F.E.A.R ^{(Xbox 360)}

Genre: First-Person Shooter Publisher: Vivendi Games Developer: Day 1 Players: ?

By Keith B (4th Apr 2007)

An excellent mix of suspense, action, bloodlust and stealth all wrapped up in a gripping story.

Ever have one of those situations where everything goes wrong? You know the ones, when the guy who is charge of the battalion of mind controlled clone super soldiers becomes possessed and sets them on a rampage for some strange (seemingly) demonic purpose? I mean, I know it only happens once or twice a month, but those days are just hell aren’t they? Similar to trying to get ready for a night on the town and that stubborn clump of hair toward the back just won’t stay down! In those situations I go for some heavy duty hair wax, but for the times with the clones and the demonic dudes I call in the friendly guys from F.E.A.R.! First Encounter Assault Recon. That’s when Chuck Norris and Mr T aren’t available of course!

Jocularity aside, this game will freak you out while keeping you pumped with shooting and other manly stuff like throwing grenades! I haven’t played the original PC Format, but from what I have heard it was AWESOME! The 360 version does not disappoint!

From the start I was gripped to the screen! You play the role of the newly recruited point man to F.E.A.R. and you are abruptly thrown into your first mission neck deep in weirdness and enemy soldiers to kill. What really sets this game apart from other FPS’s is quite literally the fear factor! Although the game’s name is an acronym the atmosphere mixed in with the random popping up of small mysterious girl with Satan like powers, walking bloody corpses and the occasional flash back to pools of blood and operating tables fully freaks you out while you are trying to be stealthy and sneak up on your next target! I haven’t had this kind of spine tingling sensation since I played Max Payne the first time, or when I was abducted by aliens when I was 15 (shiny silver things and small bald people still make me scream!).

FEAR gives an excellent mix of suspense, action, bloodlust and stealth all wrapped up in a gripping story that makes you want to sleep with a night light! The graphics are pretty darn sweet also. The character rendering is quite good without being fantastic. I mean it aint quite up there with Metal Gear Solid, but what is?! The scenery can get a little boring, but that isn’t necessarily an artistic problem, more that the levels are bloody long! The overall animation is smooth. Bullet holes and dust rising from a hectic fire fight are just two of the little details that help make this game a complete package. I am a particular fan of the blood spattering patterns and the cool fire effects that the little ‘Damienesque’ girl produces when she makes her appearances. By the way, just for reference when you happen to play this game, don’t run toward her (the game is in slow motion at this point), you will die. Run away! Run away like a scared little man with two sub machine guns and body armour!

Game play, as you have probably gathered is pretty damn sweet! Your character can carry three different projectile weapons at any given times (double machine guns count as one) and 5 grenades. Ammo is pretty generous, so don’t worry too much about running out. Also, because apparently you are quite a physical specimen, you have heightened reflexes, which give you the ability to run in slow motion (Matrix and Max Payne style). This is limited though, when your metre runs out you are back to plain old John Smith until recharge takes effect.

Sound wise, again the game is near flawless. Yes, I did say near flawless! I noticed that in the cut scenes sometimes the ambient noise is a bit too loud to make out the dialogue and you really have to strain to take in the information. The backing track is perfect and, coupled with the scenery and lighting effects, (which are usually pretty dark) makes for the ultimate base for a quality suspenseful game.

The story is incredibly confusing at first, and it stays that way for a looooong time, which is the case with most successful games. I suppose though, coming from a background of such games as Resident Evil, Doom or Monkey Island we should be used to confusing storylines!

FEAR has incorporated a very effective autosave feature that jumps in when you are about to enter an area of extreme danger. The problem is that these areas can be quite long, and generally you die right near the end (which is usually the most difficult part) and have to, of course, do the entire section again. This really isn’t a complaint, it is expected really, I just wanted to find something to complain about. I guess the only thing that I can say ‘against’ the game is that it is all very good with some elements excellent. Doesn’t really sound like a ‘negative’ does it. Well it isn’t, I guess I just found myself hoping that every little bit of it would jump into the ‘this game will consume my life’ category. Some of it did, but other parts were just impressive without being awe inspiring!

The Scott’s Final Word
Forget about what I said in the last paragraph, go out and sell your mothers jewellery if you don’t have the green to buy this game. Killing soldiers, blowing stuff up and soiling yourself rarely gets this good! In my opinion this game is up there with (dare I say it) Half Life. I think Halo3 will beat it to a bloody pulp and a number of other games will probably rate a fair bit higher, but you will not regret the time you waste playing instead of spending quality time with your grandparents (they smell like moth balls anyway!).