F.E.A.R. Review
Note: I didn't play multiplayer because it was disabled.
F.E.A.R. is a first-person action horror shooter set in what I guess is the near future. You play as point man, an above average , slightly superhuman soldier as part of a special military unit designed on fighting paranormal threats in the U.S. You are tasked with finding and killing a man named Fettel;who with the power of his mind, controls a highly trained military unit that otherwise lays dormant. Also, there is a creepy little girl that haunts you, but that isn't explained until the end, which I won't tell you about.
Seeing a game mix fps action along side horror made me skeptical, and even though it isn't by any means scary, it was still a horror that to me relied on you being uneasy rather than just screaming your head off, which I love. Not only did the game make me feel uneasy, but the environment and music made my experience that much better. Overall, I felt that the people behind this game had a perfect blend of action and horror. Also, I felt that the leaning in the game was good, as for you leaned enough to clearly peek out of corners and felt very was to control and felt smooth. Finally, I felt that the enemy A.I. was fun, as for they didn't just stand there;they would try to flank, run backwards and shoot, and overall just try to outsmart you.
But sadly, that is all I can say good about this game, and I felt that there was quite a lot bad that came with this game too. The game for me never kept at a solid 60 fps, which at first I thought was my computer, but was most likely the game, as for no setting could fix the problem, and that game is 11 years old to this date. The framerate drop only dipped down to 30, and even though the game was still playable, the drops were easily noticeable, and bugged me a lot. I also felt that the action sequences were overall poor. The enemies were incredibly bullet spongy to the point where the assault rifle would take a whole clip just to kill 2, maybe 3 common bad guys.There weren't very many options for weapons, and even though a couple of the weapons were kind of cool to use, they all were not very creative or new. The environment, also though atmospheric, felt dull and repetitive, as for I found myself constantly in shipping areas, offices,construction sites, and dark corridors. Yes, I know that the end area was pretty cool, but that's only 5% of game, where as the other 95% was just me in a new office building. This isn't the worst of things, but their were things you can do in the game that you will never use. Slow-mo was pretty cool and I used that quite a bit, but at the same time, what's the point of having a high kick and slide when you are never close to an enemy. Plus, the common enemies are one hit melee kill, and the tougher enemies would just kill you if you got too close. Finally, the ending was very abrupt, only explained a little in the last five minutes of the game. Also, the final showdown so to speak with you and the main antagonist was horrible and anticlimactic.
My final verdict is this;Overall, FEAR is a great action-horror game, and even though it didn't make me scream or jump out of my chair, was still unsettling and made me uneasy. But when you start playing, the amount of flaws I have said and the ones I have not really makes it hard to stay in love with it the entire game. I think that the game is good, but not nothing other than that.
