One of the most intense and terrifying shooters you will ever play.
As suggested by the opening cinematic, FEAR is intended to be a terrifying game, and it does a good job of presenting itself as such. This is mainly due to the games' atmosphere, which is inspired by many Japenese horror films. Throughout the game, your character encounters many hallucinations, often which involve methods of escaping, or eliminating whatever threats appear. Alma, a girl that you have many visions of in the game, is one of the main characters in FEAR, and little is known about her, until you progress further and draw yourself to the conclusion of who she is. Aside from hallucinations, the dim and creepy environment that you go through also contributes to how scary the game is.
Other than the fact that it can be truly horrific, FEAR also has other things that make it well worth playing. It's weaponry, for example, can play a big role on how well you will do in certain situations. You start off with nothing more than a pistol, which later becomes almost useless, until a certain point you reach, where you are forced to use it. After defeating several enemies, like most games, you will come to find that you can take their weapons and use them as your own. The selection of weapons can range from anything like Sub-Machine Guns (SMG's) to Rocket Launchers. However, it is up to you to decide which weapons would be best for a particular fight, as you can hold a maximum of three weapons at a time. Other than guns, you have grenades, proximity mines, and other explosives at your side as well.
For the most part, FEAR, isn't that difficult of a game. However, you certainly run into some difficult situations. In fact, you usually encounter at least one very challenging part in each chapter, or interval, as they are referred to in the game. What makes the game a little bit easier than it normally would be, is the vast availability of Med Kits that can be found, as well as the Slow-Motion ability that your character possesses, which can be done by simply pressing the control button. Med Kits restore a certain amount of health, and are rather easy to find. Needless to say you'll still be using them quite a bit. You can carry a maximum of 10 Med kits in the game, and sometimes you'll find that you have reached the limit on how many you are carrying; and you will undoubtedly find certain points in the game where you are out of them. The enemy AI is very challenging, and they will do things such as throw grenades towards your position, find areas to take cover at, instruct their teammates to do certain things, and call for backup. What your enemies say can often give you clues as to what tactics they will use or where they will go next, which can be a big help on your part. They can also do things such as hit you with their gun, and use a small variety of martial arts skills, which you as well have the ability to use. Fortunately, you are able to quicksave whenever necessary, and you can adjust the difficulty in-game if you ever run into a situation that is too challenging for you to handle. Although the enemies you encounter in the game are intelligent, there isn't a very large variety of them. Other than combat troops that use the same weaponry you do, there aren't much more different types of enemies you will run into. Not too far into the game, you will encounter an enemy that has the same abilities as you do, as well as being able to turn invisible. These are usually not too difficult to spot, and they don't take a whole lot of shots to kill, but still add some variety. You will also encounter heavy armor troops, which usually have a very powerful laser gun or rocket launcher, which you yourself can use as well. The heavy armor troops take a fairly long time to kill when not having the best selection of weapons available, and their shots are very powerful too. Turrets can be found in certain areas, and can sometimes take a while to destroy, though they only appear several times in the game.
The level design in FEAR isn't amazing, but certainly isn't bad either. Although the game is linear, there are many alternative paths that you can take in each level, and with certain paths, you will find rewards that will help you in the game. Other than Med Kits, you can find very powerful weapons, additional armor, Health Boosters, and Reflex Boosters. Unlike many other shooting games, Health Boosters in FEAR increase your health permanently, rather than temporarily, so it is critically important to find as many of these as possible. Reflex Boosters, on the other hand, increase the timespan for how long you can use your slow motion abilities. These things make levels worth taking time on, and make searching thoroughly in certain areas necessary as well.
The single player campaign usually takes anywhere from ten to fourteen hours to complete, and though at a certain point one might lose interest due to the fact that the game can get rather repetitive, it manages to revive itself towards the ending. After beating it, you might choose to play it through a second time, searching through anything to may have missed. The multiplayer can be fun, but the single player mode is the better of the two. While one could say the multiplayer adds value to the game, it was recently made freely available, so the single player mode remains the ultimate reason to buy the game.
FEAR is an overall fun game, and is well worth buying. It brings some new and interesting things that will add a whole new experience to any shooting game you have played before. It's well worth the money, and is not a game that missed by any fan of horror films or FPS fans.