by Beltan

Created on: August 17, 2007   Last Updated: September 11, 2011

An excellent First Person Shooter with simple, straightforward controls, better than average AI and some excellent game mechanics that make it even more enjoyable. The plot sequences are well done, the atmosphere is perfect. Music is ominous, exciting, and reaches a crescendo where it should. The weapons and enemies are diverse enough to allow some choices to be made as to how to fight them and to provide enough change throughout the game that you aren't getting bored fighting the same ones or using the same weapons.

Five things separate FEAR from it's cousins in the FPS genre. The first is that it has a very good plot brimming with mystery. The Slow-Motion ability is the second, and while it may not be unique, the system handling melee attacks allows you to close on enemies and deliver lethal moves to them- not only that, but depending on the move you use and the angle you strike your target, they might fly off a balcony, ricochet off a pillar, or crumple into a heap. In FEAR, you can approach combat whichever way you want, the slow-motion allowing you to take it in close or destroy a squad of enemies before they realize what hit them. The enemies are third. The AI acts the way it ought to, squads issuing orders to surround you if you hide for too long. Nothing can freak you out more than taking out an enemy soldier and then hiding for a second so you can pop the next one that comes only to hear a 'tink, tink' and look down to see a grenade bounce at your feet. Time to press f9 (quick load.).

The fourth has to be the graphics. Not the best in the business, but extremely well placed. Things are gloomy without plunging you into pitch black every ten paces like Doom three did. There are enough details that someone who stops playing to just explore for a few minutes and still enjoy the experience- even to the point of saying, 'Oh, yeah. I need to get back on track'. Lastly, the sound is fantastic in FEAR, at times augmenting but sometimes contrasting to the game's creepy atmosphere. Two examples: In one dark room I entered, there were no enemies, but there had been a shortage of foes recently, so I expected some (if not a plot cut-scene) any time. I found a medikit and began carefully making my way around the lab. With only one source of light, there was a great deal of tension. I prepared myself for the light to be lost as I anticipated an ambush. I was almost done searching the room when, in the darkest corner, I heard a click that could have been a door opening

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