In 2000, Eidos released a ground breaking game that should have been the start of a mega franchise. Fear Effect was one of the first games to use the popular cel-shaded style of animation seen in games such as Jet Grind Radio, XIII, and Zelda: The Wind Walker. It was a survival horror game with a compelling and bizarre plot, three playable characters each with their own abilities, multiple endings, and LESBIANS! It was also heavy on cinema sequences which depict your character being instantly killed if you don’t do the sequence right, similar to old school adventure games. Even the “health” of your character was innovative. Instead of managing a life bar, you had to manage your character’s fear. Solving puzzles, stealth killing enemies, and overcoming obstacles decrease your fear, while being spotted, taking too long on certain sections, or triggering traps raise it. If it’s too high, you could be killed instantly. A sequel was released in 2001, which added a new character, Rain, and told the gruesome backstory of how the three mercenaries came together. It was an even larger game, and the action was spread out amongst a series of levels. Sadly, a third game, Fear Effect Inferno had been planned for PS2, but it fell through due to developer Kronos’s collapse. Fortunately for fans of the series, all is not lost; a movie adaptation is in the works for 2008. Hopefully this will revive interest in the game, and it can finally get the attention it so rightfully deserves.

Seriously though, how the hell could a game with this in it not be doing Grand Theft Auto numbers?

For those of you just joining us, the Buried Treasures section is where I spotlight a game that, while it may not be as well known as the Mega Men, Final Fantasies, and Contras, it’s still a classic in it’s own right.  This week’s entry is the Parasite Eve series from Squaresoft years before they merged with Enix.  These two games strayed far away from the norm as you can get, eschewing the mideval/fantasy plots of other games and placing it within a Modern day setting with guns and a heavily laden sci-fi plot.  The first game was an RPG with Resident Evil-esque survival horror elements.  You play as Aya Brea, a New York police dectective attempting to prevent a catostrophic outbreak while discovering the secret within her own genetics.  The series deals with the origin and purpose of mitochondrial DNA (Yeah, I’m lost too, you’ll just have to play the game to understand).  The first game introduced a strange, but innovative targeting system which would allow players to target any part of thier enemy.  (This targeting system would later show up in another Square title, Vagrant Story.)  Also, you could upgrade your weapons, attaching any adjustments you could find on it.  When you beat the game the first time, the New Game+ opened up, allowing access to a secret area and the true ending.  The only bad part of this game was that there were no shops, so you had to rely upon whatever you found in chests or whatever was dropped by enemies after battle.

Parasite Eve 2 was a Resident Evil-esque survival horror game with RPG elements.  The combat was real time, and the weapon sphere and upgrade systems were unfortunantely gone.  Thankfully, by earning credits from defeating enemies, you could buy things at any one of the game’s shops.  The plot was designed so that players didn’t have to play through the first to understand the second game.  There were a number of hidden modes and weapons (including Squall’s gunblade) you could unlock in the game, and the plot was as science-heavy as in the first.

You should be able to find these games used at about any decent gaming store, so you might want to check them out especially if you’re a fan of Resident Evil. or are just tired of the same old RPG conventions.  Also of intrest is the movie and novel of the same name.

This game was released the same year as Contra 3 for Super Nintendo.  This is not the Contra you’re used to.  In fact, I have no idea why they even decided to call it a Contra title, if for no other reason than simply to cash in the success of Contra 3.  The only similarity is that you can be killed in one shot.  You don’t fight evil aliens or renegade robots. Instead you take one of 4 playable characters (each with their own special abilities and can be switched at anytime during the game) on a mission to take on a terrorist organization and rescue your kidnapped superior.  You gain weapons just like in Graduis, grabbing a number of backpacks based on the weapon you want then hit select when you gain the acquired number.  Objects can be destroyed, and the music is pretty cool for an NES title.  When you check this game out, don’t expect the original Contra, or even Super C, but it’s still a solid experience on its own merits.  Hopefully this will resurface as a Wii download.  If only Konami had given NES owners a new Castlevania title before the NES ended.

I love Capcom. As much as they tend to milk thier successful franchises for every penny, (see Mega Man, Street Fighter, and Resident evil) they make solid games. When they do break from the norm, it’s always a welcome sight (I.e. Viewtful Joe, Rival Schools) even if it dosen’t always work out.

Tech Romancer is one of these games. Capcom took a risk here, and resulted in one of the most underrated fighting games ever. It’s a mech combat fighter. There is less of an emphasis on combos, and more focus on your mech’s special weapons and abilities. The fighters are sort of clunky, but that’s okay, becuase they are giant Mecha and not trained martial artists or mutant superheroes. Even the life bars are different, being placed vertically on the side of the screen and are used to measure damage. Each of the game’s mechs is based on a famous japanese anime, such as Gundamn or Voltron. Towards the end of the second round, you can preform a “final move”, which is akin to a Mortal Kombat fatality, excpet only for mechs. The Dreamcast VMU can be used to unlock minigames and earn points for the game’s hidden features. If you still have your Dreamcast, do yourself a favor and seek this game out.

I’ve been meaning to start this up for a while.  The purpose of this feature is to spotlight classic games that don’t seem to get enough recongnition.  Ganked and gaffled from my $20 game of the week, I’m gonna try to do this weekly.

We’re gonna set this off with Konami’s Cybernator, a side-scrolling shooter in the vein of Contra 3, but with giant mech!  How cool is that?  You have several upgradable weapons at your disposal, and you blast up enemy robots in an attempt to bring an end to a war that has ravaged the planet.  Some of the enemies you fight are mechs that can fill up the entire half of the screen, and you can destroy anything not nailed down as in true mech fashion.  Along with the graphics, the music is also to be noted here. It does well in order to get you into the game’s atmosphere.  Download this rom and check out it’s greatness.  Hopefully it will be available on Wii’s virtual console as well.