Fear Effect (PS1) Gameplay -No Commentary- | PS3 Upscale |
4So what happens when Kronos, a seemingly failed fighting game developer, responsible for such games as Criticom...and cardinal Syn...decides to throw in the towel in the fighting genre, and decides to try a new genre? Well, the end result is one of the Playstation's best action adventure games in fear effect.
When the daughter of Hong Kong's most powerful triad leader goes missing, information leaked to Hannah from friend inside the organization, she teams up with two other mercenaries, glas and deke, with plans to recover the girl, and ransom her back to her father, thus starts a journey that starts in hong kong blade runner style), and ends in...hell.Fear effect uniquely blends cinematic storytelling into an action-adventure game to successfully create the feeling that you are controlling an interactive animated movie.
The core gameplay and control system is similar to games like Resident Evil, (think tank controls) but with action and story replacing the horror element, a streamlined inventory system that removes the need for the clunky inventory menus, and even a fear meter system which gets rid of health pickups. The core mechanics of the game, while feeling similar to Resident evil, are much improved in Fear effect which uses them with a different focus.
The game itself is very cinematic, from the deep story, to even the lively backgrounds which are actually looping full motion video sequences giving them so much more life and charm than other games that use lifeless prerendered backgrounds. The world around you just feels alive creating the game's unique atmosphere. The character models themselves are shaded to look like cartoon cells.
Hannah and her friends aren't the only people searching for the girl, meaning the game throws plenty of triad thugs your way to dispose of, and as the storyline progresses, plenty of strange creatures too, luckily, there is a fitting arsenal in the game at your disposal. You even have the option of sneaking up on some enemies for a one hit stealth kill. And in keeping with the adventure side of action-adventure, there is also a heavy puzzle focus in the game, giving it it's unique mixture of storytelling action, and adventure. Fear effect blends them all successfully, and is easily one of the most fondly remembered PS1 games.
There are some small frustrations in the game, namely, sometimes cheep deaths that are sprung on you without notice, the Fear meter, or health meter which eliminates the need for health pickups, can be inconsistent at times, meaning you can save yourself into a corner of death if you're not careful, and the puzzles can sometimes have obscure solutions, easily overlooked if you're not paying attention to the environments around you. The overall quality of the game, however, means that these are minor complaints, and certainly don't ruin the experience.
Fear Effect is remembered as one of the top PS1 adventures for a reason, it successfully blends storytelling, puzzle, and action into a unique experience. This, and it's sequel Fear Effect 2 Retro Helix are definitely must-play PS1 games. It's a pity that Kronos folded before we got to see Fear Effect 3 on the PS2, but you can always look up footage for it on youtube, and imagine what could have been.
Note: I am playing this footage with the PS3's smoothing feature on which I rarely use unless the game has prerendered backgrounds, of like Fear Effect, has background that are full motion video sequences. PS1 Prerendered backgrounds, and FMV movies look a little extra rough when upscaled to HD resolutions, and the smoothing makes them look a lot less pixelated, and easier to watch.