Game Review: Deep Fear

Deep Fear

Game system: SEGA Saturn

Release Date (Jap): 16/07/98

Release Date (Pal): 11/98

Developer: SEGA

Publisher: SEGA

          Deep Fear was developed and published by SEGA for the Saturn. It can easily be considered SEGA's answer to Resident Evil. By the middle of 1998 the Saturn wasn't doing well in the US, which explains why it remained unreleased in North America.

          The game takes place in an underwater research facility called the « Big Table ». After a nuclear submarine crashes by accident in a portion of the base, you, John Mayer, ex Navy-SEAL and new recruit on the « Big Table », are sent to investigate and to rescue the researcher Gena Weisburg.

          Soon, humans will begin to mutate into monsters and your goal will be to survive and escape the underwater facility.

          The first thing you notice when playing Deep Fear is its technical qualities for a Saturn title.

The FMVs are impressive, the 3D models are highly detailed and the animations are very smooth.

Deep Fear was also the first Survival Horror game with fixed camera angle in which you could walk and shoot at the same time.

          This being said, technical advancements alone never meant quality, but Deep Fear also shines in a few other departments.

          The mutants look rather original and inspired, and the pre-rendered backgrounds do their job: their industrial nature and colors give a cold, dehumanized feel to the place. This feel is also emphasized by the constant hum of the machinery of the facility which can be heard in the back at all times.

          Sadly, except during a few timed events, the game doesn't use musics outside of FMVs. If used in a smart way, they could have added a lot to the atmosphere (see for example Dino Crisis, which with a rather similar industrial atmosphere often switches machinery sounds and a suitable soundtrack during the proper situations).

          Deep Fear, just like Resident Evil, feels like a B-Movie. The use of quality and long movie-like FMVs, the storyline, the dialogues and most importantly the musics signed Kenji Kawai (who worked on Ghost In the Shell, just to name one) are all elements contributing to that.

          Sadly, this B-movie feel is a bit ruined by the most laughable voice acting ever seen in a survival horror game...

          Gameplay-wise, the game tries to go further into survival than its model by adding management of oxygen. Since the accident, air has to be refilled in areas you go through before it runs out. The same applies to an oxygen mask that you use underwater or when there is no more air in a room. While the concept is excellent, the execution is rather poor since you can pretty much never run out of air unless you really don't pay attention. The counter goes down slowly and there are always ways to refill air nearby or by using air grenades.

          Another aspect of survival which could have been executed better is the management of weapons and ammunition: you can carry many weapons with huge magazines and you can refill ammo near lockers in given areas. The same goes for health as you can carry up to 8 “normal” sprays (without counting the better types of sprays) and refill near “health cases” scattered throughout the game. The amount of ammo and sprays you can carry with you are “limited” but you can refill as many times as you want.

          As a consequence, you don't need to worry about ammo or health items, which doesn't help building tension or a sense of terror. This could have easily been fixed even if keeping the infinite refill system by lowering the number of ammunition and health items you can carry.

          As far as puzzles are concerned, you will mostly find item puzzles, but which are well thought and actually make sense. To compare Deep Fear with its model again: you will have to use an extinguisher to shut down a fire, rather than using a blazon to move a clock. This brings more realism and immersion into the game and make the puzzles feel less dull.

          Deep Fear takes a lot of inspiration from Resident Evil, and tries to improve the formula. It succeeded on a few technical points but failed with the most important: the survival and horror aspects feel too limited.

          That's not saying that the ideas brought in those departments are bad, it's just that they were not used to their full potential.

          This being said, Deep Fear remains an average title, its best points being the dehumanized atmosphere, the B-movie feel, and the storyline.

          Players who like classic style tank controls survival-horror games à-la Alone In The Dark and Resident Evil should enjoy it.

Score: 2,5/5

Review by Ness 19/11/12, sceenshot borrowed from mobygames.com.