For several reasons, games of yesteryear were always afraid to touch on taboo subjects that are common in most adult oriented entertainment. While this has changed a lot in the past few years, back in the late 90's and early 2000's a mature rated game usually represented a game with lots of blood but no actual maturity. That isn't the case with Fear Effect, a horror survival action adventure game for the Playstation released in early 2000. Fear Effect features a compelling story that involves sexual references, lust for money, forced labor, betrayal, and plenty of violence. In many ways it feels ahead of its time because even today it's hard to find such a well done mature game. At any rate, Fear Effect is an outstanding production that will surely satisfy both survival gaming fans as well as those looking for an experience aimed at adults.
Fear Effect tells the story of three mercenaries keen on kidnapping a missing girl before her father's men find her in order to collect a nice ransom. Those three mercenaries are Hana Tsu Vachel, a former prostitute that worked against her will for the Triads, Royce Glass, a cold blooded killer, and Jacob "Deke" DeCourt, an expert in heavy weaponry. Despite their unheroic nature, all three of them end up being very likable. Part of the reason is because despite the nature of their work they are a very united trio who cares for each other and goes to great lengths to protect each other. They also show compassion for the innocents who get in their way, which at times can get them into greater trouble. Finally, the people they end up confronting aren't exactly saints either, which makes our trio looks like the good guys.
Sparkled through the adventure are the kind of situations and little touches that you'd expect to find in a mature movie or TV show. Hana isn't afraid to use sex as a weapon and you'll see a few situations in which she uses her looks to get out of a pickle. Whenever Deke gets into a shootout he makes no qualms about how much he enjoys killing. Gory scenes are frequent and very explicit. One thing that I enjoyed in particular was the death scenes reserved for your characters whenever you messed up in a mission. The game has no qualms about tearing apart the protagonists in those scenes. What's best about all these touches is that you never get the feeling that the game is relying on them to keep the gamer's attention, they're simply there to compliment the game's already high mature tone.
Going back to the story, what starts out as a mercenary job ends up being a battle for survival. The girl in question isn't just an ordinary girl and she appears to be a valuable asset to another organization. Our fellow mercenaries give chase to the girl across several locations but the further they advance, the stranger things get. Paranormal and devilish creatures start showing up and by the time the game reaches its final chapter, the original ransom they were after is just a fading memory. The story in Fear Effect is compelling, well executed, and full of twists and turns at every corner, all the while keeping that mature flair that makes it all the more enjoyable.
Moving on to the gameplay, Fear Effect plays like many horror survival games of the late 90s, in particular Resident Evil. The game uses a fixed camera angle for every scene and character movement is relative to where the character is facing, unlike in other third person games where movement is relative to where the player is looking, which can be confusing at first but eventually you get the hang of it.
You get to control all three of the main characters in the game. This is an excellent feature that allows for refreshing changes of pace and lots of variety. It also adds a cinematic feel in certain situations, especially when a character is trying to help another one. You don't get to control the switching of characters yourself, as it only occurs at predefined moments as you move along in the story.
The game consists mostly of shooting, stealth sequences, and puzzle solving. Shooting isn't complicated since the game uses an auto-aim feature to assist you. You do have to be conservative with ammo since it can be easy to run out of it if you fill everyone with lead. This is where a stealthy approach can help. Crouching allows you to move silently and take out enemies in one hit, or in some cases, avoid them altogether.
Then there are the puzzles, which you'll come across at different points in each level. Most of them take you to a separate screen and require some careful examination of the environments prior to solving them. For the most part the puzzles are excellent but a few of them are rather hard to decipher and even when you get the solution, the logic is a bit fuzzy. The best example would be a bomb defusing puzzle where every failed attempt results in death. Even after finding the solution online, I never really got the logic behind it. Fortunately that's the exception and not the rule.
Each character carries a set of weapons and other items necessary for progress or puzzle solving. You access all of them by navigating through an inventory. Navigating the inventory is as simple as pressing the circle and square buttons (forward cycling or backward cycling). The main problem with it is that you navigate the inventory in real time. Should you run out of ammo in the heat of battle, the time it takes to select a different weapon can be a deadly factor.
The game's title comes from the health meter at the top of the screen. This isn't a typical health bar but one that determines how stressed the character you're controlling is. Several factors contribute to increase the fear effect while others decrease it. There are no health packs in the game, so in order to survive you have to be effective in your quest to help decrease the fear effect. At certain points though, you'll get a "rush moment" which totally restores the fear effect meter.
It should be mentioned that Fear Effect can be a very hard game at times. There are many situations that require quick thinking in order to avoid death, while in some cases choosing a determined route can result in instant death. Combined with the game's saving system where you can only save your game at predetermined points (with the use of your cellphone), this can lead to many frustrating moments. However, as frustrating as certain situations can get, it never reaches a point where you want to quit. It actually serves as extra motivation to keep on playing. Whenever I died, I cursed at whoever (or whatever) was killing me, not really at the game. The game may frustrate you but it compels you to keep on playing.
Fear Effect is a short game. The game comes in four discs, with each one representing a chapter in the game. Each chapter is roughly about an hour long, so all in all there's between four to five hours of content in the game. Of course, this doesn't take into consideration all the time you'll spend retrying certain sections, so it's possible that you'll spend between eight to ten hours in the game. Regardless, the game leaves you wanting for more since it's such a thrilling experience so it's a bit sad that it ends way too soon, but hey, short and sweet beats long and boring any day of the week.
Another strong point in Fear Effect is the visual presentation. Granted, any Playstation game will look very dated by today's standards, but even so, the game is technically proficient. The backgrounds consist of FMV footage constantly being looped while characters are rendered in 3d. The effect is very nice and effective for the nature of the game. However the biggest factor in favor of the visuals is the art direction. Fear Effect features a cell-shaded style for its graphics, which makes the game characters look really great and it actually raises their charm factor.
Sound is also really good. Different music is used for each chapter which helps set the mood for each section of the game. Futuristic techno music is used in certain parts, while creepy horror music is used in others. The ambient music for the final chapter is probably the best, not so much because it's nice but because it's horrible. Given the nature of the section though, it works wonderfully in making you even more uncomfortable. Voice acting is also excellently handled. Each of the main character's voice work is very well done (Hana in particular) and helps establish their characters. The dialogue itself is great and filled with memorable lines as well as many mature comments that help set in the tone of the story.
Fear Effect is a breath of fresh air in the gaming landscape. Few games dare to touch on such mature subjects and even fewer manage to do it as effectively as this game. As a fan of mature games, I can't recommend this game enough to those looking for adult oriented content. The only way gaming can evolve into an accepted medium for storytelling and adult entertainment is for more games like Fear Effect to be successful. Thanks to its mature story, terrific art direction, and thrilling gameplay, Fear Effect is a fantastic experience that proves just how far gaming can go.