"Not quite a classic, but will still stay in your memory!"

When a game says "F.E.A.R." on the title, you pretty much know what you're going to get out of that game. THIS "Fear" has periods between the letters though, and actually stands for "First Encounter Assault Recon" (a decent abbreviation, I suppose) and is a secret U.S. government organization designed to combat paranormal threats. The game itself is really a first-person shooter that incorporates many different ideas into its game play, but here's the million-dollar question: will "F.E.A.R." make you shake in your boots or not? Here's what you can expect:


Story: 8/10

As the newest point-man of F.E.A.R., you are going out on your first mission. The game really leaves your history shrouded in mystery. So much so that you don't even have a name; you're just called "point-man" and have EXCEPTIONALLY fast reflex times. You are being dispatched with your squad to neutralize a man named Paxton Fettel, who commands a group of cloned soldiers PSYCHICALLY! He is the psychic commander of a weapons project by the ATC Corporation that was designed to send clones into battle all controlled by a single psychic soldier, except that now he has gone rouge and has started killing everyone in ATC's headquarters. Quite a threat indeed. Thankfully, F.E.A.R. can track Paxton's movement via satellite and by killing HIM you can stop ALL of the clones. Getting to Paxton will be a challenge though, as his cloned soldiers are not the only threat you'll face as you'll also deal with a mysterious little girl who seems to disappear and re-appear at will... spreading horrible death wherever she goes...


The story of F.E.A.R. almost seems like a classic archetype: You have your huge organization doing whatever they want (ATC) and dabbling in the unnatural, the rouge commander who is going to make them pay, and the conveniently named team. Then the little girl comes in and puts a spin on everything. How is she related to all of this? You'll soon learn that "bad stuff" is going to happen whenever she shows up... Most of the actual story in F.E.A.R. comes while you explore your surroundings: messages left on phones will give you insight into how ATC was run, downloading computer data will reveal secrets, and news and radio reports will keep you up-to-date. You'll also be in radio contact with your squad mates and the F.E.A.R. commissioner.


I found the story to be entertaining. This game is obviously best played at night with the lights turned off and the sound turned up (as you'll want to appreciate the game's atmosphere). It's pretty obvious that the girl was inspired by Japanese horror titles (such as the ring) as her long hair obscures her face during the game, which is a neat touch. The game also has good NPC interaction (for what little NPC's there are in the game). One of the only downfalls in the game that I could find (story-wise) was the fact that in order to listen to the snippets of story that come from the phones, you have to stand RIGHT NEXT to them (which of course kind-of puts a break on the action), but that's a relatively small complaint. Plus, you have a good cliff-hanger ending to look forward to.


Game Play: 8/10

Being a first-person shooter, there REALLY isn't a whole lot for me to explain. You'll find an assortment of weapons as you play such as the standard handgun, sub-machine gun, assault rifle, and shotguns as well as a few "novelty" or "BFG" type weapons and be tasked to gun down any aggressive thing that moves. One think that irked me a bit was the fact that you can only ever carry three weapons at a time, which in a way encourages swapping out weapons much more often. You will also gather up health packs (which you can use on the fly and carry 10 of at any given time) as well as

There are a FEW things that make F.E.A.R. stand out compared to the hundreds of FPS games on the market. One of the first things you'll likely notice is how "smart" the A.I. is (remember this game was made in 2005). The enemy will almost ALWAYS try to flank you, and if you let them they'll be successful the vast majority of the time. This comes from the fact that the enemy almost always appears in small squads so they can leave a few enemies in your way while another soldier can flank, combined with the fact that a LOT of the game's environments have alternate paths. That hallway you are guarding will often have rooms on the left or right that the enemy will try and surprise you from. That catwalk you just stepped onto has a staircase obscured by shadows behind you... well, you get the point and will be on the lookout for ambushes constantly. The next thing that makes F.E.A.R. stand out is the point-man's "exceptional reflex skills". Basically you can slow down time, making everything and everyone around you move much slower while you act (you are a bit slower too, but you have an obvious advantage). This game play design of course borrows heavily from other sources (Max Payne, Action Movies, etc...) but comes in handy often. The ability itself will recharge with time, which makes you ration it out (personally I often just used the "slow-motion" ability with a shotgun and bum-rushed entire squads).

All that is nice and good of course, but the BEST part of the game play has to be the upgrades you can find throughout the game. These upgrades are basically just blue or green vials that you can inject into yourself to boost you maximum health and "bullet-time" length. Many of these injections are cleverly hidden throughout the game and give it a (very) slight RPG aspect by making yourself more powerful over time. All in all, F.E.A.R. has enjoyable game play. There's nothing OUTSTANDING here, but it all works.


Graphics: 8/10

Even all these years later, F.E.A.R. still looks good. The character models look good (no where nearly as good for 2011, but GOOD for 2005). The one BIG thing that gets to me is the repetitive environments. You see, for the majority of the game you're going to be navigating through an office building. Sure, it is fantastically detailed, with PC's here and phones there, and various items scattered about, but it does get awfully repetitive after hours of playing. Now, remember during all of this that the environment reacts wonderfully to you; the walls will show bullet holes and explosions and firefights will stir up dust in the environment obscuring your vision. Also, there is a physics engine in place so the bodies will fall limp and blood spatters will splash on the wall behind your victims.

The developers make liberal and creative use of the carnage. You are supposed to be afraid, after all. Many rooms are just FILLED with blood, but these rooms aren't nearly as jarring as they probably should be after you've seen your 5th or 6th one (again, with the repetitiveness). The other thing that gets to me a bit is the blatant advertising throughout the game (Dell must have REALLY pushed their XPS advertising in 2005, and paid Monolith to help them do it).

The lighting effects and visual tricks in the game are absolutely fantastic though. The games great atmosphere owes a lot to it's lighting effects, as Monolith proves they can set a mood as good as anyone. The visual tricks are what help to make the game actually memorable. They are what make you REMEMBER seeing the little girl, as the area you were just exploring turns into someplace else entirely. If only Monolith could have thrown in more variety, the graphics would have been superb, but as they are now they are still really good, just a tad repetitive.


Audio: 7/10

Well, I'll start off by saying that YOU are a silent protagonist, which is just as well as for the majority of the game there really isn't anyone to talk to anyway. You'll be with your squad for part of the time, and in constant touch with the F.E.A.R. commissioner, but that's really it (besides the voices in your head and some other NPC's which I won't spoil). The voice acting that IS there is top-notch though, being very well-done. Even the clone soldier's will talk, which is a bit weird as they are all supposedly being controlled by Fettel but will communicate amongst themselves like they are a SWAT team or something (this also often gives away their position and manpower, as they'll often say things like "I've lost 2 men!" and whatnot).

The music in the game is there to MAINLY accent the scares (as in, the soundtrack isn't there for you to just listen to). Sharp, orchestral-like theme will blast when the game tries to scare you out of nowhere. There's also a few ambient themes from time to time that add to the atmosphere. Overall, a game you'd want to turn the sound up on!


Re-playability: 6/10

As you can see up to now, F.E.A.R. is a solid title, however once you beat it there REALLY isn't a whole lot to do. Sure, you can try out a different difficulty for a bigger challenge, or perhaps use a guide to find all the status upgrades that you may have missed, but there's very little incentive to do either of those. F.E.A.R. does feature TWO expansion packs (which are not made Monolith), but they aren't even canon (as Monolith said when they made F.E.A.R. 2).


Overall: 7/10

Overall, F.E.A.R. brings a lot of re-hashed ideas to the table, but it is still a good, solid title. Gamers will undoubtedly enjoy the creepiness that the game brings (the story IS pretty messed up), along with the fact that the AI isn't completely dumb, but the repetitiveness stops the game from being truly great. But hey, at least the game is CHEAP and you can get it easily on steam (In fact, I got the "F.E.A.R." collection on steam, including F.E.A.R., its two expansion packs, F.E.A.R. 2, and it's one expansion pack for around $10-15). Have fun and keep playing!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/05/11

Game Release: F.E.A.R. (US, 05/21/10)