Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Kronos Digital Entertainment |
Publisher(s) | Eidos Interactive |
Director(s) | Stanley Liu |
Designer(s) | Scott J. Compton Tim Coolidge |
Programmer(s) | Michael Fernie Steve Shimizu |
Artist(s) | Stanley Liu |
Writer(s) | Stanley Liu |
Composer(s) | David Rovin |
Platform(s) | PlayStation |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix is a 2001 action-adventure video game developed by Kronos Digital Entertainment and published by Eidos Interactive for the PlayStation. The game serves as a prequel to Fear Effect (2000).
Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix begins in Hong Kong in the year 2048. The player delves into the colorful histories of the original cast of three mercenaries - and newcomer Rain Qin - as well as the extraordinary circumstances that brought them together. In the wake of a degenerative global pandemic called EINDS (Environmentally Induced Nucleotides Degeneration Syndrome – pronounced "ends"), theft, murder, and terrorism have become big business.
Hana Tsu-Vachel and Rain Qin are freelance operatives, Royce Glas is a washed-up former soldier, and Jacob "Deke" Decourt is a cutthroat assassin. Much of the game's intrigue lies in how these unlikely allies even manage to come together for one cause. From the start, each of them have their own motives, but they soon all become entangled in a sinister plot extending far beyond politics, espionage, or personal survival. The adventure takes players through a futuristic Hong Kong, the formidable walled city of Xi'an, the lost tomb of the first emperor of China, and, finally, into the mountain island of the immortals, Penglai Shan.
Like the original Fear Effect, the sequel features cel-shaded character models on top of pseudo-3D environments that use looping full-motion video to give the appearance of constantly animated background elements. Players take control of each of the four main characters (Hana, Rain, Deke and Glas) at different times throughout the game, which enables multilateral perspective on the storyline.
Retro Helix mostly relies on a third-person perspective. The controls are mapped without regard to the character's current position or direction faced. Unlike the original Fear Effect, however, Retro Helix offers players the option of a more traditional control scheme. At the player's disposal is a small arsenal of weapons, including a variety of firearms – including pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles, specialty equipment such as a hand-held EMPs and a taser, and one unique melee weapon for each character.
Fear Effect 2 is primarily focused on solving puzzles to progress rather than combating enemies. In spite of the heavy ordnance available, enemies are few and far between, with static – as opposed to dynamic – placement. The gameplay is intended to evoke tension and suspense, rather than relying on the nonstop action formula of standard shooters. This format has the consequence of making the gameplay arguably less difficult, although it is offset by the relative ease at which characters can die from enemy attacks and a number of instant-death scenarios. The fear gauge present in the original game returns for Retro Helix, a variation on the health meter common to most action games.
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
GameRankings | 82% [2] |
Metacritic | 84/100 [3] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
AllGame | [4] |
Edge | 6/10 [5] |
Electronic Gaming Monthly | 8.5/10 [6] [a] |
EP Daily | 7.5/10 [7] |
Eurogamer | 5/10 [8] |
Famitsu | 27/40 [9] |
Game Informer | 8.5/10 [10] |
GameRevolution | B [11] |
GameSpot | 8.9/10 [12] |
GameZone | 9.5/10 [13] |
IGN | 6.9/10 [14] |
Next Generation | [15] |
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | [16] |
X-Play | [17] |
Maxim | [18] |
Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. [3] Jeff Lundrigan of NextGen said of the game, "Everyone who's mature enough to appreciate it and [who] owns a PlayStation should buy this. You will not be disappointed. Now, sequel please!" [15] (Ironically, the sequel was later cancelled, as described in the following section.) In Japan, where the game was ported for release under the name Helix: Fear Effect (ヘリックス フィアエフェクト, Herikkusu Fia Efekuto) on November 15, 2001, Famitsu gave it a score of 27 out of 40. [9] Michael "Major Mike" Weigand of GamePro said, "Although it's marred by minor flaws, Retro Helix receives high marks for its engrossing story and brilliant technical aspects. The new gaming year gets off to a flying start with Fear Effect 2, a must-have title that will keep gamers glued to their seats for days." [19] [b]
The game was nominated for the "Best PlayStation Game" award at GameSpot 's Best and Worst of 2001 Awards, which went to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 . [20]
An unreleased third game entitled Fear Effect Inferno was originally announced for the PlayStation 2 as a sequel to the first game Fear Effect with Kronos Digital Entertainment developing it and Eidos Interactive publishing it at the time. The first trailer was released during E3 2002. The trailer depicted some of the only known footage of the game.
While story details have been scarce, IGN editors promised that "the fusion [of] Asian myth and freaky modern themes" would be prominent like the previous two titles. [21] Through the few demonstration clips that Kronos released during the game's development, fans have pieced together a portion of the game's plot.
Fear Effect Inferno is based on the best ending the player could achieve in the first game Fear Effect . Therefore, the demons set forth by Jin have been killed, Glas' arm has been "reattached," and Deke's body and soul have been restored. According to the videos, Fear Effect Inferno's story chronicled Hana's capture by a group of demons disguised as human doctors and nurses. [22] Hana is placed in an asylum where tests are performed on her. [21] During this time, she has several hallucinations, which range from Hana's completion of ancient tasks to her friends, including Hana herself, getting slaughtered by beasts. As she completed more challenges, Hana gained power from these ancient beings, allowing her to escape the grasp of the asylum's demons and experiments. Meanwhile, Deke is working from the inside, possibly as a "patient," killing any and all individuals that get in his way while searching for Hana. By the end of the journey, the four bounty hunters would once again face the fires of Hell, and fight the remaining demons [22] Besides the demons themselves, their previously-human experiments, henchmen with sunglasses, and a woman that vaguely resembles Wee Ming, no "main enemy" was ever highlighted. However, Fear Effect Inferno promised more characterization during the course of the adventure.
Many drastic changes to the characters were expected to take place during the events of Fear Effect Inferno. As the trailers and demonstration clips explained, Glas and Rain would begin a sexual relationship. At the same time, Hana and Glas would develop closer bonds, which would have created a love triangle for the three bounty hunters. The fates of the characters themselves are unknown; it was never revealed if any of the deaths witnessed by Hana or the player would be permanent.
Only a few screenshots exist that hint at the gameplay style of Inferno. Based on these images, it was concluded that the gameplay would have been nearly identical to the previous two games. However, a new weapon system would have allowed players to map a firearm to the "X" (Cross) button and another to the "O" (Circle) button on the DualShock 2 controller. [22] This would have allowed numerous weapon combinations. In addition, updated diving moves could be executed to quickly evade enemy fire. The environment itself would have allowed players to hide from hazards, such as bullets, and function as a way to avoid detection. It was rumored that players could control certain actions during scripted in-game fight scenes, requiring the player to execute timed button combinations to fight certain opponents. Inferno would have introduced the separation of the "Health" and "Fear" Meters. [22] However, it is not known how the "Fear" Meter would have affected gameplay since it functioned as both in the previous two titles.
Graphically, Inferno would have resembled the previous two titles with a "next-gen facelift." Using the PlayStation 2's graphical capabilities, pre-rendered scenes, which would have shown the characters talking and performing more animation-intensive actions, would have been rendered at a higher resolution. Like the previous two games, the background environments would have been short, pre-rendered animations, using a technique utilized by some portions of Final Fantasy X . The polygonal characters would have been rendered using a cel-shaded method similar to the ones used in the previous two Fear Effect titles for the PlayStation. Other gimmicks, such as Hana frequently changing clothes, would have been prominent in the game, as well; in the existing clips alone, Hana dons no fewer than 4 different outfits.
The game's status changed rapidly towards the end of 2002 and was finally cancelled in 2003. However, between the announcement and the cancellation, information was scarce.
News of the cancellation did not come to fans until 2004, years after the game's initial announcement and quiet absence. [23] Even Sandy Abe, the CFO of Kronos at the time, hinted that Eidos might give the series a second chance under a new developer, such as Crystal Dynamics, but this was only true for the Tomb Raider franchise. [24] However Abe later stated in an email, "Unfortunately Fear Effect probably will not get picked up." [24]
Reports varied as to the status of the game between 2002 and 2003. While an early report by GameSpot in May 2003 described the game as simply "on hold", [25] IGN broke the news during their "Missing in Action" series of articles that the game had been cancelled. [23] According to IGN's report, the game "was the first of Eidos' victims to its more stringent quality assurance program." [23] Due to the game's delayed progress, it was either given more development time or cancelled. Unfortunately, only the development staff knew of the game's status following this condemnation but according to the fans the content was big and still enough to publish. According to IGN, "at some point in late 2002 or early 2003, Kronos did indeed shop it to various publishers. Nobody, however, bit." [23]
On February 17, 2015, Square Enix announced that it would allow developers to create games based on some of their old Eidos IPs via the Square Enix Collective project, including the Fear Effect IP. [26]
On April 7, 2016, a new entry in the series titled Fear Effect Sedna was announced.
Tomb Raider, known as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise is currently owned by CDE Entertainment; it was formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, then by Square Enix Europe after Square Enix's acquisition of Eidos in 2009 until Embracer Group purchased the intellectual property alongside Eidos in 2022. The franchise focuses on the fictional British archaeologist Lara Croft, who travels around the world searching for lost artefacts and infiltrating dangerous tombs and ruins. Gameplay generally focuses on exploration, solving puzzles, navigating hostile environments filled with traps, and fighting enemies. Additional media has been developed for the franchise in the form of film adaptations, comics and novels.
Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation. The seventh main installment in the Final Fantasy series, it was released in Japan by Square and internationally by Sony Computer Entertainment, becoming the first game in the main series to have a PAL release. The game's story follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist organization to stop a world-controlling megacorporation from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. Ensuing events send Cloud and his allies in pursuit of Sephiroth, a superhuman who seeks to wound the planet and harness its healing power in order to be reborn as a god. Throughout their journey, Cloud bonds with his party members, including Aerith Gainsborough, who holds the secret to saving their world.
Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing game franchises, such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, among numerous others. Outside of video game publishing and development, it is also in the business of merchandise, arcade facilities, and manga publication under its Gangan Comics brand.
Lara Croft is a character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise Tomb Raider. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around the world. Created by a team at British developer Core Design that included Toby Gard, the character first appeared in the video game Tomb Raider in 1996.
Brave Fencer Musashi is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1998 for the PlayStation home console. The game involves real-time sword-based combat in a 3D environment; it also features segments of voiced over dialogue and role-playing game elements such as a day-night cycle and resting to restore energy.
Hitman is a stealth game franchise created by Danish developer IO Interactive. The player controls the contract killer Agent 47, who travels the world to assassinate various targets who are assigned to him.
IO Interactive A/S (IOI) is a Danish video game developer based in Copenhagen, best known for creating and developing the Hitman and Kane and Lynch franchises. IO Interactive's most recent game is Hitman 3, which was released in January 2021.
Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, and Gex series.
Eidos Interactive Limited was a British video game publisher based in Wimbledon, London. Among its notable franchises were Championship Manager, Deus Ex, Hitman, Thief, and Tomb Raider. Domark was founded by Mark Strachan and Dominic Wheatley in 1984. In 1995, it was acquired by software company Eidos. Ian Livingstone, who held a stake in Domark, became executive chairman of Eidos and held various roles including creative director. Eidos took over U.S. Gold in 1996, which included developer Core Design, and merged its operations including Domark, which created publishing subsidiary Eidos Interactive. The company acquired Crystal Dynamics in 1998, and owned numerous other assets. In 2005, parent Eidos was taken over by games publisher SCi. The combined company, SCi Entertainment Group, which was briefly renamed Eidos, was itself taken over by Square Enix in 2009.
Fighting Force is a 1997 3D beat 'em up developed by Core Design and published by Eidos. It was released for PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo 64. Announced shortly after Core became a star developer through the critical and commercial success of Tomb Raider, Fighting Force was highly anticipated but met with mixed reviews.
Tomb Raider: Chronicles is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was first released for PlayStation, Windows, and Dreamcast in 2000, then on Mac OS the following year. It is the fifth instalment in the Tomb Raider series. The narrative continues from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation with archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft presumed dead, and three friends recall adventures from her early career. Gameplay follows Lara through linear levels, solving puzzles and fighting enemies. Some levels incorporate additional gameplay elements such as stealth.
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was first released for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows in 1999, then on Dreamcast and Mac OS the following year. It is the fourth instalment in the Tomb Raider series. The narrative follows archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft as she races to imprison the Egyptian god Set after accidentally setting him free. Gameplay features Lara navigating levels split into multiple areas and room complexes, fighting enemies and solving puzzles to progress.
Fear Effect is a 2000 action-adventure video game developed by Kronos Digital Entertainment and published by Eidos Interactive for the PlayStation. It was Eidos's first PlayStation game outside the fighting genre, having been developed following Cardinal Syn. Set in the year 2050, the player controls three mercenaries in Hong Kong and contains elements of survival horror and stealth. It received a mainly positive critical reception, with praise given to its cinematic presentation and unique visuals but criticism given to difficulty. A prequel was released one year later entitled Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix.
Just Cause is a 2006 third-person action-adventure game set in an open world environment. It is developed by Swedish developer Avalanche Studios and published by Eidos Interactive, and is the first game in the Just Cause series. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Xbox 360. The area explored during the game is described as being over 1,024 km2 (395 sq mi) in size, with 21 story missions and over 300 side missions to complete. As of 23 April 2009, it has sold more than one million copies.
Kronos Digital Entertainment was an American video game developer, founded by Stan Liu in 1992. It developed original properties, beginning with the visually appealing early 3D fighting games Criticom, Dark Rift and Cardinal Syn.
Eidos Interactive Corporation is a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal and part of Embracer Group. The studio was founded by Stéphane D'Astous in 2007 under SCi Entertainment. It became part of Square Enix Europe in 2009 and CDE Entertainment in 2022.
Deus Ex is a series of cyberpunk role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technologies in a dystopian near-future setting, the series also includes references to real-world conspiracy theories, historical mythologies and philosophies, and provides a commentary on capitalist values and division in society. The first two games in the series were developed by Ion Storm, and subsequent entries were developed by Eidos-Montréal, following Ion Storm's closure. The Ion Storm games were published by Eidos Interactive, and all Eidos-Montréal media was published by Square Enix until 2022, when ownership was sold to Embracer Group.