Surprisingly weak in the horror department, F.3.A.R. still stands as the most complete F.E.A.R. experience to date.
Sadly, after 2 playthroughs (one in solo mode, one in co-op), the game didn't once manage to scare me, and the outdoor, brightly colored levels that make up a lot of the game didn't lend itself well to a good horror atmosphere. And yet, the game as a whole did something I didn't expect it to do. While F.E.A.R. 1 and 2 both served up fun campaigns but lackluster, simplistic, and kinda boring multiplayer, F.3.A.R. managed to give a decent campaign, shockingly excellent cooperative play, and multiplayer that's kept me hooked long after having my fill of the story mode. The campaign may not reach the lofty heights of it's predecessors on it's own, but the game does a much better job at providing a complete package that covers all the bases, and as a result it just a much better job at justifying it's price point. Heck, the multiplayer is worth buying a copy of this game alone, even if you don't enjoy the story mode.
First, let's discuss the campaign. Unlike the previous entries, I found F.3.A.R.'s solo campaign to be the weakest part of the game. As mentioned above, there' s a complete lack of scares and tension here, and while the environmental variety does a lot in giving you more interesting battlegrounds to fight in, it does little to benefit the games' atmosphere. Paxton is easily the most infuriating part of playing Solo. While in F.E.A.R. 1 and Files he proved to be a mysterious, unknown being that succeeded in creeping you out with his unsettling banter (it's creepier than I made it sound, I know), in this game your good brother Paxton simply exists to spout awful one liners and see how many times he can work "brothers" and "family" into his vocabulary. Words cannot describe the pain I felt when, after getting knocked into the water, Paxton shows up and says "Looks like things are going quite... swimmingly. MWAHAHAHAHAAAA". I kid you not, he actually says this, and it's as horrible as it sounds. The ending(s) are cool, but failed to match the shock I felt after finishing the other games. And in the end that describes my campaign experience in general. It's got a decent story and ending, the shooting is the best in the series, it's got the challenges and level up system to ensure multiple playthroughs, and yet, it just couldn't match it's predecessors in the horror and storytelling departments.
Oh, and F.3.A.R. is incredibly easy.
However, given how unscary the game is, co-op play not only dramatically improves the fun factor of the game, it makes the campaign far more compelling than I expected. Beating solo was just kinda 'meh', but after playing through co-op, backstabbing my teammate, and competing for the highest score in each level, I actually found myself desperate to go back and play it all again. Simply put, F.3.A.R. is a stellar cooperative experience, and belongs with the greats like Left 4 Dead and Splinter Cell Conviction. Yes, the game becomes even easier in co-op play (My brother and I cleared the game in 4 hours on Insane), but if plowing through mobs of enemies with a genetically engineered super soldier and his psychic commander brother doesn't sound fun to you, you shouldn't be playing games.
But where F.E.A.R. 3 really outdoes itself is in the competitive multiplayer. In my opinion, this is some of the most original, absorbing, and addicting multiplayer games I've played in a long time. Each of the four game modes plays not just completely differently from the others, but differently from most other games, and in all honesty, I felt more tension and suspense playing modes like F***ing Run! and Contractions then I did in the story mode.
The decisions the team made here may not seem like they make much sense compared to other modern games. It only supports 4 players versus the 18 of a game like Modern Warfare, but it just makes it that much easier to get into a full game, and 4 players feel like a perfect fit for these game modes. Speaking of that, the game only has 4 game modes, but each mode has 3 maps specially built for those game modes (which I greatly prefer than having a bunch of maps that don't belong, aka Horde Mode in Gears 2). In the end, what makes the competitive modes in this game so special is that Day 1 Studios really managed to make them feel like they genuinely belong in the game, especially when you compare it to Deathmatch and Objective modes found in F.E.A.R. 1 and 2. As a whole, it's really good stuff.
So while I felt that the game was an "almost, but not quite" in the Solo Campaign department, the way F.3.A.R. implements co-op and multiplayer into the package is nothing short of ambitious and immersive. People solely looking for a good third chapter in this successful horror series may leave disappointed, and the game certainly is flawed, but if you're willing to embrace what's new here and delve into the other areas of the game, F.3.A.R. just might surprise you. It sure did surprise me.
The Good:
+Seminal co-op and competitive modes that really makes great use of the F.E.A.R. license
+Excellent use of splitscreen lets offline players experience the complete set of multiplayer modes.
+Two characters, two endings, and plenty of challenges give the story mode surprisingly longevity...
The Bad:
-...even if playing solo doesn't feel as satisfying.
-No scares, no suspense, no tension.
-Too short.
-Too easy.
-The way the screen is split wastes a lot of area on the screen, and could make it too small for people playing on smaller TVs.