Reviews » F.E.A.R. [PC]
Reviewed by ApexFearing F.E.A.R - It messes with your mind in more than one way.
If Doctor Lecter was a gamer, he would be addicted to F.E.A.R. This game is as gruesome as you can get without loosing your lunch, and it’s as psychologically unnerving as a good horror movie. The whole horror experience is wrapped neatly in a crispy, first-person-shootery crust, and topped with the icing of an excellent storyline. If you want the short version, get this game right now. If you want the long version, read on.
The first thing to note is this game is definitely not for the faint of heart. Whether it is not-so-modest amounts of blood spray, stain, and drip, or taking the classic gib effect to a whole new level, this game can be pretty grotesque. If you can handle the opening cutscene’s depictions of violence, you should be able to handle the rest. The game’s main atmospheric focus of horror is well presented also. You spend most of the game paranoid to an unbelievable extent. Not in the Doom way, where you expect to be ambushed by a bloodthirsty demon in every hallway, but more like unnerved by the events you see. Believe me, when you walk into a room and see a guy walk past the doorway, only to go there and find no trace of him, you begin to wonder. This sense of being watched puts you on edge, and the unexpected events coupled with nearly perfect pacing make you genuinely frightened at times, rather than expecting a bump in every dark hallway. Another vital portion of the presentation is the sense of character you get while playing FEAR. Not only can you see your legs, but every other part of your body you would normally see if your view were to be comfortably seated behind your character’s eyes. If you’re knocked down, you see yourself rising to your feet. Melee attacks, discussed later, let you admire your shiny combat boots as you stain them with your enemies’ blood. Pair that with the same type of interactive sidekick characters that Half Life has and you’re pretty well convinced you’ve become the new guy in the FEAR unit.
The presentation is nice, but all of those elements would probably be void without the aid of two things: The incredible AI and stunning visuals. If there is one game that will challenge both your hardware and thinking skills, this is it. The graphics engine will push your system harder than any game to date. Every big, important-sounding graphics technology is here: parallax mapping, normal mapping, Pixel Shader 3.0, soft shadowing…you name it. Of course, with big, shiny graphics comes a slew of requirements. Fear not (no pun intended), for even my laptop’s meager 128MB Radeon x300 can handle the game admirably on lower settings. Granted it won’t blind you with its impressiveness, but the graphics aren’t the only reason you’re playing. While not purely visual, the physics should be mentioned here as well. While not purely for looks, the physics engine in FEAR is top-notch. Some of the most believable death animations I’ve ever seen have come in this game because of the physics. Though you don’t get to play with them as much as in other games, all you have to do is take the time during a firefight to watch the debris fly about when they’re hit. It’s beautiful.
That brings me to the most important section of the review: the gameplay itself. At first glance, it appears to be a wannabe-Doom 3 with a gimmicky bullet time feature. Though one could argue bullet time has become a standard in all games in the post-Matrix world, FEAR does it as well as any of them. With the high graphical details, the trails, blur, bells and whistles all make this particular brand of bullet time stand out just a hair above the rest. As for the semblance to Doom, it’s simple. There is none at all. Gone is the pure run and gun of Doom and Quake; enter the more strategic approach. This, of course, is due to the astoundingly good enemy AI. I cannot place into words (at least few enough words to keep the boredom away) how good the AI is. To cut the list short, they effectively communicate, regroup, advance, retreat, create and use cover and anything else a human player or squad could do. Obviously, AI can’t replace a human player, and they do have limits, no matter how unclear. You will, however, need to quit thinking you’re facing dumb bots and start thinking like you’re fighting a real player.
Melee combat is something that many games have thrown in for the past few years. Most games toss in a pistol whip, rifle bash, and the like, with one or two animations each, and stereotypically bad animations. FEAR changes that completely, by not only having mostly believable animations, but by allowing other attacks using your natural weapons. You can perform an impressive leaping jump kick, a standing jump kick, a sliding kick, and just plain sock your enemy in the chin with your fists. There are few things in shooter games more satisfying than getting the jump on an unsuspecting enemy soldier (which is hard to do, I’ll have you know), and planting a perfect jump kick right in their solar plexus.
The core of the game aside, you’ll notice I never once mentioned multiplayer in there. I did check it out for a short while on my server, and the options appear to be fairly flexible. A complaint I’ve often heard is about the run speed being too fast, which you can conveniently change in the server options. A handful of well-designed, single player reminiscent maps accompany the standard array of modes: deathmatch, capture the flag, team deathmatch, and a special variant of each that includes the bullet time mode you become so fond of using while playing solo. The bullet time mode is triggered by securing a power-up on the map for yourself or your team, at which point time slows for everyone, but running speed increases for those who have the power-up. It’s not the best idea ever, but if you really want that dramatic, slow-motion combat, it does well enough delivering it. One nuance I have with multiplayer here is the lack of bot support. A game with such astounding single player AI has no excuse to leave out multiplayer bots. At the moment a strong push by the community has lead the developers to announce a strong possibility of a bot support patch sometime soon.
Most recently, a new map was added in a patch, as well as support for the mods that will undoubtedly spawn from the SDK that was very recently released. Given that this impressive engine is used to even a sliver of its potential, the replay value should be very high.
F.E.A.R. - PC
Presentation
Hands-down some of the best visuals out there for the genre, but steep hardware requirements.
Gameplay
The single player is engaging and compelling, but has its share of problems.
Replayability
After the single game is over, there’s not much left but a generic multiplayer deathmatch.
Value
High production value, great presentation. Good buy for shooter fans.
Overall
Excellent visuals, enjoyable gameplay, and a good story combine to offset its share of pitfalls.
