Creepy, atmospheric and a total blast to play through. Unfortunately, a lack of replay value weakens this creepy FPS.
Taking place in the near future in a fictional city known as Fairport, you play as The Point Man, a masked man working for a Special Ops group known as F.E.A.R. You accompany two fellow F.E.A.R agents into the mysterious streets of Fairport after a syncronization event takes place between a cannablistic psychic being, Paxton Fettel and a battalion of super soldiers known as Replicas. As you progress, you encounter strange beings including Paxton himself as well as a little girl in a red dress known as Alma. It is speculated that these encounters are hallucations, but your journey through Fairport leads to some shocking discoveries and combat situations between you and the Replicas.
F.E.A.R implements an interesting gameplay mechanic known as Slow-Mo. When this is used the entire game slows down temporarily, allowing you to move about and deliver some devastating attacks to your foes without being hindered by the insane pace of the game. However, the Slow-Mo mechanic is limited by your reflex meter which slowly charges over time after you use Slow-Mo. While F.E.A.R looks and feels like an ordinary FPS, the Slow-Mo and reasonably intelligent A.I leave potential for a fun and challenging experience. The insane pace of the game can lead to frustration, hence you will be using your Slow-Mo abilities fairly often. The good variety of guns and challenging enemies keep things fresh as you play.
The game's presentation is where F.E.A.R shines. The excellent lighting, detailed set pieces and characters make it seem almost as if you are part of the experience. The level of fear the game introduces is baffling. Instead of using the typical formula that several horrors use, e.g. a zombie suddenly jumps out of a closet while you investigate a specific area; F.E.A.R decides to mess with your mind with the interesting cast of characters it has. This is evident when you begin playing the game. You can very easily be frightened by Alma's presence in the game, such as when she appears in front of you and walks into another corridor only for you to investigate the area and find no trace of her. The game will regularly interrupt your progress and throw you into a hallucination scene, where Paxton Fettel will appear and will whisper creepy hints about your past and what he plans on doing. These scenes are so well executed it is almost as if you are watching The Ring itself. Thankfully you can remain immersed in the gameplay while these key moments occur. The ghostly soundtrack and spot-on voice acting really help these moments shock and terrify the player.
Unfortunately, there are a few flaws. The game has little replay value. The campaign will last around 10 to 12 hours and has a variety of difficulties. Sadly once you have experienced F.E.A.R, playing it again will not provide the same feeling you get from the creepy horror scenes and gun fights. The multiplayer component will not interest you much either as it provides a basic multiplayer structure that doesn't challenge multiplayer giants like Halo and Counter Strike.
F.E.A.R is a creepy, interesting and an entertaining experience that will make you wish that it would never end. Sadly, once you complete the terrific campaign you won't have much of a reason to come back to it.
Brilliant, but don't spend any more than $20 on this short but sweet horror.
8.5
:)
Creepy visuals
Original horror theme
Satisfying gunfights
:(
Little replay value
Boring multiplayer