigate you way around the airship using the scent of items. He can find things too, which also proves rather useful.
This game has a deep and immerse storyline, one any gamer should delve into for a great survival horror experience.
However, no game can be perfect, and the one thing that sets that great distance between this game and perfection would be the combat. Jennifer is not the best fighter. In fact, she sucks at it. Her attacks are weak, she has a very limited range, even with items such as a 3 foot long pole, and she's thrown onto her back by even the weakest attacks. The worst part of this is there are enemies EVERYWHERE, and on several occasions you actually have to fight hoards of enemies to progress the game. Brown does next to nothing besides get in the way during these sections, though he can sometimes stun an enemy by barking and growling.
That may not sound like much, but this one fatal mistake almost breaks the entire game. On several occasions I was ready to just quit playing the game because I kept dieing over and over because to only weapon I had was the stupid dessert fork (yes, the first weapon is a friggin fork). However, if I did stop, I would have wasted $60. Yeah, this game is expensive too, since I live in the US and it was banned here because of 'juvenile violence and homosexual themes'.
The bosses are almost impossible unless you spend hours following brown around trying to stockpile healing items. Those guys hit hard and fast, and since Jennifer is insanely slow, it's hard to kill any of them.
All-in-all, it's a worthwhile game, especially if you can find it anywhere cheap. The storyline is more than worth the pain of the combat, as long as you avoid fighting when totally necessary and keep plenty of healing items on you.