Review for Fear Effect Sedna. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 06/03/2018
Fear Effect is a series born on Playstation 1 and which, until the release of Sedna, had only 2 titles, the original Fear Effect and the sequel Retro Elix. Fear Effect Sedna comes after a 17-year hiatus to revitalize the series, proposing to reinvent the gameplay while maintaining characters, settings and some elements of the story of the saga.
But to be able to revitalize a title from almost twenty years ago you need a lot of commitment and a love for the original title, as well as the experience and the right ideas to integrate an old concept into the modern world of gaming. Studio Sushee, developer of this title, proves to have some of these prerequisites, but he fails in the execution of his work in some very thorny situations.
The title starts with a cell-shaded cutscene, reminiscent of telltale titles, and very pleasant to see, which introduces the first character with a scene as mysterious as it is interesting. In fact, in the first hours of the game the narrative sector seems to have potential, but this positive feeling is then contradicted not so much by the screenplay itself as by its management. The game is fully voiced, but the dubbing sways between mediocre and bad depending on the scene: the characters' feelings and their human reactions are almost never worthily represented by their voices.
This soulless dubbing is also combined with a dialogue writing worthy of an American B-Movie, with lots of bad words often inserted at random, jokes out of context and banal telephone conversations. The script presents some interesting ideas, but these ideas are often poorly connected to each other and end up converging in a rather trivial aspect in the last hours of the game. Despite a far from positive narrative account, Sushee study proves she has a passion for the Fear Effect series.
The original atmosphere is not only well captured, but also beautifully revived with a fresh design that cyberpunk enthusiasts cannot fail to please. Fear Effect Sedna also offers a great variety of environments, almost all inspired and pleasant to explore, although the title is linear. The title will lead us to explore different types of areas, thanks to the script that puts so much meat on the fire, and this has allowed art design to shine by churning out several great areas with just one slip; just a pity that the script only succeeds in giving variety to the concept of the areas. The cell-shaded graphics style is a great choice for this title, or at least a good choice for the gameplay sections of this title. In cutscenes, the graphics quality often drops dramatically, distorting the faces of our protagonists in an attempt to create different expressions in them from that of the basic model, but failing in this intent. The characters not only have a feelingless voice acting, but also their animations in the videos are often insufficient, thus making them look like soulless puppets, when the script implies something else, especially in the case of Hana.
Another element that needed a revisitation is obviously the gameplay. And Fear Effect Sedna tries to propose something different, creating a good theoretical game base, which, however, is wasted by a banalotto game design and above all by problems of implementation of the mechanics that in the end are only good on paper. The title looks like a strategic and RPG title, but for a myriad of problems it fails to be. There are two ways to face a fight in Fear Effect Sedna, the first is in real time, controlling only one character and leaving the others at the mercy of the AI, the second is with a time lock system where all the characters will move. characters by assigning each one three moves at a time.
Neither is sufficient, the first because of a bad AI that almost never gets into cover, the second because giving only three actions to each character is more of a disadvantage than an advantage. This is because the characters will perform the actions assigned to them, but they will do it more slowly and, obviously, less adaptability to the situation which will change quickly since the title is not turn-based, and therefore it will not be possible to predict the actions of the enemy turn by turn. The best method of resolving Sedna's fights is to simply go in front of the enemies and hold the firing button, as the enemies will do nothing to avoid the player's shots and life is not a problem.
In fact Fear Effect Sedna bombards the player with myriads and myriads of cures, which makes us suspect that this lazy and simplistic approach was actually intended by the developers. Instead, the bossfights are more fun, which may require a little more tactic or skill to be defeated, except for the final bossfights which are overly simple.
During the adventure it will be mandatory to go through unique gameplay phases and puzzles to solve. While not all of these gameplay sections are brilliant, their presence and variety demonstrates a passion for the game and helps to get to the finish without getting too bored due to simplistic combat. There are also dozens of unique death cutscenes in case the game over occurs during certain specific game phases, a secondary touch that does not justify the shortcomings of the title, but which is pleasant there. An honorable mention must be dedicated to the soundtrack, very inspired by Blade Runner, which is simply outstanding, manages to have excellent tracks contributing to the creation of the atmosphere.
Fear Effect Sedna is a title that manages to capture the spirit of the original and give us some almost unique settings in the industry. Thanks to a great soundtrack the atmosphere is great, but the loose script, poorly written characters and insufficient voice acting ruin the immersion. If you combine this with good gameplay on paper, but poorly implemented, then it becomes difficult to consider the Sushee title sufficient. Surely it is recommended for fans of the saga who miss the Playstation 1 titles, but it is difficult to please someone who is not already a Fear Effect fan, much less a player looking for a strategic one.
► Fear Effect Sedna is an Action-type game published by Square Enix for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 06/03/2018
