Kronos announced a new chapter in the Fear Effect saga at E3, scheduled
to be released in Q1 2001. The title, Fear Effect: Retro Helix, is meant to
be a prequel. Gamers will be able to see what the pasts of the three
mercenaries from the first Fear Effect (Hana, Royce, and Jakob) were like
and what brought such an unruly bunch together. Another character, Rain
Qin, is going to make their first appearance.
Moving from Hong Kong to New York City, the plot seems to center around Rain Qin's evil twin Mist.
Cliched? Perhaps. But the first game was superb, and some of the additions
that Kronos is promising (no load times, more sensible puzzles, better
inventory, different enemies upon replay, and other hidden goodies) stand to
probably make it all worthwhile. This one's one to keep your eyes on.