| Page 79

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/18/2017

Posted in: PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified. Tagged: a thief's end, exclusive, playstation, ps4, Sony, uncharted, uncharted 4. Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Naughty Dog

Release Date: 5/10/2016

Available On

The Uncharted series is one of my favorites, and it helped push the PS3 to the top of the charts. Going from a game just called “Dude Raider” or a generic Indiana Jones rip-off to one of the best-selling game series of all time is a huge achievement. Naughty Dog pushes each Sony console to its limits and provides fantastic acting, scripts, gameplay, and also the famous action movie-scripted events. Uncharted 4 is no different and feels like the pinnacle of the series, as well as the end.

Uncharted’s story is a little more personal and complex than in past games. The game spans 22 chapters and clocks in at around 12 hours from start to finish. Nathan finds himself trying to retire from treasure hunting when ghosts from his past come knocking, and he must do one last hunt. Of course, an evil corporation is out to get their first, but small branching paths in the story see us playing Nathan as a child, and this unlocks mysteries surrounding why he started doing all this in the first place. The story concludes with no cliffhanger, which is relieving, as this is the final chapter in the Uncharted saga. I felt satisfied with the ending, and all my questions seemed answered, but I still wanted more.

Gameplay-wise, Uncharted has fine-tuned its not-so-great third-person shooting as best as it can. I honestly don’t care for it, and I felt the shooting sequences slowed down the more fun adventures this time around. Stealth was a bit easier, and the shooting segments are spread out more, so it’s not as frequent, but I still don’t care for it. Nate moves around cliffs and buildings faster and more gracefully. I felt Assassin’s Creed needed to take a note from this game, as I never had Nate cling on to things he shouldn’t or hop around like an idiot.

I could end this review there, but Uncharted 4 is much more nuanced with its fantastic scripted events. From breaking into a mansion and running from cops as a kid to finding your way around an island during a massive storm, The game has vehicle segments, which are fun, and even some underwater swimming. It just feels so well balanced and paced so brilliantly that I never get bored. I only felt like things slowed down during shooting segments, and I kept dying frequently. Some shooting segments are actually avoidable, as you can sneak through or even climb around the enemies.

My favorite thing about this game was the many locales to explore. This felt like a true-to-heart adventure, with so much detail crammed in that it made me almost feel like I was there. Searching for pirates’ treasure is a classic story, but this is done in a way where I felt like it might just actually be true. We go from civilization to completing remote areas all through the game. Most of the games had vast, sweeping landscapes that were just gorgeous to look at. Uncharted 4 is still the best-looking console game to date, and it even tops PC games in the looks department. Naughty Dog pulled off some miracles with the PS4 hardware, and it just oozes detail. Foliage is individually rendered; I rarely found flat, lifeless textures, and the character models are incredibly detailed. Mud, water, dirt, sand, snow, and grass. It all actually felt different, and I felt pulled into the whole experience.

Other than getting through the adventure, you can collect trinkets, which I’m not a fan of, and then there’s the dreaded multiplayer. I already don’t really like Uncharted shooting mechanics, so more of it doesn’t sit well with me. It feels forced, like Uncharted 3, and just comes across as a generic shooter—nothing really all that special. Same modes, maps, and mechanics you would expect from any third-person shooter. I won’t be coming back for it anytime soon.

Overall, Uncharted 4 is a true adventure game from beginning to end. It tells the tale of someone who overcomes a huge personal goal, and Nate feels truly human and not like an immortal action hero. The sweeping landscapes, varied locales, amazing acting, fun scripted events, and various gameplay elements culminate in what is essentially what 99% of video games fail to achieve. The only downside was the combat slowing everything down, as Uncharted’s combat is not the best out there. This is what makes me proud to be a PlayStation owner: a game that pushes visuals and gameplay to their limits. Uncharted 4 captures the essence of playing a movie.

Reviewed On

Call of Duty: WWII

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/11/2017

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox One. Tagged: call of duty, cod, first person, fps, multiplayer, online, shooter, wwii. Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Sledgehammer Games

Release Date: 11/3/2017

Available On

Am I 13 again? That’s the question I asked myself when I first loaded up WWII. World War II shooters dominated the gaming industry back in the late 90s and early 2000s, with Medal of Honor and Call of Duty at the forefront. With so many WWII games (check out my articles on nearly every WWII game ever made), everyone was done with them into the late 00s. With Modern Warfare, Battlefield, and other games jumping into modern combat, we quickly got sick of those in about the same amount of time.

Here we are in full circle. It’s rather funny that a WWII shooter feels fresh when, just 10 years ago, we were begging for it to end. Call of Duty was always my favorite of the bunch, as its slower, more cinematic take on the war was memorable and the gunplay was more realistic. There was always an interesting connection between teammates, rather than the war as a whole. In Call of Duty, you always followed one squad, or a small few (Finest Hour), but it never created anything groundbreaking.

WWII follows this old trend again as you play Private Daniels, who follows his squadmates through theaters of war and discovers losses along the way. It’s enough to keep you moving forward, but it never really amounts to anything. These are just generic soldiers that we have seen time and time again in these historical war shooters. What I was in for was the cinematic set pieces, weapons, and realism of WWII coming back with our current technology. Remember, these WWII shooters died in the middle of the last generation cycle.

I was very impressed with the storming of Normandy Beach as the game opened up. It showed the visual prowess of the game, with bullet shells flying everywhere, realistic and detailed characters and animations, and great water physics. What amazed me the most was when a soldier’s head was blown clean off, and I said to myself, “Wow, so they finally took the hint from Brothers in Arms that there was gore in these wars.” It’s just a no-brainer. I don’t know if it was technical limitations or just trying to get the teen rating, but why was there no gore for all those years these shooters were out? Only Brothers in Arms did that, I can remember.

As I played through the campaign, I had a sense that I was the small man in the war, never really a true hero. There are “heroic moments” that allow you to pull someone to safety to save someone from a Nazi trying to kill them, but these felt like they were wasted and just got in the way. Same as trying to find hidden moments everywhere. When you’re stuck in the middle of tank fire or being raided by bombs, you aren’t going to go around hunting for stuff; it’s just plain silly.

That wasn’t the only silly thing in the campaign; some of the cinematic scripted events are too crazy, and they feel like some sort of Indiana Jones thing, like when Daniels is falling down a bell tower and the bell is chasing him. Don’t drag it out so long and make so many near misses that you start rolling your eyes. These things took me out of the experience. However, the game did change up the pace quite a bit by throwing in stealth missions, escort missions, one mission where you are flying a plane (which is horrible), and even some tank and driving sections. It’s all here, and it feels like the culmination of Call of Duty from yesteryear, but in the end, it’s still missing something.

You can feel a bit of the Modern Warfare series in this game, such as the hit counter, quick scoping, and grenade lobbing. I wanted this game to stand apart from those and have nothing familiar in it, but it gets even worse in multiplayer, where it feels like Modern Warfare with a WWII skin attached.

After I finished the 8-hour campaign, I was left wanting more, which is always a good thing. I’m sure Activision will milk this again, as will other developers, but let’s use this opportunity to create something unique and give us parts of the war we haven’t seen. How about through the eyes of the Jews, or something a little more personable? It can happen, but WWII did what it was supposed to, for now.

I won’t get into multiplayer or Nazi Zombies much, but zombies are completely evolved. The new story carries out, and the map is much larger, with little puzzles here and there. There are a lot of upgrades, and Zombies is at its best yet, but you should probably already expect that. I never played Zombies much on CoD and probably won’t here either. Multiplayer is a little different and isn’t sure if it wants to be WWII, a Modern Warfare skin, or a Battlefield 1 clone. Multiplayer needs the most work in the next series, but I would love a larger campaign.

As it stands, WWII is a much-needed game in the series. Another Infinite Warfare, and the series would have been done for good. A few more hours in the oven, and Call of Duty could possibly cook up the best WWII shooter ever created next time around. With fantastic cinematic moments, a variety of gameplay, a long campaign, amazing visuals, added gore, and wholesome weapons, WWII is one of my favorite shooters to have come out in recent years.

Reviewed On

Keyboard & Mouse

Little Nightmares

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/10/2017

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch, Xbox One. Tagged: adventure, horror, indie, little nightmares, platformer, scary. Leave a comment

Publisher: Namco Bandai

Developer: Tarsier Studios

Release Date: 4/27/2017

Available On

Minimalist side-scrollers have become very popular in Limbo. Inside is just another example of these horror-side scrollers done right. Little Nightmares doesn’t really tell a story through voices or words, but through actions. Unlike Inside, Little Nightmares doesn’t have too much of a story to tell. You play as a child trying to escape a ship from humongous fat monsters trying to eat you. That’s all we get, really.

Sadly, the story doesn’t really explain much, as the art direction, monster design, and backdrops are wonderful and beg for more storytelling. The beginning of the game is made up of basic platforming with simple physics puzzles and a lot of atmosphere. Eventually, you start seeing the occupants of this ship, and that’s when things get creepy.

Little Nightmares does a fine job of creating a tense atmosphere and suspense. Grabbing and sneaking are tied to the shoulder buttons, so when you grab something, you must hold the button down. This makes things more intense, as you are running away from a monster with a key to unlock a door, and if you let go of that button, it’s all over. The middle of the game is made up of outsmarting these monsters, and the puzzles get bigger, but not really harder.

There’s not much to really explore outside of lighting lanterns for checkpoints and breaking porcelain dolls to unlock achievements. The game is definitely intense throughout the 3 hours it takes to complete; there wasn’t a dull moment that I can remember. I always felt like I was running, overpowered, and small. From climbing stacks of dishes and escaping on meat hooks to chopping off the arms of a doll maker, The game gives players something that most don’t, and that’s solid gameplay while combining excellent visuals and touching moments.

Overall, there are some of the best 3 hours you will spend. From beginning to end, Little Nightmares has something interesting to offer, and it’s never boring. The graphics are gorgeous, with art styles that reminded me of box trolls mixed with coraline. If you love horror games and platformers, then this is for you.

Reviewed On

Xbox One S Controller

Immortal Redneck

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/05/2017

Posted in: Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unknown, Steam Deck Verification, Switch, Xbox One. Tagged: first person, fps, immortal redneck, retro, shooter. Leave a comment

Publisher: CremaGames S.L.

Developer: CremaGames S.L.

Release Date: 4/25/2017

Available On

Immortal Redneck is, unfortunately, not going to get the attention it deserves. It’s neither a fantastic game nor a bad game, nor is it original in any sense, but it does combine elements from several other games into one package and does it fairly well.

You play as, what else?, an immortal redneck mummy with a wooden pistol, shotgun, and dynamite. At least those are your starter weapons. The game is set in Egypt, and the idea is to defeat all the enemies on each “floor” to make it to the top of a pyramid. The game is a mix between Serious Sam, Rogue Legacy, and Dark Souls. Like Serious Sam, the game is set in Egypt and features fast-paced first-person shooting action with strange monsters. The game almost looks like Serious Sam as well. Like in Rogue Legacy, when you die, you actually get stronger by using the gold you collected to unlock various upgrades and buy new weapons.

Like Dark Souls, the game is extremely hard, gets repetitive, and isn’t for people wanting a linear FPS experience. Your first hour you will spend just dying a lot and obtaining upgrades until you can unlock the weapons shop, and that’s where things pick up. However, the constant repetition of going floor to floor, despite it being randomly generated, can be annoying and get boring after a while. Redneck doesn’t have much going for it style-wise that other games haven’t tried. It looks good, on a technical level, and the shooting feels just fine.

The issue would be just the difficulty alone and the grinding to achieve better weapons and upgrades until you can beat the pyramid. It’s nothing amazing, but it’s also fun enough to make you stick around to the end, but only if you like any of the above-aforementioned games. The game is just average all around, honestly, but still worth a weekend purchase. On a second note, it’s nice that the game supports modern systems such as 4K and ultra-widescreen monitors.

Reviewed On

Keyboard & Mouse

AtGames Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/11/2017

Posted in: Hardware, Retro Consoles, Sega Genesis. Tagged: atgames, retro gaming, sega genesis, ultimate portable game player. 8 Comments

Manufacturer: AtGames
Release Date: August 2017
MSRP: $59.99

When it comes to playing classic games on a portable system, I usually stick with the real deal or use my PSP to emulate them. I just so happened to come across a portable Sega Genesis emulator, and it seemed fairly solid. It had licensed and original games ranging from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to Mortal Kombat and Altered Beast. This was a spur-of-the-moment buy, and I didn’t do much research.

I can’t say I don’t regret my purchase, but I did at first. When you open the box, you don’t get any fancy packaging like you would from a first-party company. It’s the game player in a cardboard tray, a loosely packed USB cable, and a manual tossed in. I realized it was probably a Chinese knock-off, but still of some sort of quality.

The system itself is extremely light, and some would say it feels cheap. We are used to the weight of portable systems like the PSP, GBA, or even DS. This has no moving parts and only needs a small battery. It has a 2.8″ 4:3 screen, which is perfect for these older games as widescreen was not a thing at home at the time. The D-Pad rolls rather than rocks, which are nice for fighting, and it includes A, B, and C buttons as well as X, Y, and Z, which are used for a fighting game. There’s a start button and a menu button, as well as an on and off switch. All the essentials are there, and the buttons feel quite nice, and I was pleased.

The screen itself is of surprisingly decent quality. The game looks great, and I didn’t experience only washed-out visuals like on some cheaper players. The biggest issue, hardware-wise, is the speaker, as it’s really bad. If you only turn the volume up about 3/4’s, it’s not so bad, but all the way up, it sounds blown out and tinny. Thankfully, these older games don’t need surround sound or anything, but a slightly better speaker would have been nice. Thankfully, it sounds way better with headphones on, and the sound is quite nice and can get pretty loud. Shame on you, AtGames, for such an easy oversight.

Software-wise, the menu lacks any flair. It looks like a third-party emulator menu with a list of games and a box shot next to it. You can flip through the 85 games, and they play! Surprisingly, at great speed, I had no slowdown or any crashing as of yet. The major software issue was with the SD card and loading your own ROMs.

It states to put a “game” folder on the SC Card and use.bin Genesis ROMs. That’s easy enough; however, no matter how many different cards I used, the system would not read the files. I tried formatting it as exFAT, FAT, FAT32, etc., and Google didn’t really come up with much. I found a small comment somewhere stating that Windows 10 does not format the cards properly and doesn’t play nice with this player. I had to download drive partitioning software, and it finally read the cards. This is just absolutely absurd and a huge oversight by AtGames. Clearly, their SC Card driver is awful, and 99% of users who buy this system won’t know how to do this.

With that said, it loads games on the SD cards, and I didn’t run into any issues. There are a few games that won’t play on here, but they are more obscure titles, but all your popular go-to ones will.

Overall, this is a decent player if you’re a hard-core Genesis fan. Albeit, you can emulate these games on your PC or even a PSP and a DS if you have the hardware for it. However, when you get a Genesis kick, it’s not to pull out a dedicated player and pump out some time real quick or pull it out of your backpack while on break or something. Maybe their 2018 model will fix these major issues, but the hardware itself is pretty nice.

Samsung Galaxy Note8

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/08/2017

Posted in: Android, Hardware, Mobile Reviews. Tagged: android, galaxy, note 8, samsung, smartphone. Leave a comment

Manufacturer: Samsung
Release Date: 9/15/2017
MSRP: $929.99
Colors: Orchid Gray, Midnight Black

Samsung has been one of the top leaders in the mobile department for a long time, and for good reason. They continue to push their products with new ideas and reinvent them. They aren’t scared either, as every 2–3 generations we see an entirely different device. While the Note7 was a fantastic piece of hardware, it was seriously flawed, and the Note8 is already a huge jump forward from that device. It shares similarities with the S8+ that was released earlier this year, and that’s actually a good thing.

You will notice it looks identical to the S8+ outside of the more rectangle edges, and the screen is a smidge bigger. It features the same galaxy black design and gorgeous infinity display. From this point, it seemed not much different than the S8+ I had earlier, so I wasn’t too surprised, but new owners upgrading from older phones will be more amazed.

It’s still quite a beautiful-looking phone. However, the key feature of the Note series is the S-Pen. It hasn’t changed at all from the Note 7, and that’s not a problem at all. It still feels light and easily fits in the hand. The Bixby button is located a little further down, but if you hated it on the S8, you won’t like it here.

20171004_183203 — Note8 using Live Focus

The Note8 does feature the same Snapdragon 835 chipset as the S8, but it has 6GB of RAM instead of 4, so apps do load a bit faster, but the biggest addition to this phone is the camera this time around. It features a 12MP dual-lens setup that allows Bokeh to focus on fantastic-looking images. It’s the first time Samsung has had a dual-camera setup on their phones, and it’s the best smartphone camera around, hands down.

Outside of what we saw with Nougat on the S8+, the UI is the same, and there’s only one extra software feature, and that would be Live Messages using the S-Pen. When you write, you can choose between glowing, sparkly, or other inks that turn into a GIF as you write. It’s a neat feature and a great piece to add to the Note 8’s S-Pen suite. Bixby is also rather used this time around, being a little more of an AI assistant and not an obtuse nuisance. Most people may still prefer OK Google over this, but I liked being able to hold down a physical button and ask Bixby questions. It just seemed faster and more reliable.

The screen is one of the main reasons I stick with Samsung, and they don’t disappoint, with this screen being slightly better than the S8 screens. 4K content looks fantastic at 60FPS on here, and playing games never looked better.

Bottom line: you can’t go wrong with the Note8, especially with the great battery life I have been getting. It has only needed one charge in a single day, even for heavy use. From the camera, screen, S-Pen, larger RAM, and many other features packed in here, the Note8 is a beast of a phone and the best you can get on the market right now.

Crossed: Badlands

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/26/2017

Posted in: Avatar Press, Comics. Tagged: comic, crossed badlands, gore, gory, horror. Leave a comment

When it comes to post-apocalyptic zombie adventures, you usually think of The Walking Dead. Crossed gives the reader a fantastic adventure in a different way than most zombie comics do. We’re not getting the entire picture or seeing a group of people trying to save the world. We get a slice of life in different time periods, and the actual “zombie” virus is never explained, just theorized. The first 40 chapters range from different time periods of the virus invasion to the The whole comic saga is made up of 4-6 issue mini-series, and some are picked back up later on.

The best part of the series is the gore and gruesome detail. There’s tons of nudity, sex, rape, murder, torture, and everything you would expect in a zombie apocalypse. The art is graphic, detailed, and gorgeous. You can tell real dead bodies, and Gore was used as a reference because I have never seen a comic with this much realistic detail. The crossed are ruthless, kill and have sex with everything in sight, and love pain. It’s passed on via bodily fluids, and that’s all we know. There’s no cure; there’s no stopping or slowing it down.

Honestly, there was never a name for the virus either, and I kind of like that. The virus is a mystery throughout, and everyone is just trying to survive the best they can and hoping to wait for the crossed to die out. There was one problem with this series, and that was issues 40–60 or so. These 20 issues must have forgotten what the whole series was about and became more about internal non-crossed affairs, and the crossed took a back seat. It got boring and really annoying, but after around issue 60, it did pick back up.

Overall, Crossed: Badlands is one of the best comic series I have ever read, but it’s not for the lighthearted. This is a graphic, gruesome, and extremely explicit series, but that’s what I love about it. You won’t find a single comic this insane.

Akuji The Heartless – 19 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/18/2017

Posted in: PlayStation (PS1), Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: akuji the heartless, playstation, ps1, psone, retro gaming. Leave a comment

Publisher: Eidos

Developer: Crystal Dynamics

Release Date: 12/31/1998

Available Exclusively On

Crystal Dynamics was a juggernaut on the PS1. After Tomb Raider was released, they firmly placed their name in every gamer’s household. Akuji was released closer to the end of the system’s life cycle, and while critically acclaimed, it didn’t sell well. It was a bizarre game about voodoo and was hard to market at the time.

You play as Akuji, who needs to get his wife’s soul back and must travel through the different levels of hell to reclaim his ancestors’ souls and appease the keeper of the vestibules, which act as hubs. In each hub, there are doors you can go through that lead to each level. If you don’t collect these floating heads, you won’t be able to advance in the game, and I absolutely hate this system. Even with all the skills, you used to beat bosses and enemies; you needed to collect things. I feel this is demeaning and frustrating. For the story, it’s forgettable and nothing special.

The game plays quite well, with Akuji jumping around, slashing, and blasting spells. You will use your spells more than you think in this game, and there are a variety of them, and each is used for different situations. Outside of combat, there is some minor puzzle solving and switch throwing. Platforming in the game is mostly fine, but the camera is sluggish to move around with the shoulder buttons, so Akuji will jump off an edge or fall to his death. Another irritating thing is the use of lives. I mean, why? You can hit checkpoints, which are poorly spaced, so why not just restart there? Why punish the player even more, as if surviving and checkpoints aren’t enough?

akuji-the-heartless-ps1-one-ps2-pc-D_NQ_NP_679121-MLB20708488545_052016-F

I felt this game dragged on a bit too long. There are over 15 levels, and while they all look different and great, they’re unoriginal. They are mostly short, and each level plays out the same. Grab this doohickey, put it here, flip this switch, kill this enemy to lower this wall, etc.

While this was the norm back in the day, it just doesn’t hold up well. Maybe if some things changed a bit, like the use of lives, it would be a more fun experience. Mixing a collectathon with a progressive platformer just doesn’t work well here.

The game looks fantastic, as Crystal pushed the PS1 to its limits, probably too hard. When effects like water splashes or magic effects flash around, the game slows down to a crawl, which can get quite annoying, but it’s still playable.

Overall, Akuji is a great PS1 title that has solid controls and great gameplay; it just has so many frustrating factors around it that make it less enjoyable as you play. If you really need a PS1 platformer that’s different, then go for it, as this is a hidden gem.

Sled Storm – 18 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/08/2017

Posted in: PlayStation (PS1), PlayStation 2, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: playstation, ps1, psone, retro gaming, sled storm, snowmobile. Leave a comment

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA Canada

Release Date: 7/31/1999

Available On

The late ’90s were home to extreme sports on consoles. There was a huge boom in this genre, and it led to many great games. Sled Storm is kind of an oddball, as snowmobile racing isn’t a huge hit in the US. However, EA managed to pull off a responsive and fun little racing title.

Sled Storm is similar to most arcade racing games from its time. There are several modes such as championship, single race, and multiplayer. Championship has two different modes. One mode is an open circuit with natural courses and you can upgrade your ride. The second one is a snocross closed-circuit event in which you just need to win. Sounds simple enough right?

Wrong. You need to get first place in every race to advance. There are four other racers on the track, and the game is subject to frustrating rubber band AI. You can be ahead all through the race, and on the final lap, everyone seems to zoom ahead of you. One crash, and it’s restart time. The other annoying thing is that you only get three restarts and then have to restart the entire championship.

It’s rather annoying but tolerable. The crafts handle really well and the visuals are great. Powder flies up behind the vehicle into the camera every time you bounce or take a turn. There’s snow blowing toward you and the track is nicely detailed. The controls are what steal the show here. They feel smooth and very responsive and make you want to keep playing.

There is no fancy trick system here, but a point system is used for knocking down objects on the track and other reasons I couldn’t figure out. That’s about all there is to this game. The tracks actually vary, but after beating the championship there’s really no reason to come back. Think of this as a quick little 2-3 hour racing game and back on the shelf it goes.

Reviewed On

Fear Effect – 17 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/06/2017

Posted in: PlayStation (PS1), Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: fear effect, playstation, ps1, psone. Leave a comment

Publisher: Kronos Digital Entertainment

Developer: Eidos Interactive

Release Date: 2/24/2000

Available Exclusively On

Fear Effect is actually a game that goes way back for me. I remember the summer of 2000 and was shopping around in a local game store, Game Doctor, back in Casper, Wyoming. There weren’t really any databases to look up reviews in back then, outside of magazines, so I would always pick a game based on its cover. I saw Fear Effect, $30, used in the display case. I used trade-in credit (back when it was all written down on carbon paper) and took the game home. Seeing it had four discs, I thought I was in for one hell of a ride.

I was actually dead wrong and returned the game the following day. It was frustrating, hard, and too mature for my age at the time. It’s so strange finishing this game almost 20 years later and realizing that it was actually harder than I thought. This game is downright unfair and frustrating around every corner.

fear_effect___screenshot_1_by_allenrgamer-da2yrhq

You play three different characters throughout the game: Hana, Deke, and Glas. All three are mercenaries hired by a Chinese mobster who wants his kidnapped daughter back. It starts out as a spy-style action game and then quickly turns into something supernatural. It’s the strangest thing and is such a jarring change of pace for this type of game. That will be the least of your worries, however.

The game has beautifully pre-rendered backgrounds that you run around in Resident Evil style. These “tank” controls are just awful, and there’s a reason why they don’t exist anymore. You can sneak around, shoot, and use items, but it’s how those are executed that makes the game so hard and unfair. Stealth is actually out of the question; no matter how slowly I snuck up, guards would hear me and kill me. I just had to blast my way through everything, and therein lies another issue: ammo. You will have many enemies thrown at you with little ammo, and the supernatural enemies don’t drop ammo. They even get clever towards the end and make them drop paper ammo that you need to backtrack to a fire and burn to get the real ammo.

It doesn’t end there; you will be reloading save after save and dying over and over again. Most of the puzzles and traps will trigger an FMV, and usually a death FMV, meaning game over. Just the slightest pixel of your character touches the trap, and you’re dead. It’s back to reloading the save, which is rather long, by the way. The backtracking is the final killer here, especially on the final level, with items gathering on either end of the level just to unlock the door on the opposite end. It’s silly, archaic, even for the time, and didn’t need to be in this game.

I will admit that the puzzles are rather clever. You actually get clues that are organically placed in the environment, and you need to write them down to solve the puzzle, which is neat. Back in the day, walkthroughs were scarce, so all you had was a guide or writing things down. The puzzles aren’t serious brain-scratchers, but they are tough and fun.

The combat itself is awful and is the main cause for reloads. You get a dodge button, but with awful tank controls, you just stand there blasting everything. There’s no cover, no armor, nothing like that. You also have to flip through your inventory with squares and circles while you’re getting blown away, which can cause problems. Why not pause the action with a radial menu? That’s not too hard.

Is the game even worth trudging through for the story? Not really. The mix between Chinese mafia antics and the undead is weird and forgettable here. The characters have no depth, and the story is slow to move forward. It’s entertaining enough to push you through the game, but nothing you would replay, even for the multiple endings. With that said, I only recommend playing this if you want a beautiful-looking PS1 game to play or a decent adventure. Just get the cheat codes handy, or expect to spend more time reloading than playing.