by The Duke

Created on: February 23, 2007   Last Updated: April 12, 2007

First person shooters are a difficult genre to get right. There are two main components that make up a game such as F.E.A.R. and they are the story and the game engine. A lot of people focus on the game engine, but I don't think it's as important as the story. The story is the one thing that keeps you coming back for more. If you've no interest in the story, then you're not going to really enjoy the game, no matter how good the game engine is (anyone who says otherwise shouldn't be allowed to play games).

Doom 3 was a prime example of a good game engine coupled with a standard story and ten year old gameplay and thus, disappointing. Half-life 2 was also disappointing with the fact that the story was particularly weak and had no depth, though the Source game engine was magnificent. Quake 4 was better, but still had that retro feel about it, despite some varied gameplay. It's not just graphical quality (or even the now ubiquitous physics model) that makes an engine. It's hard to describe, but from my perspective, it has to 'feel' right. Luckily, F.E.A.R. does a good job of covering the bases.

F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon to give it the full, and not-at-all-forced, title) has you as the newly promoted point man for a specialised military team that deals with paranormal encounters. You're searching for Paxton Fettle, a man who has a psychic link to a battalion of genetically engineered soldiers. For some unknown reason, he's gone on the rampage with the soldiers and everyone who's gotten in his way has ended up dying a gruesome death.

The special ops team that you're assigned to is mysteriously killed when some sort of energy wave hits them. Before they have time to react or defend themselves, the flesh is stripped from their bones leaving a bloody mess. You're called upon by your superiors to venture further into the compound to see what's going on. Not only do you still have to find and eliminate Paxton Fettle, but locate your fellow F.E.A.R. member who has gone missing...

First Person Shooters on the PC are a continually evolving bunch of games. It's hard to find a game that will have something totally unique to offer a gamer over and above a new game engine. Sure, the games engine is decent enough, but it's not hugely better or worse than other 'named' engines out there such as Half-Life 2's Source engine or the CryTek engine. F.E.A.R. does manage to stand out though by a combination of nice touches to the gameplay as well as a semi-decent engine.

Unusually,

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