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Genre: Action
Perspective: 3rd-person
Visual: Cinematic camera
Gameplay: Puzzle elements, Shooter, Survival Horror
Art: Anime / Manga
Setting: Sci-Fi / Futuristic
Published by: Eidos Interactive
Developed by: Kronos Digital Entertainment
Released: 2000
Platform: PlayStation (PSX, PS1)
The game Fear Effect even in the development process attracted the attention of many professionals, and not only because it combines elements of games such as Resident Evil, Blade Runner and the famous Hong Kong fighting style.
In terms of graphics and controls, the game is very similar to Resident Evil, which is not bad, but the characters can run and shoot at the same time, and when they hold a gun in each hand in the style of John Woo, they can shoot at once for several purposes. However, they demostriroviruyut high class and in hand-to-hand fighting.
Already from the name of the game you understand that it's about fear, and therefore about adrenaline. Therefore, the game has a special indicator adrenaline meter, which determines the amount of adrenaline in your blood, and whose action is as if opposite to the health indicator. It is believed that the more adrenaline in the blood, the more effective a person acts. In this game he has nothing to rely on: there are no first aid kits, medicinal edible plants, no pills and the like. He can count only on himself, and only adrenaline can help him. The amount of adrenaline in the blood is determined by the fear experienced by the character in the process of playing actions. Therefore, the design of the game is built in such a way that it should inspire heroes, and music only strengthens this effect. The more the character is afraid, the higher the level of fear and the more effective you are in the course of the game. Defeat the enemies, imperceptibly penetrate into various places, run under fire, and all your actions somehow affect the level of your fear. Very often you have to decide whether to die or stay alive, but add adrenaline to the blood as a bonus. You will have to achieve good results by learning to control the level of fear and yourself.
The game uses an active animation technique. The background, the surroundings and the scenery all the time are in motion, which gives the game a very dynamic, fascinating image.
You solve various puzzles, interact with characters and surrounding objects, moving forward on a complex branched story, as they develop, they discover the increasingly mysterious and mystical world that underlies their unusual adventures. At some moments, the terrain acquires almost surreal character, and players experience fear of heights, water, huge crowds of people, etc. Of course, mercenaries can hardly be considered good guys. As well as it is accepted in various fairy tales, the good and evil are abruptly mixed in this history, and the true nature of people and things you will learn as the plot progresses.
The external appearance of enemies and the environment is based on the classic cartoon style and Chinese mythology. Of course, this is not China or Hong Kong, it's all stylized, most clearly traced in the weapons that characters use. There are a lot of things here, starting with 9mm pistols and machine guns and ending with C4 explosives. But look how they are styled for old China and get an amazing feeling. A very significant and deeply worked out plot plays a huge role in the game Fear Effect. Three people act in the role of your characters: Nana, a former prostitute, a very sexy woman, turned into an equally sexual mercenary; Glas is a typical American fighter with a square jaw, Deke is a typical Australian with huge eyes that literally enjoys the death of his enemies. All, of course, stand on that line of law. In their minds, they have only one thought - huge money, and they can do anything for it. Before them arises. at first glance, a fairly simple problem: they must return the kidnapped 18-year-old daughter of a big boss, the president of a huge powerful corporation in Hong Kong. Apparently, she simply ran away from home, especially since one of the company's employees turned out to be a traitor and was associated with a powerful mafia organization called the Triad. He found the girl and, having seized her, decided to demand a ransom. Wi-Ming's father can not allow such a thing in his mind and intends to return it alive, for which he hires three of our friends who are ready to get involved in any adventure with great pleasure for a lot of money.
Our heroes can hardly be called respectable people, and they, in general, do not cause sympathy. Nevertheless, in the course of the game you will notice that you involuntarily begin to penetrate to them. if not by love, then respect, you begin to experience some kind of affection. Painfully energetically and fascinatingly they work.
First of all they must penetrate the territory of the protectorate Shan Xi Protectorate, the territory is very dangerous, full of the most unpleasant surprises, and find out where the kidnapped girl is. Painfully considerable money was offered by her father. In the city, they begin to search and enter into numerous battles in very real conditions several fantastic China, making their way through the various dangers that literally inhabit this city. On this way they have to constantly face the father's bodyguards, who are trying to find the girl and can not allow you to find her first.
Starting as mercenaries who try to find a young fugitive and get a huge ransom for this, our heroes are gradually drawn into very incomprehensible and important events, which they could not imagine when they took on this work. In fact, it's not the girl, the fate of the planet, because King of Hell (together with his minions) intends to create a terrible catastrophe, to destroy the entire sinful population of the earth with a purifying fire. In fact, the protectorate of Shan Xi is nothing but a gateway to Hell, of course, figuratively speaking. On the territory of this protectorate, the King of Hell plans to release his devilish offspring on the ground, and our friends have now to solve a completely different task, since it seems very likely that this innocent fugitive is connected with the described nightmarish plan that threatens all of humanity, and many will die before than a secret conspiracy will come to light. To win you will need great skill, luck and a bunch of various ammunition.
The action takes place on territories that resemble a rather strange mixture of Chinese mythology, as well as Western elements of architecture and culture. The organization of the game is rather complicated, almost every 15-30 minutes. You switch automatically from one character to another and play them one by one throughout the game. In the beginning, you play for Khan, then for the Voice, which tries to save Khan, and then switch to the Deck, and throughout the story, you seem to be participating in a good film, staged by an outstanding director. You deeply penetrate into the essence of the characters themselves and those nightmarish events and adventures that happen to them.
The plot, of course, is much more complicated and deeper than we described, but it's hardly worth doing it in more detail, as we will only spoil you with the incredible sensations of the numerous discoveries that await four discs.
The game initially develops quite slowly, but when you play 10-12 hours and get close to the finish (the beginning player can hardly keep within 30 hours) you understand that with each disc the game becomes more dynamic, more interesting and exciting. Initially, it's quite difficult to get used to the control, but by the time the first disc is finished you begin to understand that it is perfectly organized, and there are few games in the adventyury genre that can boast such organic and natural character management.
When you master the jumps in the grouping, rolls, turns 180 degrees and a quick switch to the weapons menu, you can truly appreciate the quality of management and successfully survive the bouts with the bosses.
Unlike other games, you can not interrupt the fight at the moment when you want, and then heal, improve health, take some other weapon, etc. No, in this game everything is done quite realistically, and you will have to finish the fight to the end, even if it will not develop in your favor.
Of course, the game has a lot of bloody scenes, a lot of violence, but it looks quite natural and, in general, does not cause disgust. I must say that you will have to die many times. much more often than in any other game, but this should not be upsetting. Here, much is built on the principle of trial and error, and not always logic or reasoning will help you get out of difficult situations. Of course, after each defeat - the second, third or eighth - you will become more experienced and wiser, you will be able to deal with complex and previously inaccessible problems. Moreover, there are a lot of very noticeable shipping points in the game. Find out from easily, you will immediately see warnings of this type "Save Here Now or You'11 be Sorry!", Which will warn every time serious dangers are ahead.
As we have already said, the management of the game will be quickly mastered by you, but, nevertheless, you will die often, maybe too often, but this can not be avoided: there are so many opportunities to die in the game, so many dangers constantly replacing each other, that it is simply inevitable.
The game has a lot of action and a lot of puzzles. You will have to fight with a lot of bosses of different kinds, strength, skill and skill. Everyone will need their own tactics and weapons, and sometimes even have to solve puzzles to successfully quit the battle. For example, when you are attacked by a helicopter, and Glas comes in time to help you and throws a pistol, you and he must fight against a helicopter with bad guys, for which you need to stand together on one side of the screen, leaving the helicopter with a machine gun on the other. To get out of this difficult situation, you will have to make some very precise time-maneuvers (as if moving from point A to point B and back), while trying to get to special places at precisely the set time. In essence, this is the puzzle you will have to solve in battle. In other situations you will meet a whole bunch of armed bandits who will continuously arrive and arrive. If you adroitly manage the weapon, know how to make somersaults and coups, you will be able to save life. Sometimes the camera suddenly switches to the show from the top where you have to fight the boss, which will give you only a fraction of a second on the return attack when he recharges the gun. We'll have to meet on the 3rd disk with a mass of slowly moving, disgusting, green humanoids. Here you can arrange a wonderful carnage.
Not all puzzles are of such a game character, some can be solved by logical reasoning. And although sometimes it is not hard to get to them, you often have to, for example, discharge the time bombs hanging on your chest to your friend, for which you need to choose the right color combination of wires, otherwise you will explode. It may happen that you will explode about ten times before you find this combination. It is very difficult to pass a puzzle on a glass ceiling, to deal with the electric ladder is also quite difficult. Very interesting and complex are the Dragon puzzles and the intricate tasks that Hane will have to solve in Chiness Hell. Perhaps, these are the most fascinating puzzles in the game. However, remember that not all puzzles are solved based on intuition or logic. We have already said that you will often have to act by trial and error, but every time. when you guess and find the right solution, you will feel great pleasure. I must say that there are absolutely illogical situations. Do not be upset by this, try to find strange solutions, unusual, illogical, unnatural, and they can prove to be the most faithful. After all, if you think about it, Hell is really an unusual place, and it's unlikely that logic works here.
The game is very interesting graphically framed, the characters are moving perfectly, but at the same time a huge role is played by the background and scenery. So in the city you see flashing lights, moving cars, a flashing light in the windows. When you move along the river, it seems that you are moving along some absolutely amazing, mystical space, populated with green spirits, incomprehensible lights, some kind of volatile reptiles, and the jungle is as if alive. On the third level, you will encounter disgusting cockroaches that will attack you, and at the final level you will see swinging suspended corpses, a mad child's room, strange hands and heads that will emerge from the mud of lakes and move as if alive, creating an atmosphere of fear, tension and horror .
All this creates a surprisingly cute atmosphere of the game, and deepening into it, with every step you make sure that it drags deeper and deeper, and the fourth level is made simply brilliantly, even hard to imagine that this is possible on the game console. Here you will meet with amazing mystical things: invisible objects and worlds; bridges that connect non-existent roads; demons who jump out of a wide variety of places; lightning, which is constantly rattling and seems to be about to hit you. In the end, you will encounter huge ruins of the building, and in these ruins the real forms of everything existing become visible only when they are struck by lightning. It seems that all this was written by Thomas Eliot, if he was certainly a Chinese and described what is happening in China. Great sound and sound effects, great music, very suitable for the atmosphere and for the events taking place. The voices of the characters are clear, precise, and although they are not synchronized with the movement of the lips, it may have been done specifically. It all looks, just great.
This game, of course, stands out as an unconquered summit, in the games of its genre. In essence, this is a unique combination of action; puzzles; a magnificent and sufficiently unusual, fascinating story! This, perhaps, on the Playstation has never happened.
MAIN CHARACTERS
ROYCE GLAS
Age: 36 years.
Height: 1m 80 cm.
Weight: 90 kg.
Place of birth: Pacific Coast of California, USA.
Specialty: professional mercenary.
He was a former military man and participated in numerous conflicts that the US government never officially recognized.
Recently he worked as a bodyguard, always balanced on the verge of the law, and can kill anyone, defending himself or simply for the sake of his mission, without any hesitation. However, he has his own concept of honor, and he takes up questionable activities only because he desperately needs money. He respects his friends, is completely fearless, cunning and hardy. This is not a true classic hero, but in many respects can quite compare with them. It is easy to adapt to any changes in situations, and it should not be underestimated - those who do this very quickly find themselves in the next world, quietly and without hassle.
JAKOB "DEKE" DECOURT
Age: 37 years.
Height: 1m 83 cm.
Weight: 95 kg.
Place of birth: Chritchurch, in New Australia.
Specialty: mercenary, expert of subversive business.
Looking at him, it is very difficult to understand whether he is aggressive or just crazy. A huge broad-shouldered man, he is very attractive, women from him are just crazy, but this is a bad boy. He gets high from his cruel work, and in fact, he has long been haunted by the souls of the many men and women he killed at different times. The old friend of Glas, a real expert in the field of explosives and weapons. Working with him is like putting your head in the mouth of the devil.
It works very well, it is very effective, but at any time it can awaken with frenzied pride and aggressiveness, and then the blood flows with the river. Unlike Voice, Dec never got a professional training. He's just a very talented guy and gained experience in a wide variety of wars, until finally he landed in his native Australia.
HANA TSU-VACHEL
The girl is 24 years old.
Very tall, almost 1m 80 cm.
Weight: 55 kg.
Place of birth: Shan XL province
Specialty: secret operations.
She grew up and trained in the Province Military Theater and became an expert in special operations (Covert Operative). learned to imperceptibly penetrate into the most secret places for the enemy. He is fluent in various dialects of the Chinese language, a first-class sniper, an excellent driver, she is half French, half Chinese.
Apparently, she is an orphan and does not know her parents, but she is a very loyal and faithful fighter, especially those whom she trusts. Khan and Glas already worked together when Khan was working for the French government. She, a beautiful woman, some time ago was a very sexy prostitute, led a rather luxurious life and does not recognize any restrictions. A powerful, energetic fighter, fighting with self-oblivion, is devoted to his fighting friends.
WEE MING LAM
Age: about 16 years.
Height: 1m 65 cm.
Weight: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
What can do is unknown.
She is the daughter of Mr. Lem, the most powerful magnate of Hong Kong, and more often called W-Ming. There were rumors that her father's bodyguards had to turn away so as not to see her fantastic beauty when the girl entered the room, and not succumb to her charms.
When W-Ming fled the house, this was the starting point of our entire history, all incredible adventures. It is W-Ming that is the real key to all the mysteries and the incredible nightmarish events that have occurred.
BASIC WEAPON
Weapon of hand-to-hand combat
Brass Knuckle, Smak Jack, Knife.
Pistols
90 Pistol, Machine Pistol and Hand Cannon.
Shotguns
Assault Rifle, a Shotgun.
Special weapons
MK V Assault, WPS Rifle.
WORLDS
Downtown Hong Kong
The business and industrial center of Hong Kong, the westernmost of the worlds in the game, which is the starting point. Huge skyscrapers stretch straight to the sky, and it is clear that this is an area in which money flows the river. Very modern area in all respects, except the human properties of its inhabitants. This is a very dangerous place, especially for newcomers, which are our heroes.
Hong Kong Harbor
Amazing subculture of human beings. Settled on the river bank of the Hong Kong harbor. There are many different fishing boats (Junks, Trawlers and Cannoes). The wealth of the whole city flows down towards the harbor, but does not stop here, but travels to distant voyages beyond the seas. Harbor surprisingly contrasts with the main Hong Kong. She lives her active life, there is a huge fish processing plant and there is a luxury market, which, it seems, never closes.
The Hak Sik River
These are absolutely amazing jungles, so dense that in places even the river becomes impassable. However, it wriggles and leaves deep into the jungle right into the Hak Sik area of territorial China. The river is the main way by which smugglers and other merchants seek to get through this territory, without getting into the clutches of aggressive gangsters who control the main routes on the territory. Along the river there are tiny settlements that help smugglers, as well as from time to time rob tourists and travelers who have decided to go to this area for their misfortune.
Shan Xi
Very densely built-up area. There are magnificent architectural ensembles and engineering structures, which at first glance seem simply absurd. Nevertheless, the city of Shan Xi we call gorgeous, because here are surprisingly widely represented the darkest and darkest elements of society. The houses literally clung to each other, connected like a knot, they stand by a wall near narrow winding streets, small avenues and terrible dead ends. In this city, as if specially built for such people, there are so many shady and dark places, that every person, in whom the remnants of reason still have survived, will never appear in Shan Xi. This is a place where people live a difficult life, and die an easy quick death.
Dai Yo Temple
Mysterious, hidden from human eyes, the castle is known only to a narrow circle of elected persons and built deep in the crater of a huge volcano. It can not even be seen from the side and can only be reached by the monstrously dangerous path leading directly to the top of the volcano. The castle is one of the most sacred places, and the inhabitants will protect it even at the cost of their own lives.