F.E.A.R review

[TosaInu]

Just a quick note on this, if you are unlucky you can have some graphical glitches (like black dots appearing on the surface of polygons) with some ati cards. Seems it's a problem with the Doom 3 engine's compatability.

Pity really, cos otherwise it runs great. :(

It may pay to sit down and experiment with drivers for a while.

I've had several experiences with different Nvidia drivers for different Nvidia cards and some with ATI.

A newer driver does not always improve things, it may only speed up one game (because of some arms race to obtain the best FPS in some popular game or benchmark, thereby compromising something else), it can even display graphics wrong in some game that worked great with the older driver. Try other drivers or a tweaktool.

Since it is a software problem and not hardware, it's possible that it can/will be fixed (even a hardware 'fault' could be fixed to some extent by software). Both ATI cards, F.E.A.R and the Doom3 engine are popular enough.

Are the dots on about every polygon Butcher?

[Kraxis]

I just got the game last week... And boy it has been great!

I'm totally in love with the atmosphere. I guess the devs have played a lot of System Shock 2 and Thief 3, as a lot of things do seem similar.
I was getting so freaked out that I was almost jumping around when I accidentally bumped things down from the tables, before knowing that I could do that from a rather long distance (thought I had ghost trailing me).

The best pro I can find, outside the atmosphere has to be the AI. I am constantly getting outflanked and whacked from behind. Sure you can still lay relatively easy traps and get in situations where the enemy tries to hide behind a standing table. But their actions in a firefight seem very professional. Working together to pin you down, then flanking you or covering an attacker.

Some of the weapons are downright cool! The shotgun is normally a weapon I stay away from, I'm an assault rifle guy, but the sheer power of the shotgun is absolutely immense, too much for me to ignore it. Also that odd railgun weapon... Well the effects of it is simply too good to be true.
It seems each weapon is likeable to everybody. Not all are equally good, but those that aren't have an advantage in coolness or wowfactor.
A lot of positive stuff can also be said about the dual pistols... Never have I thought pistols could be that precise or powerful.

Also the enemies are cool.
I usually guage a game on the enemies. Most games have a whole lot of enemies to make sure you don't get tired of them. But FEAR only has a handful, and only two that you meet in any numbers for any lenght of time (at least until where I have got to). But those single enemies are armed differently and use their weapons to their fullests. Shotgunmen advance and attack aggressively, assault riflemen hang back and keep you pinned down. SMGmen love their grenades (and they are fast ones).
But I'm afraid my most beloved enemy only comes in a handful of cases. He is tough, he hides, he is melee, he is hard to spot and best of all he is very intelligent. He retreats after a few strikes.
The first time I met him I thought he was part of some ingame cutscene, so I got very surprised when I suddenly lost a lot of health but had no idea where it came from... A most superb enemy and I would love for him to return later, as after getting ambushed by single enemies (yes they are good enough to take you on 1v1), I was on my toes, barely able to advance fearing he would strike from the shadows. Lovely!

[Kraxis]

Oh my GOD!!!

I think I'm finally nearing the ending, and now it is getting downright scary to play. Not just wierd or interesting or freaky... No it is scary! That girl is... she is... I can't say it without saying too much, but she is quite a thing.

It has by now reached the levels of The Cradle in Thief III and then some, it ha matched System Shock II when it was most scary and then some... I don't think I have been this shook up for many years.
In fact I was playing right now, but it became too much for me. Never experienced that before.

How do people come up with this stuff?

Well it might not be so bad if it wasn't 10 to 3 in the morning and I'm sitting with those ear-thingies to keep my GF from waking up.
Anyone who likes a good shooter and scary stuff should get this at once!

Btw, my favourite enemies made a short comeback, and they are truly remarkable enemies. Well thought out and very interesting in concept.

[Butcher]

Are the dots on about every polygon Butcher?

Well, here's a word of warning to you all: F.E.A.R melted my passive cooled X800, then my fan cooled X850.

It melted the X800 cos I didn't have an adequate airflow though the case, and it melted the X850 as the ati drivers don't wind the fan up until it gets really hot (to keep it quiet).
So i got atitray tool, to mess about with fan speeds with my replacement X850 and it solved the problem, and now runs perfectly.

The game itself wasn't worth the hassle by a long way, replayability is pretty low. The problem I found is that you end up using the GPMG and shotgun pretty much exclusively, due to the scarcity of ammo, which renders the 'cooler' weapons redundant. This is a problem, because after all the 'shocks' are gone, that is what will be the thing to draw you back. Or not, as the case may be.

[Kraxis]

The game itself wasn't worth the hassle by a long way, replayability is pretty low. The problem I found is that you end up using the GPMG and shotgun pretty much exclusively, due to the scarcity of ammo, which renders the 'cooler' weapons redundant. This is a problem, because after all the 'shocks' are gone, that is what will be the thing to draw you back. Or not, as the case may be.

Well, how many FPS games out there are good on replayability? COD, COD II, Max Payne (I and II)? Not too many. The length, the AI and scares make for a very good first timer, just like the others mentioned (though FEAR is much longer).

While I somewhat agree on the weapons I have found a lot of Penetrator ammo, and that weapons is decidedly cool.
Besides, because of the amont of shotguns and GPMGs you can actually use the other weapons until you run out, then switch back to whichever you dropped. I have done that often enough.

[Viking]

Well, how many FPS games out there are good on replayability? COD, COD II, Max Payne (I and II)? Not too many. The length, the AI and scares make for a very good first timer, just like the others mentioned (though FEAR is much longer).

For me, no FPS is replayable.

Anyway, the ending of F.E.A.R. is a masterpiece.


Arguably a spoiler, read at own risk:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

On the other hand, it feels like all the creepy hours you spent in front of the computer screen was completely waste of time.

[TB666]

F
Anyway, the ending of F.E.A.R. is a masterpiece.

I agree.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

When that huge explosion was coming towards you I felt like a rat in a small cage. I was running back and forth across the street trying to find cover.

F.E.A.R. is a masterpiece among FPS IMO.
Good AI, great story and scary.
And what is best is that it runs great on medium on my machine

[Kraxis]

For me, no FPS is replayable.

A few are, at least to me. Such as the old Jedi Knight games, and if you stretch the FPS genre a bit then Deus Ex could also be added. And most certainly System Shock II was replayable as the various classes.
The Thief games were also quite replayable, not because they were new each time, but because it was a different concept to the shooting all the time. There were quite a few ways of doing what was needed (not as in the requirements of the mission, but how you got there).

[econ21]

I don't know if anyone has tried Vietcong, but I find it so replayable it is almost perennial. Every 4 months or so, I fire it up again. Partly, I like the authenticity and the fun story/campaign - it's a little gauche, but still fun, almost like an RPG. Partly, it is fairly challenging for a fairly clueless FPS player like me. It gets the balance between realism and fun just right IMO. I go back to Ghost Recon occasionally, but it is less forgiving (one shot, one kill - including you).

I bought Vietcong 2 but was very disappointed. The lag on my computer makes it no fun - and apparently, it's not just my computer.

FEAR sounds like it might be worth me picking it up - anything that compares with System Shock 2 has great potential, IMO.

[TB666]

Vietcong was horrible.
The idea is good but it was badly executed.
I had huge trouble in getting it to run smoothly and I wasn't the only one.
And on top of that it was fairly buggy.
Don't even get me started on VC2.