Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix

"Hana brings her"

Let's admit it. If people are gonna remember anything about Fear Effect, it's seeing Hana running around with nothing more than a towel on shooting everything in sight, then dropping it to help ''disarm'' a guard. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you, but that game was much more than that. That was a game with superb graphics brought buy an excellent use or looping FMV for backgrounds, animation style character models, puzzles that actually make you think and a lead female character who gives Lara Croft a run for her money. In this installment, Hana has with her her ''friend'' to give us more.... entertainment. (get your mind outta the gutter!!)

Graphics: 10/10

The game still uses the impressive style used by the previous game: FMV backdrops. With these, the background looks even more alive than a still shot, despite the looping that can give it a repetitive feel. Plus, it also still uses an animation style character models with cel-shading to give it a comic book feel like the first. This time around, the graphics are much more refined and has a higher resolution, already improving on an excellent idea. However, the backgrounds still look a bit grainy, and they still give that repetitive feel when it loops. Plus, there is still that slight lag as to the heavy load on the graphics engine. That still doesn't do much to the quality, as this may very well be one of the best this old console can do.

Audio: 9/10
Excellent voice acting, plainly said. One of the best voice acting in a game I've ever heard. While the voice acting is good, the music leaves a bit to be desired. I actually noticed that there really isn't a lot music to be said of, mostly sound effects. The music is mostly confined to a few tracks that repeat themselves, or some tracks that sound alike.

Control: 9/10

Just like similar games of its time, it uses a control style similar to Resident Evil (I still don't know if there's a name for it). While this can make aiming for specific things much easier, it makes it a bit harder to fight when things get nasty. The auto-aim makes up for this, but the auto-aim is a finicky creature and can be hard to use depending on the camera angle. Thankfully, majority of the angles are done well as not to exploit the control's weakness. All in all, the controls are tight and responsive.

Gameplay: 9/10

Your typical puzzle-solving and gun-toting action games. Unlike Resident Evil, the puzzles in this game will really need you to think about them properly. Clues can be found either from nearby areas or from the screen where you solve the puzzle itself. You'll need some rational thinking, common sense and some amount of time to solve them. As for action, there's quite a few weapons to be used, plus a few unique ones for each character. Some enemies will be toting guns, while others will be monsters who will joyfully feast on your flesh when given the chance. The puzzles will be one of the main attractions of this game, but they can get a bit repetitive and boring at some points.

A very good action game. One of the few great games in the last leg of the Playstation's life. It's just too bad that excellent games like this were released at so late a time in the PS's life. If ever you get your eyes on this, then by all means get it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/02, Updated 09/09/02