> You play the role of John Mayor as part of an emergency rescue team aboard a huge seabase located deep on the ocean floor called The Big Table (named after its shape and posture). Soon things start taking a sinister turn for the worse as people start sprouting clawed tentacles and turn into vicious bloodthirsty monsters. What a coincidence that John Mayor happens to be a former Navy Seal who is more than prepared to face the kinds of situations most normal people wouldn't hesitate to run away from without giving it a second thought.

     > Following in the footsteps of Resident Evil, all the voice acting is in English, so importing this game is a cinch since the story won't be lost on you. However, Sega of Europe actually localized this game in Britain where it was the last Saturn PAL game to see release, which means an entirely English version of this game is available with all the in game documents that shed light on the story and item descriptions in English too.  Even in the Japanese version though, much is labeled in English anyway (such as oxygen and health bars), making it one of the most importable games for this console from Japan.

     > The most impressive part about Deep Fear's graphics are the cinematic sequences, which are easily some of the best seen on the humble Saturn. However, when you consider that  they all could have been rendered in real-time on the Dreamcast (without too much hassle) a la Code Veronica, it makes you wonder if Sega jumped the gun.

     > The game has a classic old-school Survival/Horror control scheme: no matter what direction you are facing, pushing up moves John forward, and pushing left or right turns him in those directions etc. Oldschool gamers will find themselves in familiar territory here while collectors might need to take some time to settle in. Camera angles also switch from one area to the next, making movement a pain sometimes if you're new to this setup as you might lose your bearings (for example, John may be facing the camera in one area while walking/running out of it, but have his back against it as the camera switches to the next). You'll go through many areas where the camera switches from one fixed camera angle to another, and enemies stand in your path all the time and sometimes jump down on you, so it's wise to prepare yourself first.

     > You tackle people mutating into feral monsters as well as solve a mild puzzle or two every now and then mostly in the form of fetch quests where you must find the right item for the right job like in all those old Spectrum Dizzy games I'm still fond of. The only problem is you're sometimes told exactly what to do and exactly how to do it, rather than be left alone to figure it out for yourself. So basically, you sometimes feel like a fetcher going through the motions. There was one puzzle I particularly liked involving the creation of a misty chemical needed to expose an invisible laser fence shooting down from a ceiling where you had to run through it with careful timing. The game needed more puzzles of that caliber if it hoped to be more than a small fish in a sea of more thought-inducing sharks (some of us actually like games that require you to think for a change). Having said all that, there are a few times when you're not quite sure how to proceed, demanding you explore a little first for usable items. There are times when time itself is of the essence like when you have to figure out a way to escape a sub falling over a chasm. Deep Fear should have built more on these strengths. Of course, you're always running out of air, so that alone helps create a sense of urgency to keep you moving.