F.E.A.R - Forget Everything And Run.
Okay, the game centres around the protagonist - only ever referred to as 'Point Man'; your role in a combat squad that investigates paranormal disturbances on a global and military scale. You're the newbie to the squad, and yet you are immediately thrown into a mass operation that involves eliminating a man known as 'Paxton Fettel'. This guy eats people. And has an army of super-soldiers at his immediate disposal. If you haven't guessed, this seems a little daunting and unfair. But since your reflex test results were 'off the chart', your superior officer feels that it is perfectly fine for you to take a major part in this operation. Oh joy. Well, that's the main plot anyway. The side plot involves a not-so-friendly demonic death machine in the form of a cute little girl. Her name is Alma, and holy s***, looks can be deceiving. She is the cause of all the paranormal mind-screws with your head, while at the same time has a nasty habit of disintegrating any potential threat until only bones remain in a steaming pile of blood and organs. I don't dare say any more, but that's all you need to know in terms of the story. And I will simply say that for an average-looking first-person shooter, the story is somewhat refreshing from constant onslaughts of modern and past-based war games infecting the market. The story can seem very intriguing, and it keeps you from putting down the controls no matter how frustrating the games controls and frame rates are. The intrigue and curiosity keeps you hooked along with its endless gun-battles and atmospheric Alma hallucinations, which does pay off in the long run. It's not quite as effective as other titles such as Bioshock, but it's still interesting none-the-less.
Now the premise is over, lets talk about the game itself. Presentation. Firstly, after a few loading screens and then our first look at the main menu, it was underwhelming to say the least. For a game menu, that sounds pretty silly, but psychologically it can give the player a vague idea of the game they were about to experience. Kind of like judging a bedroom by the condition of the door. It looked very much like a prototype or demo. I have a feeling it is something to do with the PS3 version, but I digress. The intro cut-scene boots up, and wouldn't you know, the graphics aren't so good. The game tries a cinematic approach, but all the art-sy and authentic visual styles are spoilt by the extremely choppy frame-rate and plastic graphics. It may not be the worst, but it all feels like an amateurish PC import by a third-party group funded by their own parents. It wasn't spectacular. It felt a little rushed and a bit disappointing. Within the game, it's the same story. Not to mention a very same-y looking environment and areas to explore. A few renderings were a little off, but after a while, the graphics themselves I felt started to compliment the games style, and with the primitive adaptive lighting effects, it gave me a nostalgic trip back to 2004 with Doom 3. Where this may not be particularly good for modern gaming, or deliberate for that matter, I seemed drawn to their little graphical accidents, and let it off just this one time. There's only so many times you can make a quirky and charming mistake before going to sit on the naughty step.
Next topic - design. You can tell within a few minutes that the game was made BY horror fans, FOR horror fans. Borrowing heavily from classic American and British horror from the 70's, 80's and 90's, it also blended a slight Japanese horror element that seemed to work. Now, I mentioned earlier about the Alma hallucinations and the relentless gun battles. Right. Um... This may sound rather picky, but the transitions between action and atmosphere didn't work in my favour. It was all a little... unbalanced. It seemed like the designers tried so so so so hard to suck you in and scare your britches off, that all the effort amounted to a mediocre creepy - fight - creepy - fight routine. But don't get me wrong, some of the moments really do work fantastically, and you'll soon understand why you have a seamlessly unprecedented amount of ammo with your guns - all because of panic shooting. It can happen a lot. While the game can have its moments, some of the action stages are far too hard for intermediate first-person shooters like myself. And this is because of some fatal flaws - stiff right analogue stick aiming/viewing; and the dodgy frame-rate. I usually find myself forgetting all controls, panicking and then running away from the killing machines because of too many missed shots and a quick depletion of health since I can't fight back efficiently. Apart from that, the control works fairly decent and every button is where you would expect it - and the simplicity of the button layout was also nice. But the lack of vibration settings made the game feel a little empty - and the satisfaction of pumping lead into an enemy isn't quite there.But in the end, the complex and surprisingly good enemy AI will get the better of you and destroy you in seconds anyway.
Lastly - gameplay. Now, despite the flaws I mentioned earlier and the difficulty based on the lousy controls, I found the game slightly fun. A little bit fun. Good fun... Dare I say GREAT fun? ... Nah it ain't that worthy. But regardless, it was fun - which is what I would expect for a horror-themed first-person action game of its style. I was always looking forward to what would happen next and get prepared for what was about to be thrown at me - and I tried so desperately hard to stay alive that I began to strategise my future attacks and use the correct weapons efficiently. When this doesn't sound fun on paper, the adrenaline from the tricky action makes it so - and some way or another, it would catch you off guard and laugh in your face. As do other people when they watch you play it. Although, after a while, the 'creepy - fight' scripting becomes a little predictable and sometimes anti-climatic. And the game basically consists of "here's your goal. Go to it. Well done. Here's your next goal.", and then the repetitive nature begins to shine through. Also, along with the single-track environments, there isn't much chance of going wrong or missing your goal. Overall, despite those few flaws, where the game attempts to make you feel hyped in the action stages and then terrified in the atmospheric stages, it doesn't succeed in any of those departments. But instead, to compensate, it takes both of those factors and mixes it into a really fun little cocktail. It's a hoot when it lasts and I couldn't wait for the next big imaginative plot device or level mind messing.
In conclusion, I give F.E.A.R a 7/10. The technical problems of the PS3 version seriously hold it back and the repetitive game style and environments restrict it from being very good. Not to mention the difficulty being modified by the sometimes broken controls. And I also didn't mention the ATROCIOUS LOADING TIMES. But when all things considered, it seems to miss its intentions and yet create a new feeling for video gaming - one where I loved to be slightly spooked and to see what lied in store ahead of me. Like a roller coaster. But not an amazing one. Stick with the PC version. Probably. I've never played it so I can't comment, but I assume it's better than this one.
Singing off - caddycadcad