Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix

I really enjoyed Fear Effect 1. Despite some insane gameplay and leveldesign decisions (papered over by the rewind functionality of the port), it was a pacy adventure full of character, twists, turns and predicaments. The gameplay was mostly solid, minus some very low moments (usually involving a timed challenge against an FMV background). The sequel (this game)... I'm not quite as sanguine about. It begins with an endless series of espinage instructions (with very little in the way of stakes or emotion) and then almost immediately doubles down on the worst gameplay elements of the first game (endless timed puzzles). After a while, I found myself enjoying the game more - the back-and-forth gameplay between the charming female leads, Hana and Rain, kept the pace brisk and the atmosphere exciting. Loved the mechanical design (the Fixer robots are cool) and the dingy sinister atmosphere of the sewers, but then... ...There's a very odd section near the start of this game which features a grotesque scene of SA - basically a tentacle assault on a young woman. It's not explicit, but it's very clear that the assault has taken place... an event which is subsequently laughed off by the women involved. You can tell this game was written by a guy. I'm fairly sex positive, and I think that games can cover any themes or subject matter, but this content comes out of nowhere and is treated as utterly trivial. I love games like Fear and Hunger that provide adequate warning of mature content, and then engage with that content in a mature and thoughtful way. This game does neither of these things. It's just a cheap shock. Matters don't improve with the world's cheapest garden maze, which follows the sewer sequence. However, the game then shifts into a Mission Impossible mode, with our heroines infiltrating a party and labratory at some corporate headquarters. The item / narrative puzzles are somewhat obscure, but the environment and challenges are fresh and once again, the pace is snappy and interesting, even as the goals and narrative stakes remain murky and abstract. We're here to get a DNA sample. What for? Who cares? The labs environment and costume designs throughout this section are exceptional, however, with some really tasty palette choices and silhouettes. The CyberChina setting of Fear Effect remains distinctintive - even today you'd be able to pick it out pretty quickly in a lineup. There's some more uncomfortable leering male gaze in the cutscenes, but there's also sequences where the leads demonstrate agency and initiative, which is good. Overall, I'm a fan of the lab heist. However: Then we end up in a ghost town, housing a recently excavated ancient temple. I hope you like endless criss-crossing fetch quests and interminable exposition about Chinese legends. Hey - there might be some interesting cultural stuff here, I dunno - because whenever the story touches on these elements it slows to a maddening crawl. Prepare for chained cutscenes of immortal guardians forcing you to complete mind-numbing tests. The only escape here are some occasional sequences featuring Glas, who encounters some novel experiences (fighting zombies with a mech suit!) and has a vaguely interesting flashback to a military infiltration mission. The game ends on YET MORE dry exposition. The writer of the game, one Stan Liu, has a good grasp of pacy, interesting dialogue, but is clearly missing his co writer from Fear Effect 1 (John Zuur Platten) - the structure and plot of Fear Effect 2 is DIRE. You're never told what you're doing in a clear or interesting way that speaks to your values or emotions on any level other than dry business ("go to floor 80 and unlock floor 86") or droning exposition that provides the most limp motivation for any of the actions, be they mortal or supernatural, taken in the game. I'm a member of the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/fixedcamera]Fixed Camera Appreciation Society[/url], and I'll take some interesting gameplay / control elements and some scene composition notes from Fear Effect 2, along with my continuing regard for how beautiful the faux 'cel-shaded' lowpoly characters and environments are. But I'm starting to think that it was perhaps a mercy that we never got the intended Fear Effect sequels - nobody but academics and curiosity hunters should have to endure this type of nonsense. Play the first game. And then, for the love of sanity, skip this one.