"FEAR is a decent game, but falls short of the hype"

A few month's ago, a demo was released for the game "F.E.A.R.", and massive hype was built almost instantly. I was hooked, captivated by what I thought would be a game with amazing graphics, intense action, and a deep storyline. Sadly, the final product falls short.

Storyline: 4
Disappointing to say the least. All right, so nearly every FPS has a storyline that serves basically as a vehicle for your character to go on a blasting frenzy. However, with FEAR's cinematic intro that gave the impression that the game would be a cinematic experience, expectations were high. Even the developers and marketers said the game was more like a movie.

Sadly, the story is lacking in every aspect. Like most FPS games that try to develop some sort of story, you have to constantly pay attention to minute details, search endlessly for little messages, and over all you serve more of an afterthought rather then a participant in the present crisis. Like Doom 3, you must track down phone messages and download little messages from laptops in order to gain some information on just what happened. Unlike Doom 3, you get one shot to listen to these messages. This is VERY annoying. First of all, if you want to listen to a message later in order to pull everything together, you can't. Second, if it so happens you left an enemy around by accident, he will hear the message and come after you, and pretty much once a gun fight begins you will be unable to pay attention to the message. The game really needed some kind of journal to keep track of everything. Even then, this method of "trickling" plot information down to you is a terrible way to give the player information in a "cinematic" experience. For one thing, you may miss A LOT of facts, and therefore, plot "development."

Without trying to spoil anything, let's talk about the plot and its development in a little detail shall we. The plot basically consists of you, a member of a top secret special forces unit "First Encounter Assault Recon" (worst acronym ever) being sent in to take out a psychic commander who suddenly went ballistic, is eating people, and is controlling a bunch of clone soldiers. Why he went crazy and why he eats people, we never find out. In fact, we barely learn anything about him. A couple facts here and there, but that's about it. The character with far more development is "Alma", you know the little girl who was a reject from The Ring? She shows up in various places, trying to scare you, does things that try to stop you, and the story practically revolves around her. She is the only character that we actually LEARN something about. She is pretty creepy, and that says it all. What about you though? You are nothing, you know nothing, you have no name, no history, and besides being a member of FEAR, no identity. This turns your character into a mindless shooter who just happens to have super reflexes with slow-mo abilities. In fact, you never find anything about you either. Well, that's not completely true, but for the most part, you stay as the nameless soldier who has super quick reflexes that like all super soldiers, takes down an entire platoon of other super soldiers. O by the way, the other members of FEAR are about as flat as a wall and as interesting as paint. And their is a character who disappears and you hear nothing about him again. Seriously, people wonder now and then where he went, but otherwise, it's like he was just cut from the plot midway into the game.

I think that's good enough. O by the way, the major "jump out of your seat OMG plot twist held to the very end of the game" is visible practically from the beginning. I guessed it after a couple hours, and when I was proven right with barely any information at all, that's just bad.

Graphics: 7
All right now for something good! The graphics are fantastic. Everything from the textures, to the polygons, to the particles (which are used in ample supply), everything is just great. Why a 7 then? You see, it is the level design where the game falters. Sure, level design is more of a "game play" element, but when every area feels the same over and over again, seeing the same settings over and over again gets tiresome. Really, how can an office, and a warehouse, feel the same? The developers must have been miracle workers to do that. Lastly, despite the game looks great, their are a fair amount of "jaggies" if you look closely. First of all, my video card is a Radeon x800 pro, and even with everything cranked all the way up, and running at resolution 1024x768 (I normally run games at 1280x1028, but the game doesn't support it) I could still point out jaggies all around. This hurts, since I just finished playing Quake 4 which has very few jaggies (except the pointy heads). Even without the jaggies, the repetitive level design is too terrible to ignore, even with the amazing particle effects the game has.

Sound: 10
The game has fantastic sound. Simply put, the ambience set by the music is perfect. Rather then standing out, it blends in. A lot of the "fear" going around would evaporate if it wasn't for the great ambience. The sound effects too are great. Nothing wrong here.

Gameplay: 6
First of all, the game has THE best AI any FPS has seen. Your opponents are not just rambling individuals, but work together in squads and help each other. They lay down suppressing fire, they try to flank you, they use cover, they try to establish their position, they throw grenades and run from them, and they retreat when their numbers are low. When you fight these clone troops, you aren't fighting troopers, you're fighting the entire squad. However, the AI is not entirely perfect. The squad's actions and decisions can get somewhat repetitive, and eventually you will figure them out. Some things just have to be scripted, and if you save & load a scene over and over again you will see a pattern. But that is hardly a reason to complain, this is the best AI ever. What else is their? HL2: They shoot, hide, throw grenades, throw them back, and sidestep. Doom 3: They throw fireballs, you side step = threat adverted = you shoot and they are dead. Quake 4: Actions consist of attack+sidestep+charge in different flavors for each enemy. All in all, AI is excellent, and will provide some of the most intense firefights ever imagined.

Problem is, the AI is almost too good. And when matched wit the fact that they have just as much health/armor as you do, firefights are on the verge of becoming impossible, or at least extremely difficult without coming out ventilated. That's where your super-reflexes come in, with your slow-mo ability. This slows down the action so you can take your time and get those headshots in, check your recoil, and take down a few enemies before they realize what's going on. The problem is that slow-mo becomes a factory of necessity: you need it. The bigger problem is that it makes the firefights ridiculously easy. All you have to do is either sit back and snipe, or perhaps charge in with a shotgun. I suppose you could get through the game without it, but some of the later game conflicts makes it very hard.

I am just going to mention it again, SUCKY LEVEL DESIGN. The design makes the intense firefights repetitive. Keep in mind that you are fighting the same clone squad over and over again, and while their are a couple squad variants, they all act the same time. Their are a few other kinds of enemies, but they mostly serve is a little mini-boss to try to take a chunk out of your health. So, with a repetitive level design, the firefights often become repetitive themselves. Lame.

O yeah, their is a lot of hype over "this game is so scary you will soil yourself." Lies, the game is creepy, it creates an excellent atmosphere, but is not scary. Doom 3 was scary, Alien vs. Predator 2 was scary, Silent Hill was scary, this is not. When Alma made her appearances, it was more of a "hey there's Alma" rather then "ahhhh what was that". Even with the amazing atmosphere established, they still can't spook with with smoke and mirror's.

Multiplayer: 6
A completely average multiplayer. It has your standard deathmatch, CTF, and so on. Not to complain, this is all we ask for in a game, which focuses on single player. But when the single player experience is obviously lacking, and with only a dry multiplayer to keep you going, the DVD which once made a home in your PC pretty much takes its place as your desk's coaster.

Extra's: 8
I gave this an 8, mainly because such things as "the making of" are fairly new to games. So I gave it an 8 because well, I don't have a lot to go against. But let me say this: If I were to compare the Extra's to a DVD I would give it a 3. Why? The "making of" feature simply put, sucks. You don't learn anything that isn't obvious. Yes we know sound key to creating the atmosphere, or that FEAR needed a great AI, or that game testers are a great source of input, or marketing, or graphics, or whatever. We know all of this. What we want to know was HOW THE GAME GOT MADE, "the making of FEAR" tends to tell us that we will learn something about how the game got made, but no. We don't learn any interesting facts; see anything that blows our minds, or anything that isn't completely obvious. Their is also a "prequel to FEAR" short, with live action actors. Their are really only two actors (a third is there, but does nothing besides you looking at the back of his head now and then). One is a psychologist, the other is Alma. The psychologist is terrible, I thought her acting was on par with Uwe Boll's directing. The girl that plays Alma though, looks like she could have been in The Ring. By the way, this short film doesn't really tell us anything more about the plot other then Alma has issue's.

Is this worth my hard earned money?
To be honest, no. With a single player game that is barely worth a second run through, and a boring multiplayer experience, which you can get from any game, I can hardly see any justification in the $50 to $60 price tag. If you want to play it, wait for the price come down or sneak into your friend's house and play it when s/he inevitably gets bored of it.

Conclusion
FEAR could have been a truly great game. However, because of the lackluster story and bland level design, the game quickly becomes a bore.

My rating of 6/10 is my impression of the game rather then an average.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/05