The title also included a triad of fully playable characters: Hana Tsu-Vachel, a former Chinese prostitute turned mercenary; Royce Glas, a former officer and weaponry expert in the U.S. Military; and Jakob "Deke" Decourt, an almost- psychotic Australian assassin and cold-blooded killer-for-hire. Needless for me to say, the second game, as well as its predecessor, did more than just earning a Mature rating; it kind of gave the ESRB's rating system a purpose. The first title in the new series, renamed "Fear Effect" upon its February 18th, 2000 release, turned out to be much like a cyberpunk film with a few Japanese animé-inspired characters thrown into the mix for a somewhat unique look. Fear Effect was quite a hit and when demand proved to be high enough for a second installment, Kronos began work on the prequel, Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix, which told of the many events leading up to the original Fear Effect's plot, including Hana's life as a Chinese prostitute and her rather close relationship with a mysterious young woman named Rain Qin and how Hana finally met up with both Glas and Deke.

  So, Kronos Digital Entertainment, aided by Eidos Interactive, finally released Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix on February 20th, 2001. Now, to those of you who haven't been paying attention, Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix is rated Mature for a reason; nearly everything contained within the game's narrative is straight out of most typical R-rated movies, so obviously anyone who's currently under the age of seventeen should not be playing the game. Period. From the intro to the end, anyone who plays this title will see numerous scenes containing many things that kids definitely shouldn't be watching, let alone interacting with, namely gunfire, blood, violence, strong language and several blatant sexual innuendoes. If any of this offends you in the least, I highly suggest you start looking for another game.

  That said, let's talk about the graphics. Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix sets a new benchmark, when compared to its one year-old predecessor, by improving on the old MotionFX concept of the first title. Most backdrops in Fear Effect 2 really do look alive when in motion, but the clipped nature of the previous title's background animation still rears its ugly head; let's just hope that they have adequate time to fix the stoppage problem in their next title. And for those of you who've yet to notice, the developers at Kronos seem to have a thing for the widescreen format, as Fear Effect 2 takes full advantage of its use of the famous film format. This allows for your character's Fear Meter (Life), Targeting Icon, Low Ammunition Alert and Inventory to be cleverly tucked off screen, and out of the way of all the action. The overall presentation of the game is very similar in style to Shinji Mikami's Resident Evil, but with more action, better control and cel-shaded characters, which, coupled with both the prerendered and FMV-enhanced locales, makes it look more like a Japanese animé than a horror film.

  Unique facial expressions are also used, mostly during cutscenes and are done well for the most part. Fear Effect 2 also includes some decent voice-acting to enhance the narrative and make the characters not only more realistic, but easier to understand and relate to as well. Fear Effect 2 also provides a decent amount of ambiance and a soundtrack that somehow adds to its already distinctive form of visual presentation. Most of the background music is strictly in here for effect and there really aren't that many tunes that stand out, with the obvious exception of the somewhat raunchy guitar riff that plays each time one of the women in the game decides to change her clothes. You guys reading this can calm down now, since no amount of frontal nudity is ever shown, at least not any that I know of.

  The point that makes or breaks any game though, is its style of gameplay, and Fear Effect 2 delivers great fun, though not quite as much as I'd hoped it would. I know for a fact that most gamers just aren't very patient, so for those of you who don't like losing and being forced to restart from your last save point over and over again, be forewarned; almost every puzzle and gunfight in the latter half of the game is very high on the impatience scale. Thanks to the title's trial-and- error gameplay, solutions to the puzzles come very slowly at times and enemies can very unforgiving, as there are no medical kits or healing items to speak of; instead, the game expects players to accomplish a series of objectives, at the end of which you receive what's called a Rush Moment, which replenishes your current character's health. And while the save points are frequent enough for advanced players, I found a serious shortage of them during events that try your patience; exactly at the times when they're needed most. I would have gladly traded the odd overabundance of save points in the easier areas for a few well- placed save points throughout the more difficult areas. I just can't convey to you in writing how annoying it is to complete a puzzle, only to be gunned down by the nearest silent assailant; you really have to experience it once to understand.

  Thankfully, the game isn't a total loss and is still very challenging and fun. Fear Effect 2's basic control scheme follows the Resident Evil route, so that's what I'll tell you about. Moving your character is a breeze, as pressing up always makes them walk forward and pressing down always makes them step backward, while simply pressing left or right will turn your character to his or her respective left or right. Pressing X fires your currently chosen weapon, while pressings of either Square or Circle cycles through your inventory. Here's where it gets kind of sticky though: to change your weapon, you have to cycle through them and select one with Triangle. A problem arises when you're fighting hordes of swiftly moving baddies and they're closing in much faster than you can switch weapons.

  This often leads to frequent dying in the latter stages of the game, and though speed doesn't matter as much in the early stages of the game, it sure does help to have it when you actually need it. Fear Effect 2 also utilizes all four of the PlayStation's shoulder buttons; L1 acts as a handy 180° quick turn, R1 is run, L2 makes your character do an evasion tumble and R2 is sneak. And while the game does have support for the left analog stick, it's really only there for players who want something easier on their thumb than the rigid PlayStation digital pad. The high level of artificial intelligence and the overall level design is definitely not for the novice, and while most puzzles in the game are fairly logical, some are just too vague. In fact, a few of the more difficult areas had me pulling hair and it's not often that I get irate with a game. Let me just say this: when you die and have to restart all the way back at a certain point yet again, it kind of kills the narrative. My point was heavily illustrated in the last stages of the game, when I became wary of the slightest movement; not because I didn't want to die again, but because I didn't want to make it all the way back to where I currently was from my last save point. My advice to Kronos for their next installment: put a few more save points in during the latter stages and less in the beginning stages. Why exactly did you guys put a save point right at the very beginning, anyway?

  Fear Effect 2 does make up for its lack of save points though, by allowing near instant reloads of your latest save, a trend their fellow developers should follow. The full game takes roughly eight hours to complete and, thankfully, it includes a few incentives that might make you wish to do so more than once, such as an individual Art Gallery on every disc, among other goodies. Button sequences to unlock each feature are given one at a time, for each game completion, after all the credits roll, so you may want to have a pen and some paper handy when the time comes. You know, for being a title that was hyped solely on its sex appeal, Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix is actually a pretty good play. It's kind of sad that the mainstream press chose to only see the storyline's implications of lesbianism. By doing so, they almost forgot to mention the key features that make the title what it is; both the story and dialog are very entertaining and the game itself is hard as nails, so if you're an older gamer who wants a decent challenge, look no further.
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