F.E.A.R. Review
Brilliant firefights and a creepy, intriguing story make FEAR one of the best first person shooters on the market
Also contributing to the excellence of the combat is the brilliant gunplay. Not only do the guns look, sound and feel great, the way your bullets react with the environment is a glorious sight to behold, especially when you are using your slow motion abilities. Each bullet will in some way interact with any and every surface it comes into contact with; small holes and craters will be left in cement walls, sparks will fly when a bullet comes into contact with a metal surface, books and boxes will explode into papery bits or collapse, and enemies react in the most dramatic way when they are hit. They will shriek in agony, the part of their body that was hit will produce a spurt of blood and move back noticeably, limbs will fly off, or with the more powerful weapons their body may explode into a bloody pulp. Thanks to the great physics engine, all but the most solid cover is only temporary, meaning you have to move around during the fights. The sound effects match the visual splendour, with different bullet-surface interactions creating different sounds, and shell cases tinkling as they land on the ground near your feet. No other game can match the organic, dynamic firefights found in FEAR.
You are provided with a fairly impressive arsenal of weapons to aide in taking down these tough, intelligent clones. While you start off with fairly standard shotguns, pistols and submachine guns, it isn’t long before much more interesting weapons start popping up. Various particle guns and grenade launchers are provided, as well as my personal favourite, the nail gun, which can be used to tack enemies onto walls. You are also given a variety of explosive devices; grenades, remote detonation grenades and motion-sensing mines are all at your disposal, and nothing looks cooler than shooting a grenade mid-air causing it to explode amongst a group of enemies while in slow motion. If you get close enough to your enemies there are also a few different kicking manoeuvres you can attempt in addition to the standard rifle-butt attack, but it’s hard to find situations to use these moves. Most of the game will see you fighting the same kind of clone-soldiers, but there are different enemy types introduced such as heavily armoured baddies, stealth-ninja type enemies that move incredibly quickly, and giant armoured mechs that appear every now and then.
When you aren’t shooting at enemies, you are probably investigating something that is relevant to the plot. The story of the game is very intricate and well crafted with some incredible twists and turns, but unfortunately much of the story is told through phone messages which you can optionally listen to. Most of these messages are long, bland and full of corporate talk, but if you want to get all the back story and depth the game has to offer, you should definitely listen to them. The entire game is seen from the first person perspective, save the opening cinematic, which helps create a great sense of immersion that adds to the creepy atmosphere present throughout the campaign. The single player mode of the game lasts around 10-12 hours, but the combat is just so fantastic, and the story so complex, that you will probably want to go back and play through everything again.
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