"A Little F.E.A.R. Goes a Long Way"

There is no shortage of excellent first-person shooters(FPS) out there. You probably have several of them. Does fear deserve a place in your library? In a nutshell, it's a gunfight-based shooter with a lot of psych-out creepiness in it.

F.E.A.R. puts you in the shoes of a null protagonist – a new recruit to the First Encounter Assault Recon (Assault Recon? What is that exactly?) unit, in charge of investigating paranormal disturbances. It's a pretty standard FPS set-up: A clone army of telepathically controlled supersoldiers has run amok, there's a spooky little girl flashing in and out of existence, and you need to look into it. Here's a pistol and eight rounds of ammunition. (a tip o' the hat to David Wong)

Graphics:

The graphics in F.E.A.R. are breathtaking. The models are impressive, the animations are believable, the ragdoll inverse kinematics are elegantly implemented, the lighting and gorgeous, the shadows are crisp, and the textures are detailed. But the pretty effects are more than just the icing on the cake: They are the meat and potatoes of the experience.

The spooky elements of F.E.A.R. are conveyed primarily by the visuals. Particle effects are great, but when they're used to have a figure dissolve in front of you, they're spooky. Shadows are a good feature, but in F.E.A.R. they're used to reveal characters behind you or show you the position of an enemy. This game uses all the nifty graphical gimmicks that might have been showcased in any other game, and puts them to good use.

All these features come at a cost, though. Only the top-end gaming rigs will be able to run this game at maximum detail settings. F.E.A.R. will be taxing game systems for years to come, and when so much of the game's atmosphere and experience depends so heavily on the rich graphics and effects, the cost of playing on reduced detail levels can make the game far less appealing.

Sound:

It's tough to find a modern first-person shooter that doesn't have excellent sound these days. F.E.A.R. is no exception. The guns sound great, the clatter of an enemy grenade is appropriately nerve-wracking, and the voice samples for the soldiers are clear.

F.E.A.R. stands out by using sound well in awkward situations. The slo-mo feature, for instance, requires all the sound to be distorted, which is done very well. Some of the psychedelic sequences also involve sound distortion. This is also excellent. Ambient sounds serve to heighten the game experience, as well. A rattling bucket or a kicked bottle can be just as startling as the visual creep-out tactics used in the game.

Gameplay: Single-Player

The campaign in F.E.A.R. is not too short, and makes good use of the game's many features. The story is interesting, although the ending is considered by many to be unsatisfying. A small, memorable cast of core characters helps keep it casual without seeming like there are only five people in your organization.

The campaign doesn't have any stealth missions, vehicle sequences, fetch-and-return objectives or jumping puzzles in it. It's basically a linear sequence of big gunfights, with little gunfights in between. In this, it is excellent. The centerpiece of the one-player campaign is the enemy AI.

You will see the same enemies again and again (clone army, remember?), and they will be armed with the same arsenal of weapons. They will knock down objects to create cover, vault over railings, dive through windows, and lay down cover fire while their comrades flank you and toss grenades into your lap. They are terrific, and their chatter gives them enough character to keep the fights from becoming sterile.

Unfortunately, the game is fairly consistent, with little variation in events. The odd novelty enemy or gun turret-dodging sequence is little more than a brief respite from the corner-peeking, grenade-tossing, headshot-scoring gameplay at the core of F.E.A.R. This bores some players.

Another tedious element of single-player mode is the uniformity of settings. There are only three locations, and that means the same texture set for hours on end. If you play in big chunks (four or five hours at a time) you'll begin to feel like you're having the same gunfight in the same room over and over again. But it is a very good gunfight, and worth repeating.

Gameplay: Multiplayer

Online multiplayer is a lot of fun. The weapons are powerful enough that you can kill or be killed in relatively short order. Squad tactics are essential, which is why the omission of voicechat is a little bit unfortunate, although Monolith did include a UT-style menu of pre-recorded phrases that can help with general notions. Automatic voice sounds, like announcing a thrown grenade to your allies or reporting when you're taking hits, is a useful tool.

I'm not sure how long multiplayer F.E.A.R. will be fun, but the first few dozen hours have been a blast, with no sign of slowing down.

Conclusion:

If your system has the chops for it (GameSpot has a terrific feature on hardware requirements for F.E.A.R.) this is one of the finest FPS games around. Single-player is fun, multiplayer is fun, graphics and sound are terrific. Best of all, you don't have to take my word for it. There are two free demos, one for campaign and one for online play, and they offer a good idea of the experience. Check them out.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/24/05