Description
It starts as a simple assignment for the three mercenaries - the beautiful, mysterious Hana, the former army officer Glas, and the ruthless killer Deke. Somewhere in the futuristic Hong-Kong, full of huge corporations, flying cars and helicopters, home for the famous Triad mafia, they have to find the young Wee Ming Lam, the daughter of a powerful gangster. But Hana and her partners don't suspect that the search for Wee Ming will lead them not only to very dangerous areas of Hong-Kong, but to outskirt villages infected by zombies, a dubious restaurant-brothel, and the Chinese hell, where they'll have to confront Yim Lau Wong himself - the Chinese equivalent of the Western Satan.
The gameplay of
Fear Effect is similar to survival horror titles such as
Resident Evil, but it also features many pure action elements and arcade-like sequences, where precise timing matters. The player controls Hana, Glas, or (in a few instances) Deke during different chapters of the story. Player characters can crouch, sneak on enemies, and roll forward or to the sides. There are many human as well as monster enemies to eliminate or avoid. Characters can run and shoot at the same time, as well as use two weapons at once to combat multiple enemies. A considerable portion of the gameplay is dedicated to puzzle-solving.
Instead of the traditional health bar characters have a "fear meter", which turns red and eventually kills the character whenever he or she is damaged or found in a particularly stressful situation. The functional difference between the fear meter and a regular health bar is the possibility to restore it to a normal green color by reducing the character's stress, e.g. solving a puzzle or killing an enemy in a stealthy way.
The game's 3D character models are unshaded, aiming to resemble cel-shading technique and anime art. The backgrounds are pre-rendered and often consist of streaming or looping full-motion video. The story unfolds through numerous pre-rendered movies.
Alternate Titles
- "Fear Factor" -- Working title
Part of the Following Groups
User Reviews
The Press Says
| The Video Game Critic |
Nov 23, 2000 |
A |
100 |
| GamePro (US) |
Mar 16, 2000 |
  |
90 |
| IGN |
Feb 18, 2000 |
8.9 out of 10 |
89 |
| Absolute Playstation |
Mar, 2000 |
88 out of 100 |
88 |
| GameSpot |
Feb 23, 2000 |
8.5 out of 10 |
85 |
| Jeuxvideo.com |
Mar 14, 2000 |
17 out of 20 |
85 |
| Gamers' Republic |
Apr, 2000 |
B |
75 |
| Power Unlimited |
Jul, 2000 |
7.5 out of 10 |
75 |
| Power The PlayStation Mag / Playstation Power |
Apr, 2000 |
7 out of 10 |
70 |
| Digital Press - Classic Video Games |
Oct 05, 2005 |
7 out of 10 |
70 |
Forums
There are currently no topics for this game.
Trivia
The dragons puzzle in the Chinese hell is based on patterns from the famous classic Chinese book "Yi Jing". There was even an occult science based on those patterns.
This entry to the MobyGames database was contributed by
Matthew Bailey (1162) on Apr 03, 2001.
