"Codename 46"

F.E.A.R

INTRODUCTION

I First saw a small preview of this game in a PC Magazine, I can't recall which one, it was about a year before the game was released. There was a screen-shot and an overview of the game, and mention of "Advance AI". This was enough to get me interested in the title, and not to mention Monolith has a pretty good track record.
I continued to read more articles, previews, features on the game as time went on.They were blowing there own horn about the supernatural/horror element in the game, devious cunning of the enemy's, and the "Slo-Mo" feature. Monolith seemed pretty confident it would be a winner, and that in fact, other software houses would imitate the games style.

GAME-PLAY 8/10

F.E.A.R is a pretty simplistic action FPS, with some supernatural/horror themes, which isn't in itself a bad thing. The game is very easy to get into, and has minimal puzzle solving, with the focus on being on mowing down the enemy's, collecting ammo, health packs, and simply pushing forward. The game uses a checkpoint system, which has become standard in recent times, and I for one welcome it. You can also save or quick save when ever you like, but I'll just note that I played through it from beginning to end on version 1.4, and it would crash to the desktop if you saved a few times in quick succession. This wasn't a problem however, as the game isn't very difficult, and you need only save now and again for insurance.

I'd like to note I played the game on the challenging difficulty, and wasn't stressed by the AI. To reflect this, I also played Far Cry on 'challenging', and indeed my dexterity and reflexes were put to the test, and was in fact challenged. In this game however, an absolute novice may be wowed by how if you run into the middle of a new area, the bad guys aren't going to wait for you to shoot fFirst, or offer you tea and biscuits, you'll be gibed before you touch the ground.

I found the enemy's very defensive, which works against them. there are also plenty of opportunities to catch them off guard. In one occasion, I walked right up to the back of one, and because he wasn't attacking, I wasn't sure if he was in fact an enemy, the rest of your own team wears pretty much the same outfits, and it's all grey. Oh, and then I thumped him with the gun, and it was night, night.

enemy's will react to seeing a flashlight, so you should scour an area for items after clearing it. They do attempt to flank in outdoor areas, where your in a firefight and one guy comes from behind, so you have to check your six. It's also worth noting if you come to a new infested area, and then back track for items, a guy will pursue you, and the bastards are quiet.

There is plenty of cover in all the environments, lackluster and un-varied as they are. Normally a lean around a corner is plenty enough to clear a room. The bullet-time,..um...er "Slo-Mo" capsizes the ship in your favour, making the ease in which you dispense the enemy criminal. It's also funny to note the tips the game gives you if you die at any point in the game, e.g. "use quick save often", "don't forget to use Slo-Mo", "soften up enemy's with grenades", I sort of get the impression from this that there shouldn't be a reason to get killed in the game, because there are so many cheats up your sleeve, or there just there for novices, either way.
There are some secrets scattered throughout the levels in the form of health and reflex boosters, which look like glowing syringes. as the names suggest, the health one boosts your max health, and the second gives you a longer Slo-Mo metre, takes longer to fully charge as well.

The arsenal isn't bad, but still pretty standard, without any outstanding innovations. To start with, there is the standard issue hand-gun, yawn. But, you can get another one and go Akimbo, remember this in Monolith's 97 classic build engine game "BLOOD", always a hoot. But I have to admit I ditched the pistol as soon as more powerful weapons became available, and was never compelled to pick it up again, though it is forced back on you late in the game.
There are three machine guns, two of them with the simple purpose of just cutting them down from a moderate distance, the other one scoped, for taking out clueless clones from a distance.

Now for the old Shot-ty, the ever faithful riot pump action shot-gun. There's always fun to be had at close range. What's cool in this game is you can blow the enemy's limbs off if your close enough, target an arm or a leg, the limb will come off, and the enemy will collapse as the impact dictates. Alternatively, a blast at the head or thorax area will leave no trace, except for the blood splatter.

Next is the HEV Penetrator, I didn't stick with this one much early on, but I gave it another chance later on, and it has a great application. It's sort of a high-powered bolt-gun, hard to describe. If you hit an enemy in the head, or neck, near a wall, they will be pinned, and there body will sway left and right periodically. Once I got a guy in mid air and I wish I had of taken a screen shot.

There are two experimental weapons, one a Rail-Gun type, the other without a projectile, sort of like BFG in Doom I guess, but not on the same scale. The Rail-Gun can take down enemy's in one shot, and has a decent zoom function on it. It vaporised enemy's down to a charred skeleton.

All the guns have a melee attack, set by default on the right mouse button, but I put it on the right finger side-button, and made the right mouse button the Slo-Mo, this is how it was on "Max Payne", and it feels comfortable. You can also do jump kicks, by running/jump/melee, by I rarely did this, mainly an option if an enemy was off-guard.

Finally, the grenades. I think they have given the grenades a decent enough variety to make them worth using. There the frag grenade, that I shouldn't have to explain. The proximity mine/grenade (you throw it, not place it) enemy's aren't aware or these, and will walk/run straight into them, though placement is important.
I think flash bang grenades might be in there, but I never find these effective in any games. Lastly, the remote detonator grenade, where you throw one, and "chick, chick" at an opportune time.

There is maybe two time in the game you get to take control of a gun-turret, this is allot of fun, but there should have been more opportunities. Other than that, automated gun-turrets are a pain in your side.

The story line is OK, and the initials in the title, stands for (F)First (E)encounter (A)assault (R)econ, for those who don't already know, clever, eh?,...um, I'll continue. OK, so you and your team are sent to a factor type place (I'm getting sick of these) to check out strange goings on, and people going missing. You play the game completely solo, but now and again you rejoin your team, I forget there names now, but a African-American guy, and a chick, who talk at you, not to you, like Half-Life, Daikatana etc.

Your squad captain talks to you through info link during the course of the game (Deus Ex, anyone?) and gives you objectives and extra information, and chummy banter.
The story progresses as you make your way through the game, there are also answering machines you can access, that let you listen to messages from different characters that are in the game. These sort of serve as breaks between the action whilst playing.

Every now and again, everything goes ethereal, and you see a guy (Fettel, whom catching up with is an ongoing primary mission in the game) he sort of talks in riddles about you and your connection with where you are, and who you are. You also see a little girl appear, normally in a corridor, followed by flames erupting around you, and yes you can lose health/armour during these unwanted outings. Other times you may see dead body's, or the dead walking, blood dripping from the roof etc. There was stuff similar to this in Midway's 2004 title "The Suffering".

I read some reviews in mags where they say it's the most scary game ever, and you need a change of undies while playing, or some such. I didn't find it scary in the slightest, and not many shocks to boot. Though, I'm 24 and I watched allot of horror movies as a kid, some fairly nasty. In recent times I'd say the most "tense" game I have played would be Rockstar North's "Manhunt".

GRAPHICS 8/10

Well, if my memory serves, Monolith developed the "Lithtech" engine originally to make it easier to develop 3D games for Windows 95, and the API 's were subsequently bought by Microsoft to become what is now known and loved as Direct X. That little bit of history aside, the engine for F.E.A.R was reportedly developed from the ground up. Though, I think it stills has the look and feel of previous games using the Lithtech engine, e.g. "Blood 2", where in this game special attention was paid to the blood in the game, nice particles etc, and also this game had limb-loss through a patch, so there you go.

Visually, not as mind blowing as when you get your fFirst peek at Doom 3, but very respectable. I've heard (with F.E.A.R) you need a Geforce 7800 to get all the effects, but I don't know because I don't have one to test. I started playing this game when I had a Geforce 3 Ti in, but I swapped to a Geforce 6200 soon after, so I got to enjoy the Direct X 9c stuff. My system has a Intel P4 1.8 Ghz CPU, 512 Mb Ram-bus DRAM, the afformentioned video card (4x AGP) and a Sound Blaster Live. I ran the game on 800x600, and the frame rate was respectable and never dipped, even with barrels exploding etc. It's worth noting with the 64 Mb Geforce 3 Ti, you can only run it on 640x480, and obviously miss out on Direct X 9 perks. If you've got a Geforce 4 MX, don't even think about wanting to run this on it, I had one awhile ago, this card is very limited for stuff past Direct X 7, and forged by Satan for unassuming individuals, but I'm getting off track.

All the environments, characters, objects are well rendered and detailed. Much of the level design is very reminiscent of the Fox Interactive game "Die Hard Nakatomi Plaza", especially the sky-scraper office building. All the fax machines, telephones, photocopiers, a master computer lab with big tapes etc, There is also corporate logos about the place, that are very similar to that of Die Hard, even with the multi-diamond shaped design. DHNP also used a build of the Lithtech engine, and if I remember right was published by Sierra, same as this game, hmmm. There is the odd outdoor bit, but usually your confined inside.

The Enemy design is OK, though not varied enough, like the backdrops. Yes, all the clones in this, are in fact "clones". They pepper in some different enemy's sometimes, mainly towards the end. Some include big Mechs-dangerous, flying zapper bot things-slow, numerous and quick projectiles. Some Ghost things, but not allot really.
The blur effects in the ethereal bits are nice, and as always the heat effects are good, and you can almost feel it. Particles from gun fire, dust/debris from hitting crates, blood, smoke and explosions all help draw you in.

SOUND 9/10

The Audio is very good in this, and I'd say it would be worth having a decent surround sound set-up, which I don't have, I have mid-range stereo speakers and a sub-woofer, but still. There are some nice meaty sound effects in the game, like the shot-gun blast and the re-loading and shell dropping to the ground. The Rail-Gun has a nice "chuuuuuum", and the scream you hear when it makes impact is the icing on the cake. Explosions, gun-fire, chattering enemy's with such lines as "He's trying to flank!", "Where do I go?", followed by an aggressive "Shut Up!", it's fun, but does get repetitive, like most other games. One particularly annoying sample, is from this special force team, that when they see a corpse, they say "Are you Okay?" over and over again.

The voice acting is very good. I'll give a special mention to the voice over for 'Norton Mapes' the plump Engineer in the game that has sinister ulterior motives. A particularly comical chapter (called intervals in the game) is called "Sayonara Suckers!", which makes good use of music to set the tone. A splash of humour never hurts.
Music Ques are used throughout the game and help the pacing, with jumpy electronic beats during battles to spice things up.

The voices you hear through the answering machines are well read and convincing protracted conversations. The dialogue is realistic, immediate, and mature Your squad mates have some funny conversations, and get pushy if you linger and don't get on with the mission right away.
Environmental sounds are good, splashes when coming out of water, the muffled underwater sound, (there are healthy doses of water in the game) heavy Sub-Woofer activity from machinery, footsteps sound different on various surfaces e.g. grates and vents are more noisy than strolling along carpeted flooring or ass-vault.

LAST-ABILITY 4/10

A bit short, really. I didn't time myself or anything, and I was playing other games at the same time. I think it took a few afternoons, several hours a day. I've since un-installed it, but might re-install it later down the track for the "Extraction Point" expansion, if I was desperate, and didn't have anything better. But I read that just has more clones, and if the Developer (EA) is resting on their laurels, I'm not sure I want to know. I don't think I'd be compelled to play through the standard game again, it has a linear story, and there is just to much other stuff to play.

CONCLUSION 7/10

Fun game with some good action sequences, and reasonable story telling, though keeps you at arms length in that respect, as there is no room for developing the story in some way yourself. Lacks originality, but having good features from previous games in one package is a workable execution.
So maybe if the content was a bit more varied, the bad guys more devious, and more supernatural abilities than just bullet-time and more of it in general, it could have been great. As it is though, above average. Worth playing, but don't shell out to much on it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/06