Fear Effect (PlayStation)

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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.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "Fear Factor" -- Working title

Part of the Following Groups

• Console Generation Exclusive: PlayStation
• Fear Effect series
• Games made into comics
• Setting: Chinese
• Visual technique / style: Cel shaded

User Reviews

Short, sweet, and it has boobs, ok?

laemus (13)

Critic Reviews

The Video Game Critic	Nov 23, 2000	A	100
Just Adventure	2000	A-	91
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
Jeuxvideo.com	Mar 14, 2000	17 out of 20	85
Svenska PlayStation Magasinet	May, 2000	8 out of 10	80
Game Chronicles	Jun 22, 2001	7.9 out of 10	79
Power Unlimited	Jul, 2000	7.5 out of 10	75
Gamers' Republic	Apr, 2000	B	75

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Trivia

Chinese

The Chinese signs in front of Lam's building, that you are required to memorize (in order to solve a puzzle), mean "Lam's Corporation". They are pronounced "lin shi qi ye" in official Chinese (used in PR China), but the Cantonese pronunciation is different: for example, "lin" (which means "forest") is pronounced "lam".

Mythology

The King of Hell, Yim Lau Wong (Yen Lou Wang in official Chinese), whom you encounter in the game, is indeed a popular figure of Chinese mythology. However, his origin is India, where he is called Yama or Yamaraja - the God of Death.

References

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.

Related Web Sites

• Wikipedia: Fear Effect (Information about Fear Effect at Wikipedia)