In early 2000, Fear Effect and its sequel Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix came out on the Sony PlayStation. Both titles scored well in the press, but this did not ensure that the series was continued. Still, developer Sushee was of the opinion that there was enough potential in the franchise and she started a Kickstarter campaign for Fear Effect Sedna in 2016. The promise was to make a game that in terms of gameplay would go in a different direction than the first two parts, but that the overall atmosphere would be maintained. This was enough reason for many gamers to support the campaign and enough was collected to actually start. Has Fear Effect Sedna now become the game that was promised to us?
Fear Effect Sedna is a real-time tactical action game and it takes place four years after the first part. Hana and Rain, at first sight, take a small assignment to steal a mysterious statue, thinking that they can earn money easily. Only it appears that there are several players in the game and the ladies end up in a much bigger adventure than expected. Fortunately they get help from old friends and together they try to find out what exactly is going on and why the statue is so important for many people.
Fear Effect Sedna uses an isometric perspective and per level you gain control over one or more persons, all of whom have their own weapons and extra skills. For example, Hana can fire bullets that can knock off walls to eliminate multiple targets. Other team members can, among other things, place a 'gun turret' or distribute gas that confuses the enemy. The diversity of the different characters is very nice and gives you more possibilities to eliminate your enemies. You also get the opportunity to pause the game and by means of a 'tactical screen' to give each team member instructions where to walk and what to do there. This gives the game a more tactical charge.
The steering of Fear Effect Sedna resembles that of a twin-stick shooter, but also uses a lock-on system. However, switching between targets is a slow affair and does not work at all at times. This is especially the case with boss battles. Here you automatically focus on the main goal, so that you can focus on avoiding attacks. This seems like an ideal situation, only if there are additional enemies appearing goes completely wrong. Here changing between targets is very bad, because the game always wants to focus on the boss. Sometimes you have to take out the craziest antics with your analog stick to focus on another enemy and that causes a lot of frustration. It can still be found outside, but there is certainly room for improvement as well.
Occasionally you will also encounter some puzzles during your adventure. These are used when, for example, you have to hack a computer or open a door. Often it is so in games that the same kind of puzzles are used for these kinds of moments. This is not the case in Fear Effect Sedna. Here you always get a completely different assignment for your nose. The variation in this is great and ensures that these moments do not get boring. Now not all puzzles are equally fun, but due to the large diversity you have no problems with the fact that you occasionally get an assignment for your nose that does not work out that well.
What does not positively influence the playing experience is the AI of both your teammates and your enemies. You have to constantly monitor people who are at your side, because otherwise they can cause problems. They follow you like a chicken without a head and do not pay attention to what you do. If you are looking for coverage, your teammates will just stand behind you and be noticed by the enemy. Fortunately, there is the possibility to stop and follow your teammates, but now you have to use this fairly constantly when you play missions where you get reinforcement. And of course you are not really happy about that.
It is not better with the enemies. The fact that they are constantly following the same route is a nod to the time when the first two Fear Effect games came on the market, so that's good to talk about. If you are noticed, it becomes a different story. Anyone who is in the neighborhood will come to you and sometimes they will literally stand alone at an arm's length. Regularly, then, only the character that you control and only when it is dead, is the next turn. In some areas there are simply too many enemies in the neighborhood, making it quite impossible to survive. You are also forced here to take a quieter approach.
That you are forced to be more 'stealthy' does not necessarily mean something negative, as long as it has been worked out properly. Unfortunately, you also run into annoying things here. First, you can not hide behind every object and that is very confusing. Second, your vision is very limited due to the isometric perspective. This can cause you to literally run into an enemy before you have seen him. This could have been solved by, for example, sitting on your crouch or offering the possibility in the tactical screen to control the camera. Then you would at least have had the opportunity to anticipate what is to come.
So you play against quite a few points that affect Fear Effect Sedna while playing and you do not know whether you should play the game stealth or run-and-gun now. That is very unfortunate, because sometimes you get to play pieces, which are quite nice in themselves. Here enemies are placed so that you can see them on time and you can anticipate on this. Also the use of the tactical screen makes sense here. There are also nice references to the first two games of Fear Effect, such as the anxiety meter that ensures that if you are afraid your attacks are stronger, but that you also suffer more damage. Also the many cut-scenes when you die with puzzles and the like have run away from the first two games. Fans of the series will certainly appreciate this kind of thing.
The cut scenes of Fear Effect Sedna also know how to transfer the atmosphere of the first two titles. This is mainly due to the graphic style. It looks like the cell-shaded appearance of the first two parts. However, this is totally lost during the game because the isometric camera perspective ensures that everything is displayed very small. The graphical effect thus disappears with the result that it looks anything but impressive. There is little detail to see and also in terms of animations it is very simple. For example, the running of characters seems like they try to move skating over a smooth floor. Also in terms of music it is not special and the voice-acting is even of a pretty bad level. The voice actors seem to have been picked off the street.
Fear Effect Sedna is not very special in terms of design, but if the gameplay had been well organized for the rest, it could have been a fun game. Unfortunately, there are too many points that negatively affect the game. For example, the straightening system works stiffly and in boss battles even bad, the AI of both your enemies and teammates is not good and the stealth gameplay does not work properly. Even the simple audiovisual decoration and the bad voice-acting do not help the whole thing. Nevertheless, the game sometimes shows its better side and there are nice references to the previous two parts and the cut scenes convey the atmosphere of the original. Fans of the franchise may therefore be slightly more forgiving than non-fans, but they too will see that there was a lot more in Fear Effect Sedna.
✔ Diversity in characters
✔ Cut scenes have old Fear Effect ambience
✔ Very varied puzzles
✖ Audiovisual very very basic
✖ Aiming system is anything but ideal
✖ AI of enemies and teammates bad
✖ Bad voice-acting
✖ Stealth gameplay does not work well
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