F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon Reviews

I don't often play videogames these days, but I felt compelled to test out my new PC with this game after reading rave reviews. When it came out in 2005 it seemed to be an underdog - it received glowing comments from critics but didn't make a huge splash like Halo or Half-Life. Now, with its debut on XBox 360, it seems to be making more of a fuss; but this game is almost a year old (in its PC form) and I hadn't heard a thing about it until a few weeks ago.

I found it at Circuit City and brought it home. The packaging didn't look too promising because I'm not really into tactical shooters or Army combat games, but after installing the five discs (!) onto my hard drive and running the game I immediately realized it wasn't anything like what I had expected.

The storyline is effective even if it's a rip-off of the whole Asian horror cinema influence of recent years. It's basically just "The Grudge" with combat action as far as the story is concerned (although the actual gameplay differs from most combat shooters). You're a member of an elite squadron of marines known as "F.E.A.R." (it stands for something like First Encounter Action Recon, which is kind of contradictory since recon doesn't usually involve much action, but oh well).

FEAR traces supernatural occurrences and your first mission is to assassinate a man who has become possessed by the spirit of a young girl who is causing him to kill and cannibalize people.

The game moves through different terrain but I was surprised by how well it sets everything up. If this were a film no doubt its plot line would be sabotaged by critics but as an interactive game it works very well. It's a cinematic experience and the cut-scenes and dramatic action sequences work well - you can tell many of the high-profile action set-ups were developed extensively for the player to experience the full benefit of the "cinematic gameplay" advertised on the back of the box. This is the first time I've played a game and felt like almost every single level had been designed to flow in a very specific, cinematic way - Half-Life 2 was similar but a bit also enabled more free-range. FEAR kind of manipulates you into following a specific path to complete levels, but it works to this game's benefit because there are some spectacular sequences. When there's an explosion you don't just get the same effects used over and over. When you shoot someone they don't fall down the same way as every other person who falls does.

It's also the creepiest game I've ever played. "Doom 3" wasn't scary because there were too many monsters and it became too repetitive. But FEAR works well because you never know what to expect and they don't over-do the occurrences of the supernatural. One part of the game in particular that freaked me out was when I was crouching in a ventilation shaft, and as a pipe burst and steam hissed in front of the character, the ghost-girl appears out of nowhere scurrying towards you through the dark like the creatures at the end of "Aliens" (I think it was a purposeful reference to the film). Very nicely done.

The shift between action and supernatural works most of the time, although I think sometimes the balance is thrown off a bit. On one level in particular you spend about thirty minutes walking around an office building shooting at enemies, and suddenly the last ten minutes of the level turn into a supernatural thriller and suddenly it seems like all the "regular" villains have completely disappeared. And just as soon as the supernatural stuff vanishes the bad guys are back again. I think in the next game they should develop a better mix of action with supernatural in regards to integrating the enemies into the supernatural sequences as well; otherwise, it feels a bit wishy-washy.

This is a small complaint. The game kept me riveted. It also features some of the best gameplay and special effects I've ever seen in a game. It takes the cinematic integration of Half-Life 2 and takes it up a notch. The cut-scenes make it feel more like an actual movie at times and the enemy AI is the best I've seen in a game since Half-Life 2 - they react realistically to what you do in the game, and interact with each other over their radios.

Overall this is one of the most memorable games I've ever played and certainly following suit of Half-Life 2 as being one of the most revolutionary FPS games of the new millennium. These new game engines are changing the face of their genre and integrating cinema into the game universe in a way unlike ever before.

Some scary elements, mostly during the beginning & end, but not really the horror adventure I was expecting. Instead this is a straightforward shooter against repetitive though smart enemies, and bolstered by cool weapons (heavy repeater & flesh-melting plasma gun are faves) and terrific combat graphics, pyrotechnics, and lighting effects.

Had a marathon and completed in about 12 hours over 3 days.

F.E.A.R. – It still works five years out

There is a real problem with “scary” games. Most of them rely on cutting edge graphics to scare you(example: Dead Space). Rarely does a scary game come along that is scary, not because its gory or “gross”, but because it genuinely screws with your head. F.E.A.R. is such a game.

F.E.A.R. starts out in predictably hokey scary-game fashion. There is a man with crazy powers commanding an army of clone soldiers that attacks an office building, and only you have the power to stop him. You do this through a butt-load of kick-ass weaponry and the ability to slow down time. Add in some mysterious supernatural happenings and theme of scientific creations run amok that is very reminiscent of Resident Evil and you have a complete package.

F.E.A.R.’s biggest plus is the edge-of-your-seat feeling it causes. The music, voice acting, level design, and lighting all combine to create this constant feeling of brooding tension that only gets worse as you progress through the game. By the time the game reaches its climatic finale moments, I was literally glued to the action in a way that has not happened for many years in a video game. The music is top-notch, and even though the story ends up being fairly predictable, it still throws some nice curve balls your way.

However, it isn’t without its share of problems. While the slow motion abilities in the game are amazing, it pretty much forces you to use them, making it virtually impossible to take on more than one opponent in real time. The biggest problem with this game, though, is that it has a hard time deciding what it wants to be. For the first few levels, it is very much a horror game; ghostly apparitions appear out of nowhere just long enough to scare the bejesus out of you before they vanish into ash, you hear voices in your head, and, most impressively, you frequently encounter scenes where the entire environment transforms in a flash into a horrific scene before flashing back as quick as it came. However, after the first couple of levels, this all abruptly stops, and is replaced by a standard FPS set in an office building. Then, two or three levels after that, the scary returns in full force. It almost feels like the middle third of the game’s story was designed by a different team altogether, so great is the disconnect.

In conclusion, I would definitely pick this game up, especially given how cheap it is currently.

Experience with the Game: Finished entire game on Normal difficulty
Reccomendation: Buy It