F.E.A.R.

"An awesome game worth buying"

This is my review for the FPS (first person shooter) game entitled F.E.A.R for the PC. I had obtained f.e.a.r: gold edition (which contained both the original game and extraction point in it) a while ago but never got round to playing it, so I decided to put it on my computer and I have just recently completed the single player mode for the original game but have yet to finish extraction point. So I thought that it would be a good idea to share my opinion on this wonderful game with others. This game is a great game in my opinion with nice graphics, excellent A.I, a creepy atmosphere and more that adds to the general enjoyment of this game.

The game play in this game is fantastic; it is fun and involves a lot of tactical/logical thinking and some nice strategic planning to beat most of the enemy mobs. This game is great because you won't usually find just find all the enemies by themselves but they will usually be in mobs of 3-8 with only the occasional replica (main type of enemy in the game) just standing around by themselves for the pickings but they will usually be close together and alert. Though on occasion one will be by himself scanning the area for any threats. Though if you decide to kill this enemy while he isn't watching, all his buddies in the area will be alerted to your presence and will most likely take up strategic points around the area, though this can get quite frustrating at times because at times it seems that no matter where why hide they no exactly where you are, but that does just help prove how great the A.I is in this game. Obviously in this game your main weapons are a different assortment of guns which range from dual wielding handguns to the MOD-3 Rocket Launcher, though you can only carry three guns at a time this just means you have to make sure you swap guns strategically and pick the best guns for where you are.
Most of the game play revolves around combat which is always quite entertaining.

So because of the engrossing game play I have decided to give it a 10/10

The A.I is so good in this game I decided to give it a good mention. The A.I in this game is extremely excellent, you don't just have a group of enemies standing around in a giant open area doing nothing but waiting to be killed. Enemies will actually search and scan the area and search for any threats and when they identify you they will actually run to cover and start shooting at you and the A.I will actually talk to each other about what they should do next, it isn't uncommon when you're hiding behind a wall hoping for one of the enemies to come searching for you so you can dispose of him that you hear “FLUSH HIM OUT!!!”, nicely followed by a nice little frag grenade thrown in your direction taunting you to get away from it in time and avoid enemy fire without getting hit.

All in all the enemy A.I is some of the best I've seen 10/10

Now on to the graphics. The graphics in this game set the mood of a horror game greatly. The dark, depressing color scheme helps wonderfully to set the atmosphere, which keeps you on each because of its ability to make things that aren't there seem as though they are (though usually this is just alma having some fun). It's nice to see that walls and such aren't completely invincible, so if a stray bullet end up hitting some tiles on a wall or column you'll see the damage. The surroundings are done very nicely and make the places seem all that much more realistic. Its not just the inanimate objects that look nice and help set the mood the enemy are also very detailed. As I've said the graphics in this great and you don't have to strain your eyes to see every little things and that's one of the most important things about graphics imo.

So I've decided graphics shall get an 8/10

Now let us take a glance at the story. Basically in a nutshell the story is about you, an operative of team F.E.A.R (First. Encounter. Assault. Recon), you are referred to as “point man” and your real name is never really given (except your last name towards the end though I won't divulge the details…..). Basically at first you are sent out to capture a man by the name of Paxton Fettel who is an insane man who is part of an experimental program in the military (which is pretty why he went insane) it was a program to have a commander telepathically linked to his soldiers so the commands and stuff like that could be given out a lot more effectively through the use of telepathy making battles and such a lot easier to win. After failing to capture him the first time you eventually realize that there is more to this then meets the eye. You run into a little girl by the name of Alma. Alma, to say the least, is extremely strong and extremely scary. Using her paranormal abilities she is able to kill anyone she pleases with relative ease and usually in quite grotesque ways, such as the use of fire and pretty much turning people inside out. Though in most instances Alma can't actually hurt but can only scare the **** out of you, there are actually a few times in the games where she can in fact hurt you…….. It merely takes one hit from this pissed off dead girl to kill you, so its best you watch out. Alma pop up in a few instances in the game but quite regularly she'll appear when you least expect her to and sometimes these appearances will be quite close together or some can be quite spaced out, thus making you slightly paranoid as to when Alma is going to pop out and scare you. Though after a while you can't help but loving Alma, I found myself many times when seeing her handprints on the wall in blood saying “Awwww, she's been finger-painting ^_^”…..or maybe I'm just weird that way. As you get further and further into the game and the story you find out more about both fettel and Alma and where they came from and what happened to them, at the end of the game you can't help but feel at least a little sympathetic towards them. Though unfortunately the game leaves a few holes that leave a few questions unless you've picked up all the data files which explain more about the game, even then a few questions are still left open, although this doesn't detract much from the story.

So because of the awesome and entertaining story I give F.E.A.R a 10/10

So overall I think that this game is an extremely fun and good game that any horror/fps fan should play and even if you're not either of those its still a game worth playing at least once over in one of the easier difficulties to see why this is such a greatly talked about game. So I believe this game is worth buying.

Well that's my review thank you for reading it and I hope it helped you gather some opinion on the game of F.E.A.R and I hope you decide that it's worth buying. Until next time, goodbye.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/09

Game Release: F.E.A.R. (US, 10/17/05)