Fear Effect is a fantastic game for all the right reasons, but has some unfortunate issues that mar the experience.
First off, I'm a huge fan of both Silent Hill and Resident Evil, and various other games that emulate certain elements those games. I adore the control scheme for example. So for me, playing Fear Effect was fantastic. The game's story keeps you just hooked the entire way. I never wanted to put the game down simply because I wanted to see what happened next. I was enchanted.
That being said, Fear Effect suffers from a few poor design flaws. Most people will overlook them, and you should, because after all the game is nearly perfect even with it's minor issues.
1) Poor save locations. In most cases, the save locations are in a decent area. However, when you come to a boss fight or a particularly difficult puzzle, either one of which will result in your death, you'll end up having to load the game after you die and play through something you've already done before. Sometimes this ends up being a minute or two of the game that you've already played.
2) Instant death. Poor save locations and instant death are only bad when they are combined. Like stated above, most boss fights have mechantics that will result in you dying a number of times, very quickly, before you figure out the correct way to fight the boss. The same is said about the puzzles. I found myself going at a puzzle or boss fight 2-3 times before figuring out the correct way to do it, then another 4-5 times actually trying to beat it. One puzzle took me something like 40 tries. I like to think I'm pretty good at video games, especially games of this sort, so while 40 attempts may seem extreme for one puzzle or one boss fight, it's really not in this game.
3) Load screens. This is a minor issue. Most games of this era had load screens. The problem is that while the load screen isn't very long, you will be seeing it a bazillion times. After dying on a boss fight or puzzle you'll end up having to sit through the load screen, and then fighting your way through 2-3 rooms to get back to where you were.
4) Menu lag. Now by menu lag I mean that when you're trying to switch weapons or select a key to open a door, sometimes the menu will be just canceled out. Every item you choose to select has to be done in real time, and when you're fighting with the game to pull out a new weapon mid-fight because your previous one is empty, it can get you killed. This is just a part of the game that was poorly designed. This could have been fixed much easier with a Resident Evil or Silent Hill style menu, that pauses the game so that fighting with the poorly designed menu isn't such an obvious flaw.
-- All in all Fear Effect is an 8.5 out of 10 in my mind. The story is phenomenal, and kept me hooked the entire way. I originally bought the game because I had heard of the gripping story that had some major twists along the way. For fans of Resident Evil, or Silent Hill, or any game of that kind, Fear Effect is a must play, and maybe even a must have. I'm proud to have it in my collection and don't regret owning it or playing it through despite the few flaws that it has.