Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix
Sony PlayStation £29.99 Kronos/Eidos ***
The original Fear Effect was released last year and proceeded to entice and frustrate in equal measures. The biggest snag was the tortuous loading sequences that had to be sat through every time you died. And unfortunately, this was a frequent occurrence given the difficulty of the game, leaving many to simply give up after the 74th battle against the first boss character. Thankfully the sequel has rectified some of the problems: load times have been slashed but the challenge remains high.
As before, the game mixes Resident Evil-style control methods with a gritty urban environment to create perhaps the last "adult" game for the original PlayStation: FE2 depicts more violence and heaving cleavages than the average title.
Controlling one of the four characters, you uncover a plot that, while cliched, offers far more than the videogame norm. From New York to ancient China, the mixture of stealth, action and brainteasers quickly becomes addictive.
It is fairly easy to work out your route, with plenty of opportunity to sneak up on unsuspecting guards. However, while the graphics, all-moving backdrops and stylish animation are impressive, the game suffers from some irritating flaws. The controls are still clumsy, with characters possessing the turning circle of a tractor, while aiming at assailants can be rather hit and miss.
And then there are the puzzles. Initially, the chance to use your brain rather than trigger finger is welcome, but it is not long before the obscure conundrums become too much.
Nevertheless, on every level, Fear Effect 2 is an improvement on the original and comes recommended to adult PlayStation owners looking for something a little different. (GH)
Point Blank 3
Sony PlayStation £29.99 Namco/Sony ****
If you are ever dragged into an arcade, look for a shooting game: they are great fun to play, and the learning time is less than 30 seconds. If you will never be dragged into an arcade, wait for March 23. Then you can run out and buy Point Blank 3 and a Namco G-Con45 Light Gun. Preferably two.
Point Blank is a shooting gallery series of games called Gunbullet, Gunbarl and Gunbalina in Japan. Half the fun is in the imaginative cartoon targets you have to blast, and the tricks of the game designers, who try to lure you into shooting the wrong target. One false hit and you lose a life. Since you may be firing off more than 100 shots a minute, you certainly have to think fast.
The capers are hosted by Don and Dan, who could stand in for Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street. The different arcade galleries are based on a wide range of things, including old video games such as Centipede, Missile Command, Galaxians and PacMan. Klonoa, Mokuji and other Namco game characters also make cameo appearances.
Some of the 80+ levels have educational value. For exam ple, in one stage you are given a digital time and have to shoot the analogue clock that shows the same time - in less than a second. However, this game is officially not recommended for children under 11, though Jack Straw is not in a position to enforce that. Yet.
PB3 is pretty much the same game as earlier versions, but it has five game modes and can now handle up to eight players (two teams of four) sharing two light guns. Two players can also compete in Versus mode using one light gun. There are also training and endurance modes. In fact, the whole game could be considered training for Namco's serious light gun-shooter, the forthcoming Time Crisis: Project Titan. (JS)
Fighting Vipers 2
Sega Dreamcast £32.99 Sega/AM2 *
Here's a challenge: describe Fighting Vipers 2 without using the words "rip-off", "cheap", "flaccid" or "parthenogenesis". Um...
Fighting Vipers 2 is a cheap, dull rip-off of any beat-'em-up you care to name. Darn. Well, at least I didn't use parthenogenesis.
No, seriously, this is poor. FV2 is a substandard port of a three-year-old arcade game, and the arcade game was nothing special even then.
A 2D fighting game in 3D clothing, it offers 11 characters to choose from, all plucked straight from the Observer's Book of Japanese Fighter Stereotypes: the fat guy, the cool guy, the cute girl, the girl who flashes her bum when she kicks.
There really aren't any unique selling points here, although the programmers might point desperately at the sealed-off arenas, which allow you to hurl opponents into (or occasionally through) walls, or the characters' individual accessories (bike, skateboard, guitar, teddy bear), which they use in their special attacks. When you randomly hit on the right combination of buttons, of course.
The various game modes are as standard as bogs get: arcade, versus (two-player), random and survival are all stultifyingly self-explanatory.
The most depressing feature is the graphics: the backgrounds are flat, the character models bland, and the special effects are anything but special. Nor has any effort been made in the presentation: the intro sequence borders on the insultingly short, and there doesn't appear to be an end movie at all.
Some may glean meagre entertainment from the obligatorily poor English translation - "You beaten 2 opponents in succession", "You are F grade viper" - but even that old trick soon gets tiring here.
The bottom line is that Fighting Vipers 2 is an unreconstructed, unadorned and wholly unnecessary game. (AB)
