First Impression: Rule of Rose

After God knows how long, an english version of this disturbing game is finally available! For those of you who didn't know, Rule of Rose was released in Japan earlier this year and was of course followed by a small degree of controversy due to some of the themes implied in the game, such as torturing and killing of children, incest, as well as a few other disturbing possibilities due to the game being about an orphaned teenage girl stuck in an orphanage run by a group of demented kids.
This First Impression is based on the Japanese version of the game, the only difference so far being that the text is in Japanese, but all the voice acting is in english, which is the only roadblock when it comes to playing this game as all the vital clues for what your supposed to do is in the text.
That aside, the game itself plays like your standard Resident Evil / Survival Horror game as you run around areas getting clues as to what to do, beating up baddies with weapons you find laying around, and ultimately beating tough bosses at the end of each chapter. Borrowing something from Capcom's Haunting Ground game, you also have a cannine companion to help you out, and he's a key component to helping you solve some of the puzzles as he can help you to find things. Just pick something from your inventory, give it to him to sniff a scent, and he'll search out if there's anything nearby that matches which might help in your progression.
I've only finished the first 2 chapters of the game, and now I intend to playthrough the rest of it with the english version. So check back for more.