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F.E.A.R. Mini Review
Jon Wilcox
11/11/2006
A year since the paranormal FPS landed on high-end PCs, Xbox 360 gamers finally get a taste of F.E.A.R...
F.E.A.R. - first released for PC by Vivendi Games back in 2005 to a high level of praise thanks to its physics, enemy AI, and glorious special effects, it's now made its console debut on Xbox 360 with a PlayStation3 version to be released further down the line. Featuring all of the ingredients needed to unnerve any player (apparitions, ghostly whispers, little girls in red dresses killing people), F.E.A.R. was always destined for a release on the next-gen consoles thanks to its high power PC requirements, despite hushed side-glances from Vivendi whenever such a claim was put to them. However, is its appearance a case of too little, too late?
Following the story through the eyes of the new point-man at F.E.A.R., the game sees players attempt to track down and apprehend psychic experiment and cannibal Paxton Fettel. In their way are Fettel's army of cloned Replica soldiers and the paranormal activities of a young girl who has a penchant for stripping victims down to the bone with searing flames and hellfire. Everything that made 2005's PC original stand out, such as slow-mo, jump kick melee attacks, and solid weaponry (including the eye-watering nail-gun, the HV Penetrator) make it into the Xbox 360 version of F.E.A.R. Enemy AI continues to be one of the game's strong points, especially when Replica soldiers try flanking manoeuvres against the player. The game's notable horror sequences such as the early encounter with a river of blood along a corridor ceiling, and occasional shock techniques such as static, quick flashes of apparitions, and the sight of Alma (the little girl) walking past in the corner of your eye, are also exactly where they were twelve months ago.
So far sounding solid enough, the fact is that twelve months on (and after the Xbox 360 release of Condemned, also developed by Monolith and very much a cousin title to F.E.A.R.) there's a real lack of entrenched atmosphere and tension. Quite honestly, Condemned manages to do a more accomplished job, building a much greater level of suspense through a better use of lighting and shadows. F.E.A.R. is frankly showing its age, and like a horror film from the 1930s, isn't as unnerving as it was on PC twelve months ago. The locations are surprisingly lacking in any great detail, and are quite bland to trudge through at times - considering the sorts of games that we're now beginning to see hit Xbox 360, F.E.A.R.'s environments are very unassuming and average. Even the game's trademark slow-mo mechanic that showed visual details such as the paths of bullets, and the death dance of Replica soldiers are they become increasingly ridden with molten lead, doesn't have the same impact as it once did. It seems that F.E.A.R. is very much a game of its time, and it's time was 2005.
Whilst it is pretty much a straight port of last year's PC title, F.E.A.R. does however feature something new in its Instant Action mode. Set across a few different key locations from the game, players find themselves fighting a never-ending onslaught of enemies until they die, or fifteen minutes has passed. The mode has a distinct pick-up-and-play attraction to it, especially when the action is as fast and near non-stop as this. Fine in short doses, it nonetheless is very much an exercise in padding, despite its addition of Leaderboard functionality to see how you compare to other F.E.A.R. Instant Action players on Xbox Live.
Multiplayer also features in the Xbox 360 version of F.E.A.R., including the game's unqiue slow-mo induced versions of Deathmatch for up to sixteen players. Offering a very dramatic introduction to the then shadowy title back in 2005, it's quite sad to say that it's incredibly unlikely that F.E.A.R. multiplayer will take hold on Xbox Live. At a time when Call of Duty 2 continues to be the most popular Xbox 360 title for multiplayer action, and Gears of War challenging to take its crown, there's very little to persuade gamers that F.E.A.R. will do the business. It's also quite surprising to find ourselves describing what should be an intense experience as quite bland and devoid of atmosphere.
The sad reality is that just over a year on, F.E.A.R. is desperately showing its age. Hard-edged shadows, bland textures, and some gloopy-looking water effects make the First Encounter Assault Recon experience look quite tired, especially in light of the Goliath that is Gears of War. The release on Xbox 360 is twelve months too late; it would have been quite a solid launch title for the platform, but is easily over-shadowed by some of the latest games. If your PC wasn't powerful enough to run F.E.A.R. the first time around, give it a try if you want to see what all the fuss was about - just be prepared to be in awe at how quickly the game has begun to draw its pension. The title would have stood a greater chance of being noticed if the newly released expansion pack for PC, Extraction Point, had been ported over too...but it doesn't.
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