Frankthelizard

F.E.A.R, a wierd acronym for First Encounter Assault Recon. FEAR came out a awhile ago for the PC, now it's out for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

First off the graphics in FEAR are getting pretty stale as far as design goes. It always seems like you are fighting in either industrial areas or battered buildings, but when you get to one of the "scary worlds" where you are running down hospital hallways and when you get to the end a little girl named Alma will appear and scare your pants off.

The atmosphere in FEAR is probably the games strong point. When the action slows down and you are running through one of the buildings, you will hear and see things that have happened in the past or just plain weird and scary things. When you see these moments, it will send a chill down your spine. Unless of course you are playing in broad daylight.

The story in FEAR is you are the FEAR front man, a nameless soldier, who never talks, has a special ability. That ability is the power to slow down time. It is essential to use while fighting your enemy's, and if you don't you will die. You are sent to look for a cannibalistic man named Paxton Fettel, he has created super soldiers to kill you, but luckily you are far more superior than them. Along the way you have encounters with a mysterious girl named Alma. You really know nothing about her, but as you progress through the game you find bits and pieces about her past. You do have squad mates but they are never with you, they only talk to you on the radio but that's hard to hear because they talk while you are shooting. It is a good thing that they are not with you because it would make the game a lot less scary. The way the game ended definitely leaves room for sequels hopefully to come.

The game controls can be frustrating at times. Mostly because every button on the controller has a function. So you might be battling with them once in awhile.

The weapons in the game are very good and have a good punch. Probably the best gun or most enjoyable to use is your trusty shotgun. It's very good when you turn your slow-mo on and get right up into the enemy's face and if you hit them in the right spot, they will explode in a cloud of blood with pieces of there body flying past you. It's also nice to see rag doll physics that make the game a little more realistic.

The AI is probably the best you will see in any video game. Your enemy's will talk to each other, flank you,use cover, and throw grenades to stop you. So you can't just go runnin and gunnin, you have to use cover or you will die. Sure this will cause a few frustrating moments but it never gets old because the AI won't do the same thing over and over again. So you never feel like you play the same thing twice.

The sound is outstanding with creepy sounds of little girls crying and evil laughs, you know the normal horror stuff. The music is also really creepy with it ramping up when the action is hot and then toning it down when your walking down a deserted hallway.

The single player campaign will take you about 10 hours on the lower difficulty's. When you crank the difficulty up it would maybe take you 15-20 depending on skill level. When you reach the end it will feel like you've come a long way since the beginning.

The multiplayer is pretty good with game modes like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag. Pretty much the standard game modes is most FPS games. Slow-Mo has its own mode which is pretty exciting. It's always fun to shoot your friends head off then watch it fly through the air in slow-mo. When his body lands just run over and give him the classic T-Bag.
The maps range from big to small so all different size parties could play.

Another mode in FEAR is the Instant Action mode. This is where you are placed on one of the maps and you have 15-30 minutes to get as many kills as you can. While that is going on you have a score that goes up by how many kills you have and how much style you have in your kill. This mode can get pretty intense when there are a ton of enemy's on screen at once.

With all of those enemys on screen at once you probably are expecting frame rate issues. There are no frame rate issues at all which was a surprise cause this came out quite awhile ago.

This is not a point whorey game. The achievements are hard and will take quite along time to get them all. I finished the single player campaign with only 85 points. Do not let this be a turn off though because the game is worth playing no matter what.

So overall the game is superb but because of the level design and frustrating controls bring the game down a little, but any FPS fan will have a ton of fun with this game and it is definitely worth the bargain it is now.

More blood, more gore, more guts, that's the difference from the original God of War and that's a good thing too.

The story in God of War 2 is Kratos has been betrayed by Gods of Olympus. They are not releasing him from the torment they put him thorugh in the first game. You start off as the new God of War. Kratos is bored while he is watching his Spartan army get defeated in a war. So he decides he wants to blow s*** up. The Gods will not allow this and now they all want Kratos dead. The opening level is madness. Kratos has Godly powers and no one can stop him. Kratos gets the Blade of Olympus which he has to empty all of his Godly powers in. Zeus has betrayed and killed Kratos but he is rescued by Gaia, the last of the titans, who gives you a task to go to The Sisters of Fate, so he can go back to the time Zeus betrayed and killed him. From this point on you go on a quest filled with puzzels and action you will never forget.

The graphics in the game are astonishing, the best you will ever see in a PS2 game. The attention to detail shows how hard the developers worked on making this the most beautiful game on the PS2. You will see arrows flying in the backround, and other people fighting your enemy's. The hi-res cut scenes look amazing as well. You will be thinking "How does the PS2 handle this game!".

Another returning aspect is the great soundtrack that plays at the right time when it's intense action going on you'll hear intence music but when it starts to get more mellow you will hear mellow music. Great orchestral and choir riffs will leave you humming the tunes when you are done playing.

The weapons are also really good, there's the returning Chain Blades that are bound to Kratos' wrists. A war hammer that is powerful but slow. A spear that has a really long reach. There are also a few magical powers. A lightning power will stun your enemies and allow you to make a few hits with your weapon. A bow made of magic which can help in a lot of tight situations and boss battles. The titans rage where rocks come bounding out of the eart and onto your enemies. The last and returning magical power is the Medusa's Gaze which lets you freeze your enemies and then break them.

There are a few gliches that made me have to reboot the system because of me getting stuck on ledges, cutscences not activating. That's the only thing keeping it from a perfect score. There are no lag issues surprisingly.

God of War 2 is an extremely enjoyable ride thorughout that you would'nt want to miss. This is a great game to close out the PS2's life.