"A.L.M.O.S.T. P.E.R.F.E.C.T."

F.E.A.R. is a FPS developed by Monolith Productions. Being a long time FPS player I can remember only 1 game that marked the history of the genre. Of course I'm talking about Doom… yes there was Quake which was the first full 3D FPS, (I think), and Half Life which featured puzzles and a more complex plot but for me these where small changes, for me only Doom was considered a legend. After playing Doom for millions of hours I finally got bored of it and waited for the next masterpiece that would change the FPS history and after one hour of playing F.E.A.R. I thought this was the right game… but after a couple of more hours I saw that I was wrong…

Story: 6.6/10

F.E.A.R. starts in a good way, in a VERY good way, in a Perfectly Damn Way!!! The intro shows you a man in his cell who gets a visit from a creepy and mysterious little girl. The man escapes his cell and starts killing people with the aid of some soldiers. After that you, the faceless hero are in a briefing room of F.E.A.R. an US elite paramilitary group whose mission is to defend the country from paranormal threat, (!?!). You learn that you must kill this man, Paxton Fettel), who is actually a general with the ability to control telepathically hundreds of cloned soldiers called the Replica Army. The story has a very good base and apart from all these there's Alma. Alma is the backbone of F.E.A.R. and is probably one of the reasons for the game's success. She is a small, dark child like the one in the Ring movie, who somehow has a connection with the stuff that are happening in the story. Throughout the game she will appear and make you c** p your pants, (literally!), and learn some details about her, but of course not everything since the mystery around her is the reason of this game's existence…

So far so good… what makes the story look bad? First of all 90% of details are given to you by recorded phone messages or laptops found in the game. Most of them are veeery small puzzle pieces that create more questions than answers and leave you with a “huh???” kind of feeling. Almost all recorded messages refer to some strange secret projects again and again but actually say the same stuff over and over, referring to strange code names but not giving enough detail to keep you interested. Also be warned that only in the last hour of the game you will finally start to put the various plot pieces together but even then you will be disappointed. Creating mystery by leaving some things unanswered isn't something I don't like, (I'm a Silent Hill fan you know!), but this game is bad at it. Also there are some things that happen so often that make the game look even worse and a bit predictable. An example is that no one stays alive in the game and I mean main characters and not some unnamed soldier or something. Generally that is good in video games since it makes the player more attached to the game characters and plot, for example Aeris's death in FF7 is one of the more emotionally intense scenes in gaming history, but in F.E.A.R. you find someone after a long chase and then he dies! That's it, nothing more, you won't even find his corpse, no details about what happened, nothing!!! He just disappears from the game as if he never was there in the first place. Finally there are a lot of plot holes that instead of improving the story they aggravate it.

Graphics: 9/10

One thing that all people agree about this game is that it looks beautiful… another one is the fact that it is a damn system hog!!! Highly detailed characters that look and move as if they are real that range from simple soldiers to highly detailed robots and monsters. Also F.E.A.R. uses a lot of great effects, like fire, steam\dust, and refraction\distortion effects in certain glass surfaces, water and explosions. The game also has excellent lighting\shadow quality making everything look very realistic. Also great special effects are used to change your view when you see hallucinations or where you slow down time in battles. Areas in the game are full of detail and good textures. Most rooms are full of objects that react when being hit creating very realistic battles. Also the game is very creepy when you are alone, with objects moving on their own, shadows appearing from nowhere and many more.

Now imagine this, you are inside a room full of desks, 1-2 ceiling lights, large semitransparent glass windows, walls with ceramic tiles and a few more objects like cardboard boxes, chairs and many smaller objects on shelves. When you start shooting at each other you redecorate the room… windows break filling the floor with broken shards of glass, ceramic tiles on walls and columns break or fall down, large holes are created on walls and large amounts of dust from the damaged surfaces and pieces of paper fill the air restraining your view, smaller objects follow the laws of physics and fall down, fly over your head and generally create a mesh. If a ceiling light is shot it starts blinking and moves around making the place look even more real due to excellent dynamic shadows, (the best I've seen so far), and if these weren't enough realistic sparks are created when bullets hit metal or other surfaces, splash when they hit water and many more and finally enemies leave large amounts of blood on walls, floor and ceiling making the view even better.

The game looks great, (forget about Doom 3), but why 9 instead of a solid 10 in score? Two words… variety and system requirements, (well that makes it three words…). The developers had created a perfect graphic engine only to feature the same things over and over. Same enemies, same textures and same places. Everything in the game becomes very boring and places or events that look a bit more unique, (like some of the scary parts), are a bit rare. Finally the game needs a lot of power from your CPU and GPU and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT!!! Although I have a PC that is supposed to run the game just fine I have some occasional frame rate drops during battles that are very bad for such a great looking game.

Sound: 8/10

Sound effects in F.E.A.R. are very good and realistic. Bullets make different sounds in the various surfaces, explosions and generally battle sounds are very good apart from the weaponry which sounds very weak something that totally ruins an FPS. Voice acting on the other hand is very good especially during a fight where soldiers in a squad communicate between them giving you an idea of what is happening by hearing them, (like when they throw a grenade and shout orders to hide). Music is rarely used and is quite forgettable but it creates the right atmosphere. The game is very good at scaring you with strange whispers, screams or when your radio emits strange static near a bloody scene.

Gameplay: 7.2/10

The gameplay of F.E.A.R. is very simple. Get to point B from point A and kill stuff in the process. 90% of the battles in the game are you against small groups of the Replica soldiers. Be prepared for excellent gunfights because of great enemy AI. Enemies spread and try to attack you from different directions, throw grenades, they hide and shoot behind walls by extending only their arm, run away and generally are very fun to battle with. Only problem is the fact that you'll fight a lot with these folks and will surely become bored of them since more advanced enemies are rarely seen in the game. Apart from the Replica and normal soldiers you'll also have to fight with robots that have simpler AI and other stuff that rely more in hiding and attacking when you don't expect it, but unfortunately you rarely see those guys.

Your equipment consist of some assault rifles, a shotgun, a handgun, (you can hold 2 of them together), and some sci-fi toys. Weapons aren't something original but are very good and force you to make the right weapon choice in the right occasion. No weapon overpowers the others, balancing the game something that is good and finally each weapon behaves a bit differently, (more kick, no automatic shooting, slower reloading, etc). You can only carry three, (or was it four?), weapons but that isn't bad since you must think what to carry and what to leave behind very carefully. Gunfights are very tense and require good skills but luckily there's a bullet time, (called reflexes in here I think), that you can use in order to slow things down a bit. You can also carry three types of grenades that can be used to greatly aid you in battles if used correctly. Apart from the simple frag grenade there is a mine-grenade, (which in my opinion is the worst but looks very good when exploding), and a grenade that sticks in enemies and surfaces and explodes with the push of a button. Finally you can do some melee fighting by hitting people with your weapon and fists, kicking them, or performing a slide kick. Strangely melee attacks instantly kill soldiers and severely damage you when you are hit by an enemy, something that is very unrealistic but not bad in terms of gameplay. Apart from weaponry you'll only find first aid boxes and armor. First aid can be used only when you want to something that suits my needs and that most FPS games don't have.

Apart from shooting stuff you are supposed to be able to do a little stealth play but don't be fooled, this game although not an average run & gun game isn't Metal Gear. You can't hide from enemies, you can be clever and attack them from behind when they don't expect it and generally play strategically… strategy not stealth. The game although has the right length can become really boring due to its repetitive nature. You come, you kill, the end! It is a very, very, very linear game. There's only one path you can follow and when there is a second one it usually leads to more ammo or a creepy scene. The game formula is also very predictable, one gun fight, one scare, another gun fight, another scare, etc. Finally F.E.A.R. has a decent multiplayer which is quite fast and although features simple modes it is quite fun due to the nature of the battle system.

Positives:
-Excellent graphic quality with great amounts of detail and realistic physics
-Very good AI, almost flawless creating great gun fights
-Good weapons, three kinds of grenades and ability for melee fighting
-Very good, creepy atmosphere

Negatives:
-The story although good has very HEAVY flaws like plot holes and lack of details
-You fight the same enemies over and over.
-Weak weapon sounds
-Linear and repetitive gameplay
-System hog

Also Play:
Doom 3 (PC)
Half-Life 1-2 (PC)
System Shock 1-2 (PC)

Overall: 7.8/10

The game has excellent presentation and atmosphere but it's so repetitive and linear and has so many problems in a nonetheless good storyline. All these restrain F.E.A.R. from being an excellent game, it's very good but not flawless. It isn't a one-time dust collector, you WILL play this game many times but each time each flaws will make you think, “this could be much better…”. Lets hope that the sequel, (possible name Project Origin), will be much better.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/11/08

Game Release: F.E.A.R. (EU, 10/18/05)