Your ultimate game resource on the web


F.E.A.R. review

When you get down to it, the gun is thearound with, including a pistol,
heart and soul of a first-personsubmachine gun, assault rifle, shotgun,
shooter. Even the genre's name alludesand rocket launcher. There's also a
to this fact. Yet while shooters havescoped, burst-firing rifle that's a dead
been around for more than a decade, veryringer for the Master Chief's battle
few of them have actually captured therifle in Halo 2; an incredibly nasty
visceral experience of firing a gun.particle weapon that sears the flesh off
It's an intense and violent act, not toof opponents; and a few other special
mention loud. Enter F.E.A.R., the highlytoys. All of these weapons, even the
anticipated action game from Vivendipistols, pack an incredibly satisfying
Universal Games and developer Monolith.punch and are capable of putting down
F.E.A.R. is a shooter that captures theopponents quickly (you can even
sensation of being in wild and desperatedual-wield the pistols, for that extra
firefights like no other game before it,John Woo-style gunfight action). This
and it's an incredible, kinetic, almostgoes against the genre's convention,
exhausting experience from start tosince most shooters usually scale
finish. More than that, though, is theweapons on a curve, with the smaller and
fact that it's also one of the mostlighter ones being next to useless later
atmospheric and creepy games ever made,on in the game. That's not the case in
as well as one of the most intenseF.E.A.R., and virtually every gun you
shooters that you'll play this year.use can tear up the place.
F.E.A.R. is easily one of the creepiestCombat simply looks and feels
and most atmospheric shooters ever made.spectacular, because the environment
You'll also battle some amazingly smartlooks like it's flying apart due to all
opponents.the bullets.
The challenge in describing F.E.A.R. isYou can't run around like a pack rat
trying to avoid any spoilers, becausecarrying every weapon, though, because
this is definitely a game that you wantF.E.A.R. limits you to only three
to experience unspoiled. What we canweapons at a time. This is a familiar
tell you is that you play as the newestgameplay mechanic, but it's a good one,
member of the First Encounter Assaultas you have to weigh the pros and cons
Recon, the military's top-secret taskof each weapon. Obviously, you'd like to
force assigned to deal with paranormalhave a close-range weapon, a decent
situations. And the mission in F.E.A.R.long-range weapon, and a heavy weapon
certainly counts as above and beyond thefor those special encounters, but it's
regular call of duty. As explained intempting when the game offers you a
the opening cinematic (which is alsorocket launcher or a repeating cannon
game's only third-person cutscene), athat you weren't expecting. At that
military commander named Paxton Fettelpoint, something has to be sacrificed.
goes insane and takes command of aIn addition to guns, you also have
secret army of cloned soldiers that aregrenades in your arsenal. And unlike
telepathically linked to him. Fettel andmost shooters, in which you have to
the battalion of elite soldiers then goequip grenades separately prior to using
on the rampage in a nondescript Americanthem, the grenades in F.E.A.R. can be
city. They appear to be searching forreadily thrown at the press of a button.
something, though their objective is aThis eliminates the need to fumble
mystery. It's up to you and the rest ofaround with your inventory, and it opens
the F.E.A.R. team, along with units ofup your tactical playbook, as you can
Delta Force, to find out what it istoss a grenade without a moment's
they're looking for and stop them.hesitation and force the enemy to react.
F.E.A.R. works because it elevatesF.E.A.R. is quite easily one of the most
first-person shooter combat to cinematicintense and atmospheric games that
levels. And while we've certainly seenyou'll play, and it's a spectacular
games with movie-quality combat before,blend of horror and action. You can't
you've never seen anything quite likehelp but get the feeling that this is a
this. Playing F.E.A.R. is like battlinggame that's the spiritual successor to
through a John Woo movie like Face/Off,the original Half-Life, because it's so
because when firefights happen in thisobviously inspired by that classic game.
game, they're downright glorious toIndeed, some of the locations and
behold. Bullets tear chunks out ofenemies are highly reminiscent of those
concrete and wood; blinding clouds ofin Half-Life. This is a game that will
dust and debris fill the air; bodies arethrill you one moment and scare you the
torn apart or slump on the ground; andnext. F.E.A.R. features some of the
the deathly silence of the aftermathgreatest gunplay available in a
contrasts so sharply with the sheerfirst-person shooter, and it elevates
chaos that erupted only moments before.the art of firing a gun to whole new
Gunfights in F.E.A.R. just feel right.levels. This alone makes it an
Part of the reason for that is becauseincredibly intense game that must be
the weapons that you have in the gameexperienced. The fact that it's also one
feel powerful, like weapons should. Youof the creepiest games ever made is just
have the standard fare of guns to playicing on the cake.



1 A B C D E F G H 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159