Full Review:   FEAR 3
 
Fear 3 marks the end of the Alma trilogy, what began as a FPS that was filled with a dark atmosphere, a creepy little girl, and an interesting, conspiracy-esque storyline, which quickly degraded into jump scares and half-baked ideas, along with broken continuity.

Despite these facts, there’s no mistaking that Fear 3 attempts to meld all of the broken continuity issues together the best it can, and deliver an experience that is at least in some way enjoyable…and deliver it, it did.

Fear 3 puts you back in the shoes of Pointman, the protagonist of the first game, who has been captured by Armacham forces and is being interrogated for information involving Alma…though he’s mute so I don’t know why they’re doing this. He is rescued by his brother Paxton Fettel, who is now a ghost…just roll with it. The two must try to find Alma, who is pregnant following the events of the second game, to witness the birth of their newest sibling, with each having their own plans for the child: Pointman wishes to kill it, Paxton wishes to raise it. And the game continues on from there at breakneck pace, throwing in a few convoluted moment of what can be loosely interpreted as storytelling along the way. The campaign is fairly short, maybe taking a maximum of five hours on co-op, and maybe a little bit more on single player. The story itself is fairly weak, and attempts to weave together several elements of previous games, thought to be out of canon, into a jumbled mess.

The combat mechanics of FEAR 3 are solid, probably better than most modern day FPS’s. This makes the combat sections extremely enjoyable to play, as the controls are fluid, and the weapons are diverse and never seem to be unbalanced. Pointman has the ability to enter a state of reflex time, allows the player to deal with large scale situations in a more manageable manner. Fettel, on the other hand, uses his psychic powers to suspend enemies in the air, possess them, or, for want of a better word, explode them. He can also pick up objects and fire them like projectiles. However, both Fettel and Pointman have limits to these abilities, with timers on screen to tell the player how long is left until the ability ends. These gauges can be extended by completing certain challenges and gaining levels, for completing certain feats. Some can only be unlocked via co-op, but it gives the game a sense of purpose, at least for the campaign. Each character, bar Fettel in ghost form, can perform melee combat moves, which range from jump kicks, to slides, to good old fashioned knife attacks. These vary the gameplay and allow the player to change up their battle-plan, so combat remains enjoyable and fun throughout the campaign. This also transfers to multiplayer, but we’ll get to that in a while.

The graphics are somewhat muddy, and aren’t anything to be particularly wow’d by. To be honest, the engine seems as old as the idea, and while some of the backgrounds of levels can be quite beautiful, for the most part, the colour palette consists of grey, black, and a lot of red. Character models are somewhat stone-faced, and while movement is not an issue, the rendering of enemies and even main characters is pretty poor at the best of times. Enemies have very little variety, and crazy hobos can only have so many different looks.

Sound is something that won’t blow you away either, with enemies and weapons sounding pretty generic at times. The main attraction in the sound department is Fettel, whose funny quips and one-liners make this game worth playing, just to see how much of an asshole he’ll become as the story continues. The music can’t really be heard until the moment something horror-related is going to happen, and ends up hindering the experience more than helping it. Truly, there were more than a few cliff-notes lost in the sound department about what game they were working on.

The gameplay itself is pretty standard: run here, enemies attack, run here, cutscene, and repeat. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Since the combat is fun, the player won’t mind the enemy encounters, as no two encounters are the same. The player has full control over how they wish to take enemies down. However, it can grind at times, as enemies are far from thick, but the player is severely underpowered, taking relatively few hits before dying, even for a realistic mode of gameplay, this was a bit too confusing, especially when you fight alongside a ghost brother as a guy who can boost his own reflexes. The brothers each get a certain amount of points for killing enemies in certain ways. Challenges also contribute to this. At the end of each chapter, the game will show who is the ‘Favourite Son’. This adds an edge of competitive co-op to the game, and can be quite fun at times.

The most important aspect of a game entitled ‘FEAR’ would be the atmosphere. The game was put forward as a horror title; much like the previous games…I just wish the developers knew that before making the damn game. The atmosphere is anything but tense, and the horror is merely filled in by pointless jump-scares that can be seen coming a mile away, thanks in part to the musical scores that seem to well up, just in case you don’t see what they’re trying to scare you with. Any and all of the possibly tense moment are immediately killed by the music, making the game a laughable experience at times, when nothing takes you by surprise.

Multiplayer is really the backbone of FEAR 3, and where the real fun lies. The Multiplayer is split up into four different variations, Fucking Run, where you…fucking run from a cloud of death, killing enemies with your team to make it to the next checkpoint. It’s a fun mode, and requires a good, tight team to complete. Soul King is roughly the same as Halo: Reach’s Headhunter mode, except more refined. Each player, as a Spectre, must possess enemies, and kill other players and enemy bots in order to collect souls. At the end of each round, the player with the most souls wins. Soul Survivor is much like Soul King, except players must possess enemies to kill each other. Finally, we have the Gears of War-esque, Horde mode: Contractions. In this mode, players must work together to collect supply crates, which grant them strong weapons and more ammunition to fight the ever-increasing waves of enemies, who increase in difficulty, from waves 1 to 20. All of these modes are nice in their variations, although Contractions has the most promise for a multiplayer experience in which players will last longer working as a team. There are certain maps for each variant, although only 3 for Fucking Run. However, this does not take away from the fact that the multiplayer is solid, somewhat fresh thanks to the combat mechanics, and is worth playing with friends in order to make the most out of it.

Overall, FEAR 3 is a game that lacks the atmosphere its predecessors brought to the stage. Although it is a solid shooter, and a lot of fun, the lack of atmosphere hurts the game in a very severe way. Its basic premise is not fulfilled, so it can only ever reach an average level of entertainment.

Verdict:

3/5

Pros:

• Shooting mechanics are solid and fun
• Fettel’s voice acting is extremely entertaining
• Multiplayer modes are solid
• Co-Op extends play-time, and each brother plays differently, so players can experiment with what either can do, or combine abilities
• Scoring system adds competitive nature to Co-Op

Cons:

• Graphics are poor
• Very weak horror atmosphere
• Music contributes to the lack of immersion in gameplay
• Story is weak
• Character models are badly rendered
• Most side characters are pointless additions
• Enemy variation is very low
• Campaign is extremely short
• Jump 'scares' do not constitute as scares at all
  

FEAR 3 should have been a grand send-off the FEAR trilogy, but ended up being a flop. While the mechanics hold up, the overall feel of the game lacks in any and all of the strengths a horror title might have. In the end, all I can say about FEAR 3, is that it’s a fun FPS, but a poor title given the atmosphere.

WTF? Moment: Hobos? Really? Alma could have taken over the legions of psychic soldiers, but instead, Hobos?

Full Review:   FEAR 3
 
Fear 3 marks the end of the Alma trilogy, what began as a FPS that was filled with a dark atmosphere, a creepy little girl, and an interesting, conspiracy-esque storyline, which quickly degraded into jump scares and half-baked ideas, along with broken continuity.

Despite these facts, there’s no mistaking that Fear 3 attempts to meld all of the broken continuity issues together the best it can, and deliver an experience that is at least in some way enjoyable…and deliver it, it did.

Fear 3 puts you back in the shoes of Pointman, the protagonist of the first game, who has been captured by Armacham forces and is being interrogated for information involving Alma…though he’s mute so I don’t know why they’re doing this. He is rescued by his brother Paxton Fettel, who is now a ghost…just roll with it. The two must try to find Alma, who is pregnant following the events of the second game, to witness the birth of their newest sibling, with each having their own plans for the child: Pointman wishes to kill it, Paxton wishes to raise it. And the game continues on from there at breakneck pace, throwing in a few convoluted moment of what can be loosely interpreted as storytelling along the way. The campaign is fairly short, maybe taking a maximum of five hours on co-op, and maybe a little bit more on single player. The story itself is fairly weak, and attempts to weave together several elements of previous games, thought to be out of canon, into a jumbled mess.

The combat mechanics of FEAR 3 are solid, probably better than most modern day FPS’s. This makes the combat sections extremely enjoyable to play, as the controls are fluid, and the weapons are diverse and never seem to be unbalanced. Pointman has the ability to enter a state of reflex time, allows the player to deal with large scale situations in a more manageable manner. Fettel, on the other hand, uses his psychic powers to suspend enemies in the air, possess them, or, for want of a better word, explode them. He can also pick up objects and fire them like projectiles. However, both Fettel and Pointman have limits to these abilities, with timers on screen to tell the player how long is left until the ability ends. These gauges can be extended by completing certain challenges and gaining levels, for completing certain feats. Some can only be unlocked via co-op, but it gives the game a sense of purpose, at least for the campaign. Each character, bar Fettel in ghost form, can perform melee combat moves, which range from jump kicks, to slides, to good old fashioned knife attacks. These vary the gameplay and allow the player to change up their battle-plan, so combat remains enjoyable and fun throughout the campaign. This also transfers to multiplayer, but we’ll get to that in a while.

The graphics are somewhat muddy, and aren’t anything to be particularly wow’d by. To be honest, the engine seems as old as the idea, and while some of the backgrounds of levels can be quite beautiful, for the most part, the colour palette consists of grey, black, and a lot of red. Character models are somewhat stone-faced, and while movement is not an issue, the rendering of enemies and even main characters is pretty poor at the best of times. Enemies have very little variety, and crazy hobos can only have so many different looks.

Sound is something that won’t blow you away either, with enemies and weapons sounding pretty generic at times. The main attraction in the sound department is Fettel, whose funny quips and one-liners make this game worth playing, just to see how much of an asshole he’ll become as the story continues. The music can’t really be heard until the moment something horror-related is going to happen, and ends up hindering the experience more than helping it. Truly, there were more than a few cliff-notes lost in the sound department about what game they were working on.

The gameplay itself is pretty standard: run here, enemies attack, run here, cutscene, and repeat. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Since the combat is fun, the player won’t mind the enemy encounters, as no two encounters are the same. The player has full control over how they wish to take enemies down. However, it can grind at times, as enemies are far from thick, but the player is severely underpowered, taking relatively few hits before dying, even for a realistic mode of gameplay, this was a bit too confusing, especially when you fight alongside a ghost brother as a guy who can boost his own reflexes. The brothers each get a certain amount of points for killing enemies in certain ways. Challenges also contribute to this. At the end of each chapter, the game will show who is the ‘Favourite Son’. This adds an edge of competitive co-op to the game, and can be quite fun at times.

The most important aspect of a game entitled ‘FEAR’ would be the atmosphere. The game was put forward as a horror title; much like the previous games…I just wish the developers knew that before making the damn game. The atmosphere is anything but tense, and the horror is merely filled in by pointless jump-scares that can be seen coming a mile away, thanks in part to the musical scores that seem to well up, just in case you don’t see what they’re trying to scare you with. Any and all of the possibly tense moment are immediately killed by the music, making the game a laughable experience at times, when nothing takes you by surprise.

Multiplayer is really the backbone of FEAR 3, and where the real fun lies. The Multiplayer is split up into four different variations, Fucking Run, where you…fucking run from a cloud of death, killing enemies with your team to make it to the next checkpoint. It’s a fun mode, and requires a good, tight team to complete. Soul King is roughly the same as Halo: Reach’s Headhunter mode, except more refined. Each player, as a Spectre, must possess enemies, and kill other players and enemy bots in order to collect souls. At the end of each round, the player with the most souls wins. Soul Survivor is much like Soul King, except players must possess enemies to kill each other. Finally, we have the Gears of War-esque, Horde mode: Contractions. In this mode, players must work together to collect supply crates, which grant them strong weapons and more ammunition to fight the ever-increasing waves of enemies, who increase in difficulty, from waves 1 to 20. All of these modes are nice in their variations, although Contractions has the most promise for a multiplayer experience in which players will last longer working as a team. There are certain maps for each variant, although only 3 for Fucking Run. However, this does not take away from the fact that the multiplayer is solid, somewhat fresh thanks to the combat mechanics, and is worth playing with friends in order to make the most out of it.

Overall, FEAR 3 is a game that lacks the atmosphere its predecessors brought to the stage. Although it is a solid shooter, and a lot of fun, the lack of atmosphere hurts the game in a very severe way. Its basic premise is not fulfilled, so it can only ever reach an average level of entertainment.

Verdict:

3/5

Pros:

• Shooting mechanics are solid and fun
• Fettel’s voice acting is extremely entertaining
• Multiplayer modes are solid
• Co-Op extends play-time, and each brother plays differently, so players can experiment with what either can do, or combine abilities
• Scoring system adds competitive nature to Co-Op

Cons:

• Graphics are poor
• Very weak horror atmosphere
• Music contributes to the lack of immersion in gameplay
• Story is weak
• Character models are badly rendered
• Most side characters are pointless additions
• Enemy variation is very low
• Campaign is extremely short
• Jump 'scares' do not constitute as scares at all
  

FEAR 3 should have been a grand send-off the FEAR trilogy, but ended up being a flop. While the mechanics hold up, the overall feel of the game lacks in any and all of the strengths a horror title might have. In the end, all I can say about FEAR 3, is that it’s a fun FPS, but a poor title given the atmosphere.

WTF? Moment: Hobos? Really? Alma could have taken over the legions of psychic soldiers, but instead, Hobos?