Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix

"Astounding Graphics and Superb Game-Play"

It's been quite a while since we had any intriguing Action and Adventure titles out on Play Station; but with the advent of Fear Effect's new sequel Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix, the rather slump period is over for all the zealous Play Station gamers out there. I can assure you that this is one title that will take your limits to a new horizon inconceiveable by any Play Station fanatic; well actually you'll know better what the purport of my statement is when you play it the very first time.

Okay, now I shall straight-away delve into the Review; needless to say, that is what I have to delve into any how :-). So, the game starts around with this FMV that displays some doctors conducting an experiment with an anonymous body [you probably would have guessed it, something goes wrong :-D]; presumably, endeavouring to infest into it something so trivial that it was left vague all over. But anyhow, while they do this a grotesque reaction occurs in that particular test body and it suddenly explodes scattering blood all over the room. Now, while this FMV takes place, you will hear a voice in the back-ground quibbling over some intricate stuff, which I never bothered to concentrate on: I mean, what the heck am I supposed to do with that when the only thing I want to do is to play the game? I must say that this one FMV is so complicated that one has to contemplate it carefully a couple of times to understand it lest of course you are an impetuous fanatic like me.

Okay, all-right! I'll tell you what the game is all about. Well, as I just mentioned that those doctors where conducting an experiment to either create an anti-dote of an acute virulent virus or something else, I do not seem to remember; told you, it has a very complicated beginning FMV. Either way, something goes amiss with the experiment and they end up creating something more deadly and abominable than whatever they wanted to exterminate o_O. Now this deadly thing is merely a virus and it's not a threat to the human beings until exposed. But hey, that is the most inane thing those bloody doctors do: they inadvertently, of course how so obvious, release the virus and it gets infected to at least one person I know, Mr. Dick [please do not derive any obscene meaning of it, it's simply an Australian mates simple name.].

Well, actually the game revolves around the basic theme that those doctors were testing the newly created chemical which was created to counteract the deadly EINDS disease caused by the exposure of the notorious Retro Helix virus. And that is where things go wrong; the anti-dote falls into the wrong hands and the nightmare begins.

Now comes our two cute-arsed heroines: Rain and Hana. Well, these two audaciously dressed ladies work for a Japanese man that sends them onto different espionages and in return for which they get paid heavily; as a whole they are beautiful yet sexy mercenaries, how Ironic isn't it? But that is not the topic of discussion in my review. Anyway, while Rain is sleeping she dreams a dream that depicts a very horrifying scenario that actually moves her deeply. She is so concerned that she swears to forage for its reality. From then on their Japanese boss sends them on a mission to retrieve the Retro Helix anti-dote from the company of the wrong people and from there on the real nightmare begins. The whole prospect turns out to be quite more terrifying and lengthier than those sweet-petite ladies ever thought it could be.

Graphics (visuals): [9 out of 10]
I shall have to admit that this game really touched off the limits that Play Station had never before thought of; of course in terms of Graphics. This game has beautiful graphics, highly rendered that gives the effect of playing a game on PS2. The first time I played it I wasn't able to believe my eyes; I was mesmerized. I thought I was playing a game on PS2; but of course it was not long before I came to realize that it's just my old antiquated yet cute Play Station console that just got better. Well it becomes hard for me to find words to explain the grandeur of the Graphics; my vocabulary becomes limited. With such scintillating graphics and also such pretty women, no one would want to choose any other game over this lest of course if the person concerned is a female or a big-old-fat-head with a bum-itch. The bodies and faces are carved marvellously and adeptly. I would probably pat and congratulate the designers for doing such a magnificent yet arduous task. Anyway let us move on to the other important factors of the game.

Gameplay: [8 out of 10]
You must be wondering that with such heavy graphics the entire game would be accompanied by exasperating delayed loadings. But believe me or not, the loading time in this game has been minimized to such an extent that loading while saving game or re-playing is so less to be counted as negligible. I don't know how did they manage to do this, but yes, it's all their and you can have a taste of it. My God, this is one game no one would want to miss. As for the gameplay; it's no less them the game and it's graphic itself. The game runs all smooth and fine with all-time stunning graphics. Accessing your inventory, browsing through it and selecting weapons or equipments happens without stopping or pausing the game which means that if there is an enemy in front of you and you already have pinned all your hand-gun bullets into it's invincible arse and wish to change the weapon, then you should bloody do it fast because while you are busy selecting the weapon it will leap over you scouring and scraping you like a frail piece of wood; and all you would be doing is still selecting which darn weapon to use while your sexy-baby is already ripped apart and you wouldn't want that, would you?. And another thing that while you collect different equipments along the way and interact with objects, when you come to such an object on which you have to perform a certain function with the equipment already selected, a title bar appears saying ''use'' if the equipment selected is the right one; as opposed to selecting all the various equipments one has and manually using them on the object with the hope that one of it will surely work. Now, one minor flaw is with the difficulty level in this game. What I mean is this that while it is easy to exterminate different enemies with all the hi-tech weapons and buckets of ammo available [but you still need brains to do that], confronting with puzzles and solving them is darn difficult. Some of them are so complicated that they even draw the brains out; you know what I mean. But anyway, that's what you get with such superb graphics and gameplay. And as they say: Brains and Brawns, you see.

Audio (Sound): [9 out of 10]
What should I say? The audio system is simply marvellous, worth hearing again and again. With soothing yet terrifying noises and a rocking background music, all one needs is some expensive Audio System attached to the console and of course, some enemy arse kicking; which fortunately is there for you even if you are a filthy miser and do not wish to buy an Audio System. The background music is indeed hard-core yet it abruptly takes a terrifying tone when confronting enemies; it is indeed a sure sign that someone is near; probably someone trying to kick your arse... well actually, vaporize it... err... it's all complicated just as I have mentioned.

Replay-ability: [7 out of 10]
This whole game comprises of particularly four darn CD's which, of course, you have to finish in order to end the game. Now, four CD's make it an awfully lengthy game, but the difficulty of the puzzles is sure to make it more lengthier, but at the cost of exasperation and frustration on part of the player. Anyhow, it will make you cling to it so long as you don't either give up or make it give up.

To Rent or Buy:
As I said earlier that this is one game no-one would want to miss; so it becomes transparent that you purchase it. Due to the lengthy nature of this game, renting it isn't a prudent thing to do lest of course you can fool the other person and make it your property for eternity. And for those who don't have enough money to buy it then I recommend that they either steal it; snatch it from someone; or perhaps they should bother cleaning up the drainage hole to earn some money to have their hands on this all-time best title.

Overall: [8 out of 10]
For crying out loud, just get your hands on the darn game which ever way deem possible to you.

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Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/02, Updated 07/19/02