Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix

"You are really awful, Hana !"

I have just entered playing this series for a month with Fear Effect 2 : Retro Helix and now I want to share my opinions about this game with everyone. This game has impressed me that I can't fail to write this review. Before, I was a very crazy fan of Resident Evil series and I have ever thought that no other adventure games can be compared with it. Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid are not as attractive as Resident Evil for me. But since I played Fear Effect 2, I have changed my mind that there are still some great games to play. Fear Effect 2 has given me a new look at adventure games.

Gameplay 10/10
I don't know why, but I feel the gameplay of this game is very great, greater than I expected before playing it. At first, I just got this game for fun. But now I think it's not just only ordinary fun.
The battle system of Fear Effect 2 has more advances and advantages than Resident Evil, such as you can use sneak kill, act many different positions and solve dangerous circumstances. You have various weapons to use, you have various of items to find. Different from Resident Evil, sometimes using bare-hands is the only way to survive. Even if you are not good at using those simple defense, you must practice to do it as your only choice which is obliged.
The enemy system is better with bigger variety than Resident Evil. Dispirited zombies are not the only ones.
The puzzle system is wonderful too. Tons of puzzle types - hard and easy - are put in the game strictly and hard enough to make you think continually. Besides, similar to Dino Crisis, Fear Effect 2 is created with the presence of dangerous situations that you must escape by quick thinking and actions. Very good !
The story of Fear Effect 2 is a great combination of timelines which take place in China - a country of mysterious historical events and heritages. Let's see later.
But there is a small bug : the characters...

Story 9/10
The legendary Entity - the Maker of Humanity who had been destroyed, hode himself somehow and has waited for the time he would get back. The crazy ambitions of the immortal Qin Zhang and Rachel Kazra have created tons of disasters to humanity, including the terrible disease named EINDS which spread and kill people miserably and gradually. Hana and some partners who are the pieces of the explore decided to find out the truth about the disease and then destroy it as soon as possible. They must pass many challenges of enemies and gods to execute their hope... to save people from EINDS...
Fear Effect 2's story is a terrific mixture of ancient and present, of fantasies and real world. I often don't like stupid fantasies. But they have been mixed in the game with skilful methods that don't make the game boring. The coming of past and present make you want to drill the game furthest to the most end. The authors use the mysterious characteristics of Chinese stories, having created a game that is gathered by various styles, not only Asian. Yeah, Every miracles are collected to create Fear Effect 2 : Retro Helix.

Style 9/10
As a great mixture of many states, we can see by eyes and feel by sense in the game : the modern points at the building designs, the Asian style in the scenery such as Kuanyin and Buddha statues, the fantasies rising from mythical stories, and the real world as the game's process. Yes, you see, you hear and you feel. Then you play, play anyway and any time.

Battle System 9/10
As I said a few in Gameplay, this game has a various battle system with its own type. Your characters can act like spies, exploring and creeping. This game requires your experience, quick thought, fast actions and patience. I assure that Fear Effect players must have tons of failures to reach the end.
A unchangeable rule of Fear Effect 2 : Fighting is not the only way to live. Sometimes, fighting only could kill you and you never pass the challenges without changing your tactics. So then your next chance must be sneak kills and dodging. You will fail if you fight human beings as you fight stupid zombies. And you will fail again if you attack demons as you did with machinery. Your attacks for enemies are changed as their types. No attacks are succeeded without dodging, because the game has given you a lot of buttons to avoid. It's illogical when you can defeat the opponents without them. This is a real game ! If Fear Effect 2 has no such ''confusions'', I wouldn't play it fascinatedly like this.

Enemies 10/10
Yes, dispirited zombies are not unique in the adventure. This game gathers all basic kinds of necessary enemies to fertile the game : Human Beings, Machinery, Zombies, Ghosts, Demons and Gods. Sometimes that can be very your partners or yourself : Yeah, fighting foes only is not enough, and it would be a pain to fight your close partners.

Puzzle System 9/10
I think Fear Effect 2 is the game that has the most and the most various puzzles I have ever faced. Every FAQ makers for this game, must pay attention to these very carefully because they take a major part to complete the scenarios. All the puzzles are different from one another serving different devices. Remember to wake up your brain in good consciousness !

Characters & Scenes 5/10
Oops ! A small bug ! Let's see our Hana. She acts like she is a woman who can do anything to complete just missions and missions. I admire for that she sacrifices everything for her close partner Rain and fights with all strength to save humanity from EINDS. But she has got out so far from her limitation. This bug goes with mistakes about scenes. Many ''important scenes'' shouldn't be shown. But maybe the authors of the game want us to ''witness'' all the little episodes of the game, even the crazies ones. Yeah, both Hana and Rain, all awful !!!

Sound 8/10
Not like Resident Evil 2, the gun shots of this game are big enough to hear, not too loud. The sound types should be added more, to make the game more lively and real. The step sounds are still so simple.

Graphic 8/10
Well, Fear Effect 2 doesn't follow real faction. It seems like cartoon but with three-dimension art. Instead of Resident Evil characters who look like real people, everyone in Fear Effect 2 are just artificial animated ones. The background sceneries are the same too. But...although they are not real, they have brought a mysterious beauty of colour faction : lively and mythical. This game is partly created from fantasies, and the real state can't have enough characteristics to promote them. I think at this point the authors were right to design the game like this.

Replayability 9/10
This game is completely worth playing repeatedly. I don't have words to describe its fascination but I always I need to pick it while selecting a game to play among tons of discs. In process you'll discover a lot of new tactics to fight enemies and new methods to pass challenges. Yeah, you will never just stay in an old style if you want to replay this game.

Final Conclusion
I have written what I think about Fear Effect 2 : Retro Helix. In my opinion, this game is a great game(without some little bugs, of course) that can't be missed in your adventure game collection. You'll see that it's very stylish and different from other similar games, with high fun and mythical factions. I can't decide for you to buy or not. Because it's all up to you. But about me, your money won't be wasted for uselessness to buy this game... except... you extremely hate ''naughty scenes'' as the bugs in this game.

Gameplay 10/10
Story 9/10
Style 9/10
Battle System 9/10
Enemies 10/10
Puzzle System 8/10
Characters & Scenes 5/10
Sound 8/10
Graphic 8/10
Replayability 9/10
Overall score : 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/01, Updated 02/04/03