F.E.A.R. Hands-On: The PS3 Gets Scary

By Jason Ocampo, GameSpotPosted Apr 10, 2007 5:58 pm PT

F.E.A.R. is coming to the PlayStation 3 soon. Should you be afraid?

Sierra and Monolith's superb first-person action horror game F.E.A.R. has already made an impact on the PC and the Xbox 360, so it seems only natural that the franchise head over to the PlayStation 3. The PS3 version is slated to ship later this month, and we had a chance to check out a near-finished version of the game at Sierra's Gamers' Day.

F.E.A.R. is a game about many things, including a freaky little girl with the ability to tear apart soldiers with her mind, awesome gunfights against brutally smart enemies, and lots of dark and creepy environments to explore. If you've played the PC or Xbox 360 versions, then there's not a lot of new stuff to be found here, as the campaign and multiplayer are pretty much exactly the same. If you haven't played the previous versions of F.E.A.R., though, you're in for an intense rollercoaster of a ride. You'll play as the Point Man, the scout for the military's First Encounter Assault Recon team, tasked with investigating the paranormal and the weird. You're like Mulder or Scully, only with a lot more firepower, as well as the ability to kick in superfast reflexes that are the equivalent of bullet time in The Matrix.

What the PS3 version will bring in terms of exclusive content is a new mission from the perspective of one of the Delta Force commandos in the game. This is a bit longer than the exclusive holiday mission found in the Xbox 360 version, and it gives you the chance to explore what life is like as one of the canon-fodder guys in the game. The PS3 version will also ship with three exclusive multiplayer levels, plus there's an exclusive new weapon in the form of a rapid-fire shotgun. The game will run at a maximum of 720p, with a frame rate of 30 frames per second.

For fun we played a multiplayer match against some of the testers. F.E.A.R. supports up to 16 players in a match, though some maps will support a smaller number of players. The action remains as cutthroat as ever. You can kill opponents with assault rifles, shotguns, grenades, nail guns, and even a particle beam weapon that sears the flesh off of bones. Meanwhile, one player can grab a special power-up that lets them move at superfast speeds, though the downside is that it only works in short bursts and it reveals your location to everyone else, making you a big, fat target. F.E.A.R. looks like a solid port of a great PC and Xbox 360 game, and PS3 players can experience the fear themselves soon.

156 Comments

  • JRAACK

    Posted Apr 26, 2007 12:56 pm PT

    One problem - NO HEADSETS!
    Its a real shame because the game could be so good, it is let down by this and means i will not buy it

  • haesuse

    Posted Apr 24, 2007 2:09 pm PT

    my question here is: so long after the original came out and became such a major hit, is it worth buying an overhash for a better fps rate, higher res and a little new content. all that just doesnt add up to $60 price tag. think i'll go back to blowing ppl in Resistance online untill something better comes out!

  • iMacBot

    Posted Apr 21, 2007 8:35 pm PT

    Same here. I saw it at EB games, really wanted to get it but I have the PC version... still thinking about it though.

  • 03207771

    Posted Apr 21, 2007 5:13 am PT

    Why isn't there a review for this game up yet. You can already buy in the UK.

  • Silentbob343

    Posted Apr 20, 2007 6:10 pm PT

    This is a port and not given a ground up treatment so it's not surprising that its going to be 720p, I would hope more than 30 frames. I wouldn't expect them to spend too much time optimizing an older title.

    @livewire29 wow you need to research before you post. The 360 simply scales to an chosen output, but it doesn't render in 1080p, there is a big difference. In fact several titles have been released on the 360 that aren't even rendered at 720p, they are scaled after the fact. These titles are PGR3, COD3, and THP8. http://thoughthead.com/?p=19

    Anyway 1080p is not that big of a deal and Sony bit off more than they could chew promising it in this generation. 720p should be the focus with nice textures and good framerates.

    For those that are going to shout the PS3 doesn't have a scaler....wrong:
    http://www.beyond3d.com/content/articles/16/
    They most likely didn't enable access to it in the begining to keep developers honest and prevent what happened on the 360 to happen on the PS3. Good forbid a game wasn't rendered at 1080p on the PS3 and was just scaled up Sony would catch even more hell, like they are in this thread.

  • KMWota91

    Posted Apr 20, 2007 1:30 pm PT

    This sucks. The PS3 is having a more hard time to work on shaping up the graphics for its games. I think that it's the Cell Processor's fault since it's a very complicated thing for developers to work with and this doesn't allow them to go any further than they can. Lets hope that the PS3 can catch up to the 360's graphics. Also, I've noticed that not many games have taken use of the Sixaxis function. What the hell are those developers thinking? I think that they should start working towards the better 1080i or 1080p graphics and even the Sixaxis function because if they don't, it will only make the ports seem less good than the Xbox 360 versions. Sony needs to get a lot of work done on all these games and on how they can push the Video Game Industry further. Get to it, Sony!

  • haesuse

    Posted Apr 19, 2007 12:51 pm PT

    its not just 1080p, point is that considering the success of the game i am sure as hell that it wont sell and wont really offer anything new, or at least enough for ppl to buy. this would equal to releasing ANY super-hit from PS2 on PS3 cuz u can amp up the graphics and add 2 maps and maybe a weapon or two...waste of time ppl!

  • haynsey123

    Posted Apr 19, 2007 6:13 am PT

    spot on soundlife without more ps3 exclusives all sony's promise of 1080p is bull

  • nazraq

    Posted Apr 19, 2007 3:46 am PT

    it is very much a sony issue. if the ps3 can't handle fear in 1080p than we don't have much to look forward to in terms of high end power like has been promised. blast factor is not a good indication of strong 1080p performance. i'm sure the ps3 could run quake 3 pretty well. too bad quake 3 isn't the greatest thing anymore. blast factor is worthless. lets see some real power!

  • soundlife2

    Posted Apr 18, 2007 6:13 pm PT

    The PS3 can/could run a full 1080p out of the gate. The issue is what the Developers are doing with their games. Blastfactor was 1080p 60fps and I believe Lair is slated for 1080p 30fps as well. This is not a Sony issue, please understand your technical facts before you blast away. It all comes down to money. Cheers!

  • livewire29

    Posted Apr 18, 2007 3:53 pm PT

    What is up with the 720 p on the ps 3 games.. 720 p looks good, 1080 i and 1080 p looks way better then 720 p... What is up with the ps3 games, alomost all the ps3 games only have 720 p.. When xbox 360 has 480 p, 720 p, 1080 i, and 1080 p..... MS is giving everyone a chance to get how the full games look on there console, when ps3 is only giving us 720 p... When not everyones HDTV's does not have 720 p... What they are going to make us go buy another HDTV that supports 720 p or even 1080 p... Sony is doing us wrong

  • Tedz-Revenge

    Posted Apr 18, 2007 10:47 am PT

    Hang on i thought the ps3 was ment to be more powerful than the 360 So why can it only run at 720p when the 360 can do it at 1080p (after a patch) If so thats laughable because then if developers are having to cut games back to 720p less than 6 months after launch whats going to happen in 5 years time. Maybe 480i!! lol

  • termadoyle

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 5:05 am PT

    and it gives you the chance to explore what life is like as one of the canon-fodder guys in the game I couldn't understand this part... :-/

  • LordLeckie

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 12:28 am PT

    Looks great but ive already got the 360 version so no need for me to get it.
    but seriously someone needs to give a freakin medal to the guy who made the particle gun, its the first gun in ages that has made me laugh and laugh and laugh. seriously its hilarious watching blood splatter over walls while a blackened skelton smolders on the ground.

  • diablobasher

    Posted Apr 17, 2007 12:25 am PT

    I really dont like it when they put exclusive content on different consoles. Different exclusive content from each other is worse. I dont want to have to buy two consoles and two of the same game for an extra mission that should by all rights be available to me anyway. Especially if the other console cannot do the game justice, as was the case with Resident Evil 4

  • Ocram_Zepol

    Posted Apr 16, 2007 11:16 pm PT

    YES! Finally a decent FPS for the PS3 (other than resistance). Now I just need to get a PS3... lol.

  • Arrondi

    Posted Apr 16, 2007 5:11 pm PT

    I heard rumors about a new shotty for the PS3 version, in addition to the VK-12. This one is almost the same although it has a faster rate of fire and what not... Kind of a rip-off for us 360 boys (and girls)... Oh well! Have fun!

  • jjsand28

    Posted Apr 16, 2007 3:04 am PT

    with crysis comin out a much more "next gen experince".


    it's coming to 360 and ps3

  • Navick

    Posted Apr 16, 2007 2:17 am PT

    You PC freaks are a little over the top. And don't get me wrong I own and love PC's but chill out fellas/gals... There are things called exclusives. For example PS3 will have Sony exclusives, 360 will have Mircosoft, Wii will have Nintendo, and the PC will have theirs... but u need all systems including a PC if you want to enjoy the whole picture. Unfortunately not everyone has the kind of money to grant them that gift. All the talk about game consoles being outdated and blah blah blah... PC guys... your PC is out of date as I write this. That's the problem with PC's their cost is high and they are updated every couple of months if not sooner. So unfortunately you will always be outdated.... So stop talking that ying yang and let these guys/girls enjoy their first shot at a great game PERIOD.

  • Ackad

    Posted Apr 15, 2007 7:47 pm PT

    I CANT WAIT TO GET IT!!!

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