An enjoyable and visceral shooting experience
FEAR has to be one of the hardest games to review for several reasons. For one, it's almost impossible to describe the pure adrenaline rush of some of the game's most intense firefights, but also because this is a game which is much greater than the sum of its parts. FEAR combines frenzied first-person-shooting sequences with terrifying horror segments to create what must be one of the most nerve-racking and atmospheric games ever. FEAR tells the story of a nameless agent of the First Encounter Assault Recon team, an arm of the military that fights against paranormal enemies. In this case, the team is going up against an army of cones, all controlled by a single super-soldier. Obviously there's more to the story, and the game throws several twists at you which you almost certainly wont see coming. On the downside, the narrative is told mostly through answering machines that you'll activate as you walk through office buildings. Although maybe not the most effective method of storytelling, it gets the job done. In addition there are some cool interactive cutscenes, which are designed almost exclusively for the horror element.
FEAR is scary. In fact it is probably the scariest game I have ever played. Between the firefights you'll get to experience vast stretches of nothing. That is, you'll just walk through empty corridors until you are sucked into some alternate reality which activates one of the aforementioned cutscenes. On great example is early in the game when you drop down to a long white hallway. As you are walking, the hall suddenly erupts into flame and the game goes into slow-motion. Fire surrounds you and the game's freakish antagonist Alma rushes at you, flinging objects towards you with startling ease. Due to your super-reflexes, which I'll discuss more later, you jump through the window just as the entire building goes up in flames. Of course the main reason to play FEAR is the shooting, and oh what shooting it is! FEAR is the epitome of what a shooter should be. The actual act of firing in the game isn't all that complex. The weapons are all pretty standard, and you'll be fighting pretty much the same enemy throughout the entire game. Sounds boring right? Well it may be until the bullets start flying. Enemies in FEAR are smart, possibly the smartest in gaming history. When you enter a room they will immediately open fire. Some will flank you while others pin you down. If your'e in a nicely fortified position they'll flush you out. These are enemies that move and act as a squad. They won't charge at you- they'll work to get around and to get a better angle. Because of this, the battles in FEAR stay fun throughout. There are no real scripted fights. You can play through the same battle twenty times and it will always be different.
Speaking of time, you can slow it down in FEAR. Your nameless character happens to have super human reflexes which allow him to get the jump on his enemies. And trust me, you'll need it to beat these highly intelligent and ruthless super-soldiers. There is a limit to how much you can use your slow-mo ability, but the bar charges pretty fast, and you can pick up boosters so that you can slow down time for longer. In addition, you can pick up health boosters that will permanently increase you maximum health; this too is almost required to get through the games tougher late levels. One standout sequence occurs about midway through the game. You are walking through what seems like an abandoned hallway when the wall to your left abruptly slides away to reveal a small army of soldiers all chucking grenades at your horrified face. Within moments the hidden meeting room is a battleground. Chairs are overturned, holes spatter the walls and tables and plants and computers lie in shambles. You switch your reflexes into overdrive and disintegrate the soldiers in a puff of blood with your all –powerful shotgun. As the ammo runs dry you switch over to your second weapon (you can only carry two) and finish off the remains. Once the enemy has been dealt with you turn the corner only to be bombarded with another onslaught of grenades, thrown backwards across the hall and met with the game over screen.
FEAR makes use of a standard health system; you pick up health packs to regain health and armor to- you guessed it- gain armor. The main difference here is that you can carry up to ten health packs with you at any time, and use them as you see fit. This may not seem groundbreaking, but when you reach a health pack at 100+ health and you're about to enter a major firefight, it is indescribably helpful to be able to carry your packs with you. In the example above, it would have been helpful to use a couple of health packs to up your health before turning that dreaded corner, thus surviving the grenade barrage that awaited you. Once you decimate a battalion of cloned super soldiers and save the world you have some other options available to you, some of which are exclusive to the 360 version of the game. First off, there is a short bonus mission, but it isn't all that exiting and can be beaten in under 15 minutes. More meaty is the instant action mode. Here you can play through several levels sans the story and horror sequences. Once you beat a level your score will be uploaded to an Xbox Live leaderboard. Finally, every single player option has multiple difficulty levels and numerous achievements to get. Now I'm going to admit that I haven't played the multiplayer yet, and I will do so and update this review at a later date. For now, know that there is a multiplayer component to the game so if you’re into that sort of thing then make sure and test that out.
If you haven't seen FEAR in action (i.e. only seen screenshots) then you may wonder at my graphics score. And honestly, out of all the aspects of the game, graphics was the hardest to rate. For one, the actual textures of the levels aren't all that great. And, more importantly, except for the last couple, all of the levels look the same. Of course it doesn't help that since you are fighting an army of clones that all your enemies also look identical. So graphics in the game really boil down to going through the same levels over and over fighting the same enemies. As I said above, the nature of the firefights really makes the tension high regardless of the levels. Then you see the game in motion, and it all changes. When you enter a firefight in FEAR it is incredible. The entire room just erupts in a cloud of dust. Glass shatters everywhere, paper, chunks of wall, desks, phones and pretty much everything that isn't nailed down to the floor flies all over the room. It is impossible to describe how much this adds to the firefights and it is because of this that I scored graphics so highly.
If the graphics enhance the battle, the sound creates it. Weapons in FEAR may look pretty dull but they sound just, in a word, powerful. When you are blasting your way through one of the games levels it just sounds like you are in the middles of a massive war. Again, its impossible to describe the sound of this game expect for by saying, if you were to ever enter a special ops force the battles you went through would most likely sound something like FEAR. The voiceovers in the game are well above par, and the enemies are talkative but not annoying. The sound is by far the highlight of this package. FEAR is a great game. Without a doubt it has some major flaws, mostly the repetitive nature of the environments and the enemies. But it would be a great disservice to the game to disregard it merely because it doesn't look as great as Gears of War or Rainbow Six, because its shootouts are in a league of their own when compared to any other shooter in existence.
FEAR is scary. In fact it is probably the scariest game I have ever played. Between the firefights you'll get to experience vast stretches of nothing. That is, you'll just walk through empty corridors until you are sucked into some alternate reality which activates one of the aforementioned cutscenes. On great example is early in the game when you drop down to a long white hallway. As you are walking, the hall suddenly erupts into flame and the game goes into slow-motion. Fire surrounds you and the game's freakish antagonist Alma rushes at you, flinging objects towards you with startling ease. Due to your super-reflexes, which I'll discuss more later, you jump through the window just as the entire building goes up in flames. Of course the main reason to play FEAR is the shooting, and oh what shooting it is! FEAR is the epitome of what a shooter should be. The actual act of firing in the game isn't all that complex. The weapons are all pretty standard, and you'll be fighting pretty much the same enemy throughout the entire game. Sounds boring right? Well it may be until the bullets start flying. Enemies in FEAR are smart, possibly the smartest in gaming history. When you enter a room they will immediately open fire. Some will flank you while others pin you down. If your'e in a nicely fortified position they'll flush you out. These are enemies that move and act as a squad. They won't charge at you- they'll work to get around and to get a better angle. Because of this, the battles in FEAR stay fun throughout. There are no real scripted fights. You can play through the same battle twenty times and it will always be different.
Speaking of time, you can slow it down in FEAR. Your nameless character happens to have super human reflexes which allow him to get the jump on his enemies. And trust me, you'll need it to beat these highly intelligent and ruthless super-soldiers. There is a limit to how much you can use your slow-mo ability, but the bar charges pretty fast, and you can pick up boosters so that you can slow down time for longer. In addition, you can pick up health boosters that will permanently increase you maximum health; this too is almost required to get through the games tougher late levels. One standout sequence occurs about midway through the game. You are walking through what seems like an abandoned hallway when the wall to your left abruptly slides away to reveal a small army of soldiers all chucking grenades at your horrified face. Within moments the hidden meeting room is a battleground. Chairs are overturned, holes spatter the walls and tables and plants and computers lie in shambles. You switch your reflexes into overdrive and disintegrate the soldiers in a puff of blood with your all –powerful shotgun. As the ammo runs dry you switch over to your second weapon (you can only carry two) and finish off the remains. Once the enemy has been dealt with you turn the corner only to be bombarded with another onslaught of grenades, thrown backwards across the hall and met with the game over screen.
FEAR makes use of a standard health system; you pick up health packs to regain health and armor to- you guessed it- gain armor. The main difference here is that you can carry up to ten health packs with you at any time, and use them as you see fit. This may not seem groundbreaking, but when you reach a health pack at 100+ health and you're about to enter a major firefight, it is indescribably helpful to be able to carry your packs with you. In the example above, it would have been helpful to use a couple of health packs to up your health before turning that dreaded corner, thus surviving the grenade barrage that awaited you. Once you decimate a battalion of cloned super soldiers and save the world you have some other options available to you, some of which are exclusive to the 360 version of the game. First off, there is a short bonus mission, but it isn't all that exiting and can be beaten in under 15 minutes. More meaty is the instant action mode. Here you can play through several levels sans the story and horror sequences. Once you beat a level your score will be uploaded to an Xbox Live leaderboard. Finally, every single player option has multiple difficulty levels and numerous achievements to get. Now I'm going to admit that I haven't played the multiplayer yet, and I will do so and update this review at a later date. For now, know that there is a multiplayer component to the game so if you’re into that sort of thing then make sure and test that out.
If you haven't seen FEAR in action (i.e. only seen screenshots) then you may wonder at my graphics score. And honestly, out of all the aspects of the game, graphics was the hardest to rate. For one, the actual textures of the levels aren't all that great. And, more importantly, except for the last couple, all of the levels look the same. Of course it doesn't help that since you are fighting an army of clones that all your enemies also look identical. So graphics in the game really boil down to going through the same levels over and over fighting the same enemies. As I said above, the nature of the firefights really makes the tension high regardless of the levels. Then you see the game in motion, and it all changes. When you enter a firefight in FEAR it is incredible. The entire room just erupts in a cloud of dust. Glass shatters everywhere, paper, chunks of wall, desks, phones and pretty much everything that isn't nailed down to the floor flies all over the room. It is impossible to describe how much this adds to the firefights and it is because of this that I scored graphics so highly.
If the graphics enhance the battle, the sound creates it. Weapons in FEAR may look pretty dull but they sound just, in a word, powerful. When you are blasting your way through one of the games levels it just sounds like you are in the middles of a massive war. Again, its impossible to describe the sound of this game expect for by saying, if you were to ever enter a special ops force the battles you went through would most likely sound something like FEAR. The voiceovers in the game are well above par, and the enemies are talkative but not annoying. The sound is by far the highlight of this package. FEAR is a great game. Without a doubt it has some major flaws, mostly the repetitive nature of the environments and the enemies. But it would be a great disservice to the game to disregard it merely because it doesn't look as great as Gears of War or Rainbow Six, because its shootouts are in a league of their own when compared to any other shooter in existence.
