"Oh, the monotony!"

I'm gonna need to give a spoiler warning here, because if I didn't include spoilers, I would totally leave you out in the dark, much reminiscent of how 98% of the game itself left you out in the dark.

So, I was at Wal Mart the other day, thinking to myself: which mindless killing game do I want? Battlefield 2 or FEAR? After intense thinking exercises, I obviously chose fear, and was obviously disappointed. I thought, "everyone seems to love this game...why shouldn't I?" Since my computer exceeded the specs, I bought the game, with a small amount of reluctance on my shoulder.
Following is my review of the critically acclaimed FEAR, which, in my very honest opinion, should be about as critically acclaimed as clear Pepsi (remember that?!)

GAMEPLAY: 3
Oh, the downfalls of an overabundance of monotonous architecture. Seriously. The environments all feel the same, even when you're in a different area. I would honestly backtrack by accident a few times, on account that everything LOOKS THE SAME.
On top of the monotony, ultra-linear game design is thrown into the mix. You are pretty much always traveling in one general direction, until the game forces you to backtrack, which is annoying. To spice things up a little bit, the designers throw in flying robots with lasers, walking tanks that shoot missiles, and beefed up soldiers with the very awkward "penetrator" (or, as I and many refer to it, the nail gun).
All in all, the gameplay is boring, dull, bland, and tasteless. If there's any games out there you'd like to compare to a rice cake (for whatever weird reason) this one should definitely be on the list.

STORY: 5
Here's the deal: for a large amount of this game, you will have no idea what is going on. The only information you can readily acquire early in the game is obtained through laptops and missed phone calls, which the developers seem to very painfully donate to you in small portions that often raise more questions.
It doesn't really help at all when they start using codenames for various programs and projects, because no information about the projects are ever really given, until the end of the game. I'm being 100% truthful here. Not until the last couple of levels are you able to piece together the small fragments of information you've been given throughout the game.
Normally, a story that just completely leaves you out in the dark wouldn't really bother me. But this one does. Simply for the fact that many things are going on at the same time, and you have no idea why.
The only thing permitting me to even give the story a 5 is the finish. It was...something of a good storyline, but I just didn't feel satisfaction after working through the entire game to get a conclusion that was half-decent.

GRAPHICS: 8
The graphics will definitely vary based upon how good of a computer you have (duh) but your computer needs to be ridiculously powerful to pump up to maximum settings. Even though I thought I could get to maximum settings, I could only manage high without sacrificing framerate. Point of matter: If you want max settings, have a computer beefed up with up-to-date software (though you may want to skip out on dual-core, because I've hear accounts that FEAR and dual core technology don't exactly see eye to eye. I disabled one of my cores, just to be safe.)

NOISES: 7
It's hard to rate the music, because there's not much to be found. A few times, there will be a music sequence, but chances are, you won't pay much attention to it (because it's not really over-the-top when it's at its peak).
Instead of actual music, you will hear very creepy noises for a proportion of the game. These are usually consistent of weird ambient noises that mask whispers that you won't be able to translate. They really set the mood well, however.

AI: 6
Now, now, don't jump on me for that. I'm not rating the AI that low because I have some beef against the company/AI/fans. No, this rating is based upon two parameters:
1: The AI is really overhyped, and many diehard fans would even tell you that. I've heard stories of the AI doing many mystical and magical things that i've simply never seen. Sure, they hid behind cover, but this isn't the first game to have AI that do that.
2: The AI really isn't that smart to begin with. Trust me, running away from you while shooting or charging you WITHOUT shooting isn't top of the line.
Yes, the enemies do take cover, but like I mentioned before, this is nothing new, and therefore, nothing impressive.

CONCLUSION:
FEAR is, in my opinion, an overhyped game that had potential at one point in its life...at the beginning of the game. Then it's nothing more than a train ride downhill.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/06