Any big budget gaming effort is bound to face the ultimate critique; once all the extras and trimmings are removed is the gaming experience a cohesive and enjoyable one? Does it make sense?
The game revolves around the shady actions of a government intent on creating an army of clone super-soldiers. As part of the shady actions a special unit First Encounter Assault Recon (F.E.A.R.) is formed and specially trained in dealing with the paranormal. You, the player, join one of those teams although there are some hints that your part in the game may go beyond that of the unnamed marine of Doom 3. We quickly find out that you are special, your reflexes are, in fact, so good that you have a special bar at the bottom of the screen which allows you to move much faster than everyone else. If you have played the demo you will realize that this is a very useful if not essential ability.
The story also involves the army’s efforts to create the clone super-warriors as one of their psychic commanders, Paxton Fettel, is the man you are after. Things however, are not as straight-forward as that and somewhere along the way a little, very scary, girl becomes involved quoting Metallica and turning up at the most uncomfortable.
Mr. Fettel enjoying a snack
The big budget appeal of F.E.A.R. is at its most effective during the various special effects built into the gameplay. The slow motion effects are very well thought out and include bullet-sound wave distortion and a variety of other visually stunning effects. But the slow motion effect is not only there for eye candy purposes but serves as a valuable gameplay resource which has to be rationed and used at the right times. The in-game weapons have also been crafted carefully and the player needs to always consider which weapons are appropriate for each part of the game as only three can be carried at any one time. The pulse weapon is an example of a very well designed weapon which packs a powerful punch and is visually stunning to watch when at work. Enemies struck by the weapons leave behind a smoky skeleton which falls under a bluish cloud of smoke. Grenades are also important tools available to the player with the regular frags useful during firefights and proximity grenades most important when preparing for battle.
…but F.E.A.R. itself.
Make no mistake, F.E.A.R. is an action title, there are more, weapons, intelligent super-enemies, helicopters and explosions than you can shake a stick at but the real ace in its sleeve is atmosphere. The team behind F.E.A.R. has managed to create a spooky, involving environment which utilizes some old movie-making tricks combines them with game development slight of hand in order to engage the gamer and immerse him in a frightening world. Whenever the player experiences a supernatural encounter, your characters breath becomes more pronounced and a faint heartbeat can be heard, this simple trick alarms the player that something is about to happen raising awareness. Another recurring effect in the game is the corner-of-the-eye encounters with the little girl. Using moments in-game when the player cannot react, i.e. when hopping onto a ladder in the demo, the player gets a glimpse of the little girl but has no time to react. Throughout the game you get to see the little girl in all kinds of situations including (but not limited too) malfunctioning lifts, exploding rooms and blood-soaked walls.
Much of the creepy atmosphere does not make it into the multiplayer modes of F.E.A.R and that is easy to understand as a little girl popping up in the middle of MP carnage would just not make sense. If you are interested in finding out which of the features of F.E.A.R. make it to the multiplayer modes read on…
F.E.A.R. Factor