Fear Effect

"Brilliant Story, brilliant graphics, brilliant game"

Fear Effect is a game that will completely engross you in its story and will surprise you. You play the roles of three different characters, Hana Tsu-Vachel, Royce Glas and Jacob DeCourt. They are all mercenaries who make money by doing ''dirty jobs.'' In China, the daughter of a powerful corporate mogul disappears and a bunch of strange things start to happen. The three mercenaries get word of this and decide to find the daughter and exchange her for a lot of cash. They get involved in something far more complicated than they expected, something from their nightmares.
The game's story is excellent as it contains a lot of cool twists and turns that surprise you. You can control all three characters at different points in the game. Control keeps shifting from character to character to advance the story. There are a few choices of weapons that pack some heavy fire power. You can even carry two small weapons at the same time and shoot different targets at the same time.
The graphics in this game are revolutionary. The background actually shows signs of life. You can see fire burning, or people moving around all the time. It gives the game a very realistic feel to it.
One thing about this game is that it has earned its M rating. There are a lot of violent scenes in the game and blood loss is common. Also, there are a few sexual scenes in there as well.
The one flaw is that it is extremely short for a 4 CD game. You can finish it in under 2 hours. But, those 2 hours will be well spent.

Graphics: 9.
Some of the best on the playstation. The cut scenes are all done in real time and that doesn't seem to matter.

Sound: 8.
Good sound effects that make the hairs on your neck stand up. The music is very good too.

Gameplay: 8.
The double gun feature is excellent. The game isn't too hard and is very short. Still a lot of fun.

Replay Value: 7.
There is nothing new to do once you beat it. Still playing it over is fun to understand the story better.

Overall: 8.
This would have been an excellent horror movie. It is an excellent game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/00, Updated 07/26/00