Sega's Deep Fear, intentionally or un-intentionally, is really the Saturn's version of Resident Evil 2. While it doesn't have the graphics quality of Resident Evil 2 it's just as fun if not more.

Ooh...Spooky!
The game's story is all spoken out much like Panzer Dragoon Saga. The whole game is spoken out in English and subtitled in Japenese (The first time you talk to people) so you don't have to worry about not knowing what to do or where to go. The story involves you, John Mayor, and your team member (?) Mookie who must go investigate problems on the Sea Fox and rescue Dr. Whiteburg. It turns out that people are turning into zombies (wonder where that idea came from) and problem after problem arise. Admittedly, the game isn't that spooky but it sure is fun.

KILL IT! KILL IT!!!
Deep Fear has a fair amount of weapons in it. You have your basic weapons: pistol and shotgun. An interesting weapon is the harpoon gun which is only powerful underwater. It leaves a nice bubbly trail but the enemies go down before they're hit when you shoot them with this weapon underwater.  Deep Fear also gives you a machine gun and grenades (air and explosive.)

ENEMIES...Where and WHAT are you???
Deep Fear has quite a large amount of enimies in it, from regaular slow zombies to quick hopping thingies. They also have things that hang on the ceiling and molest you, and a handful of bosses. The enimies do take a lot of shots to kill if you don't have the shotgun but it really doesn't matter. (More on that later) The bosses are fairly easy and the game can be completed in no time with a walk through. Without one, it will still only take about 8 hours the first time through.

Is it beautiful of PIXELLY?
The graphics is Deep Fear are a mixed bag. The 2D backgrounds are beautiful. The 3D however is lacking. I feel that the 3D is worse than Resident Evil for the Saturn in some parts and better in others. For example, the enimies don't look that good but in one part when shooting the hopping thingies with the bow gun when they would get up, they would hit back and fly right next to the camera without (or hardly) any pixelation. Strange that they don't pixelate up close but they look bad from far away. Also to avoid any cliiping problems Sega has seemed to have done the following: An enemy won't be seen on screen unless half or more of his body is there. That's good but when running down a hall with enemies all of a sudden an enemy may oop up without ntoice because they didn't want you to see clipping.

As for videos, Deep Fear has tons of cut scenes which are beautifully done. All of them are in a wide screen type of view like Panzer Dragoon Saga and are very nicely done. They fit tons of videos onto each CD and I couldn't beleive the quality they got since there are so many of them. Yea Mr. Duck Motion! =) You go girl !

Sound...Hello??? Can you hear me???
Deep Fear's music is spooky...Ooh...SPOOKY! The opening story video's music is a mix of Resident Evil and House of the Dead or else it seems just like it to me. The video sequences all have great music and so do the bosses and clock count downs.

Problems with the sound...The sound effects aren't that good. Same sound effects for every direction while walking and they don't grow louder or softer depending on how far away Mayor is from the screen.

Voice Acting...The voice acting in Deep Fear can be very good and very bad. I'll explain:

(In-Game Cutscenes) The game is all spoken out in English. That must be good right? WRONG! The voice acting is the In-Game Cutscenes is laughable. They don't put any emotion into it. The begining "Chief! Cheif" Cough, cough! Stuffy is all HORRIBLY done. Is it just me or does the voice actor for Mayor sound like Barry from Resident Evil? You'll also come across THE fruitest voice I'VE heard in a video game: DuBois (Spelling???) This guy is one MAJOR FRUIT! Another HORRIBLE voice is the Japenese fag who wants you to copy stuff to his MO Disk. However the sound is good in the CG movies. Why? Don't ask me.

(CG Movies) Here the sound is actually well done. They put emotion and feeling into the voice during the CG and it's ... well ... good. I don't wanna put specific examples and mess up the story for you.

Control
Deep Fear controls just like Resident Evil with a few exceptions. For one all you have to do is hit the "R Trigger" to take out your weapon. You no longer have to hold it. That's good. The inventory system is just like Resident Evil's except that instead of 8 items and that's it Mayor has item limits for each specific item. You have unlimited saves in Depp Fear though there are a lot of times when you can't save your game because ... it won't let you! =(

As for Analog VERSUS ... um ... regualr controller, if that's what you call it, I would definitley use the regular controller. When using the analog moving from 2D background to 2D background, the games fades it in and out and your facing the way you came in not up. So if your holding up and go around a corner, you'll still be holding up, but because of the camera angle and the position of your character you'll just go back to where you came from. Got it? NO?!? Well it IS hard to explain but you'll see when you play. Just use the regular pad.

Calling Capcom's Lawyers...!
Deep Fear is in MANY ways just like Resident Evil. They didn't exactly steal the Resident Evil engine as it isn't as polished but it's basically the same thing. The same options such as File and Map will make people go "How can Capcom not sue Sega???" It's true the game plays out just like Resident Evil but since we're not getting Resident Evil 2 for the Saturn, who cares???

Loading...Loading...Good or BAD???
The loading in Deep Fear is strange. Sometimes it take the usual 6 seconds to go from room to hallway, hallway to room, etc. while other times it takes up to 14 seconds for underwater, 3D bubbly, monster filled areas.

As for...JEEZ, this is already like Resident Evil, is there a door opening for going from room to room too...? The answer is no. Instead they did some crap with text telling you where you were and where your going. I guss the door animations would have gotten them sued.

Overall
OK, I don't gove actual ratings in grades or numbers. You read everything I had to say, (Or atleast I hope you did) So make up your own grades on what I told you! Overall, buy game if your an importer. It's spoken out in English and it's very fun. Only problem is it's too simple. You can keep going back to the ammo stations to reload your weapons as many times as possibe and you can keep going to first aid stations to get medical sprays. Besides the overly easy difficulty it's a great addition to any Saturn library. Now if only those CRACK HEADS at Sega of America would get off their lazy asses and bring it to America so I could understand the brief parts and documents (that go in your file thing like RE) that are in Japenese.
- Goodcow