Customer Reviews

F.E.A.R. Director's Edition

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

FEAR is one of the best FPSs I have played in a while on any system. To start, the game play in FEAR is fast, furious, and most importantly fun. FEAR is an extremely fast paced game. There is constant stream of surprisingly intelligent enemies putting up their best efforts to kill you. And if it was not for the extremely useful slo-mo feature, they would succeed much more often than not. Slo-mo may seem so 1999 but the fact still remains that it is freakin cool in this game. Slow motion enables the player to move at roughly 2x the speed of the enemies, thus gaining an extremely useful edge in combat, or even retreat.

Also in you arsenal are a series of perfectly designed weapons. Every single weapon has its place throughout the game; all the way from the pistol to the rocket launcher. This is not DOOM where you start at the guns with the highest number on the number pad. Every weapon is balanced perfectly and has positives and negatives so there is no super weapon. And following along with the somewhat realist aspect of Halo the player can only hold 3 guns plus an assortment of grenades (proximity, frag, and remote).

Also HALO like is the close quarters combat. The player can bludgeon with the but of a weapon, do a spin attack, a jump attack and a diving attack. All of these attacks so some significant damage. However these moves are more suited towards multiplayer combat as opposed to single player where the tactics are more suited towards staying back and picking the enemies off.

FEAR is also one freaky game. And this is coming from one who sees horror movies and haunted houses as more as jokes. There were multiple times i just went oh @&^$! and jittered a bit. The horror aspects in this game are superbly implemented both through freighting visuals and terrifying audio.

Now to FEARs weakest point: level design. This is where the FEAR team should have taken some lessons from the beautifully laid out corridors of Half Life 2. The levels in FEAR just seem so bland and repetitive. I see the same objects, color palette, and walls all throughout the game (the parking garage segment is a welcome exclusion though). Where the masterfully designed levels of Half Life seem like living and breathing places with realistically places objects, FEAR just seems like a concrete maze with some computers and windows thrown in for good measure. The levels in FEAR just do not seem real. I the middle of a underground bunker there is placed a lone cubicle with a phone and a computer. (???) This seems so fake. Another game that exemplifies excellent level design is SWAT4. There are random, everyday objects placed throughout the levels to make them seem more real; magazines, soda can, papers, all kinds of everyday stuff that goes unnoticed.

Now on to the beautiful, but taxing graphics of FEAR. This is one good looking game, if you have the right system. Yeah, you can run this game on low setting, but it looks horrible. Even on my GeForce 6800 Ultra I can usually only run safely on medium settings. And the time demo used to test settings is completely inaccurate compared to real game play. But with everything turned on high this game looks STUNNING. However, for most it will be a stunning slide show on the majority of computers.

The multiplayer composed of FEAR is a nice addition, but is not the main focus of the game. Once again the poor level design comes into play here and on most maps is seems as if you are a bunch of rats fighting in a maze. The map featured in the multi player demo is one of my favorite maps due to its uniqueness. The slow motion in multiplayer is also integrated very nicely wit h one person, or team holding the slow motion activator that slowly recharges.

Overall, download both the single and multi player FEAR demos to get a taste of what to expect. In general the full game follows the demo experience pretty closely (the full game is hella more scary though and even has some performance enhancements) FEAR is not a HALO or Half Life 2 killer but it is pretty close up there, it is defiantly a game worth buying. The Directors edition even has some insightful extras. It some good stuff. Just go get it.

Believe the hype, F.E.A.R. is the best game of the year hands down. It is enthralling mix of adventure, horror, and action not only makes it in a league with Half Life 2, it sets the bar high for future 3D shooters to aspire to. Players take on the persona of the point main for an elite team know as First Encounter Assault Recon or F.E.A.R. Tasked with locating and eliminating a dangerous killer know as Paxton Fettel who is controlling a very large force of clone super soldiers in an office complex.

With the assistance of your team leader via radio link, players enter an industrial complex and soon find themselves in a pitched and sustained series of encounters against the soldiers under Fettel's command. Further complicating the mission is the appearance of a spectral vision of a young girl who often leaves a path of carnage in her wake. The eerie visions that appear only to vanish throughout the game only adds to the tension which really helps immerse players into the action. The weaponry of the game includes the standard machine guns, nailguns, shotgun, pistol, rocket launcher and energy weapon which are common in shooters, but F.E.A.R. decides to give it a nice twist. Aside from grenades and medkits, players can only carry three weapons at a time. So, while you may locate powerful weapons in game such as the energy weapon and rocket launcher, players must decide if they want to hold onto them when the ammo runs out, or forgo other weapons in the hope of locating more ammunition. I addressed this by saving two powerful weapons and swapping out my other weapon as was needed. For example, when my machine gun ran dry, I dropped it in favor of the shotgun or other class of machine gun that was plentiful. This was often determined by what my enemies were armed with as after dispatching them, I found it a good idea to stock up with whichever ammunition and weapons were most plentiful. While your array of weaponry is impressive, it is your ability to briefly slow down time and move at an increased rate of speed that is often vital to winning a battle against overwhelming odds. This is a very important feature as the game is at times a real challenge and the enemy A.I. is the best in any shooter to date. In one segment, I decided to bounce a grenade off the wall and take out a group of enemy soldiers.

This plan worked great until one of the soldiers pulled a metal cabinet from the wall and used it as a shield against the grenade blast. As the game continued, A.I. controlled soldiers knocked over desks and tables as shields, jumped through street level windows, as well as ducked behind walls to avoid incoming fire. As if this was not enough of a challenge, they would also reach their weapons over objects and fire without presenting a clear target for me to engage.
As the game progressed, the enemy became increasingly crafty and the story became deeper and deeper. Various ethereal segments also arose where in the midst of a dream like state; I had to battle demons mid segment. This was a different touch as I am sure many players would be caught off guard watching the segments rather than preparing to fight. The game is broken down into 11 Intervals or chapters though certain intervals had more than one segment to them. The variety of locales was also impressive as everything from office complexes, to labs, parking lots, and apartments were present and the games physics engine allowed me to interact with numerous map objects from security gun mounts, power switches, valves, phones and much more. A nice touch were the news reports that came in as my players passed radios that informed him of what was happening in the world around him and how the media was covering the events that were occurring in game.

Graphically the game is amazing. From the most luxurious of offices to the slums of an abandoned building complex, the detail level was accurate giving the illusion of being in the game. The smoke and warping effects from grenades as well as the tracer rounds from weapons gave a nice sense of realism. It was tempting at times to just stop and look at the surroundings to take in the splendor. A nice touch was the spackle lines in a room under construction as well as the hardwood floors and artwork in a high end office complex as well as the lab complex.

The sound quality in the game shines as with my Creative X-FI card I was able to really enjoy the creepy sound effects and the surround sound features. It is unnerving to have a voice originate behind you only to vanish to be replaced by a sound elsewhere. The communication between the soldiers is also a key as good listening skills are key to successful engagements and being aware of potential dangers around the next corner.

As good as the solo play portion of the game is F.E.A.R. also shines in the multiplay arena. From Deathmatch to Capture the Flag to name but a few of the variations there are numerous servers where players will find an endless supply of options and opponents to play with and against. The game runs very smoothly online and the action is fast and furious.

F.E.A.R. is a winner and looks to be the first in a hopefully long line of titles in the series. The game has it all, and delivers on the hype and promise. Here is hoping the next segment is not to far off as legions of gamers will be waiting.

Honesty, I loved this game. Graphically, it's a beautiful game, content-wise it has a lot to offer and only comes up a bit short in the variety of foes you face (that's really the result of the tight storyline so a bit of a trade off there.) The AI for the enemies is extremely well done also, one of the best ever I think. Good variety of weapons. Nice elements with other gear like the flashlight which only stays on for about 20 seconds at a time then you let it recharge briefly, 5 seconds, will sometimes leave you in the dark for a couple suspenseful seconds.

The music and ambient sounds are terrific, also the chatter of the enemy soldiers who are constantly dropping the F-bomb when your attack catches them by surprise. There's a great variety to the music and it really helps flesh out the horror aspect of the game.

Without getting into the story too deeply I'd characterize it as Delta force + X-files + The Ring. It's very well crafted, not a cliche'd version of those elements but rather a package that really delivers and draws you toward the conclusion of the tale. It's fairly linear but in a good way since the story is quite compelling and you'll want reach the final scenes.

For state of the art FPS action plus horror you couldn't do much better than F.E.A.R.

This game is truly awesome. The graphics are incredible, and although they will look better on high-end pc's, they still look excellent on mid-range rigs. The game is also just straight up creepy. Some weird and freaky stuff does occur. One of the best parts about the game is the combat. Its probably the most fun that I've had fragging enemies in a single player game. They are smart and do seem to use pretty good tactics against you most of the time. The enemy A.I. probably surpasses that of Far Cry. Also, the game developers added a nice touch to the game: hand-to-hand combat moves such as bicycle and roundhouse kicks. That adds a whole new element to combat. Also, the sound effects are incredible. Basically everything about this game has been enjoyable. I would highly recommend this game. Keep in mind, however, that the game is also really gory, so it's not for the squeamish.

My brother gave me rave reviews of this game. I will admit, it was fun when the game actually works. The problem is, the manufacturers of F.E.A.R. installed anti-emulator software with the game. I made it about halfway through and the next time I went to fire up F.E.A.R., there was an error that said the game cannot play. I did a little research and found the anti-pirate software will no longer run my legitimate copy of this game that I bought used from Amazon. What a load of _____. So I uninstalled the game, reinstalled it, and downloaded another copy of the 1.08 patch. The same error popped up when I restarted my PC. All this hassle and the game will no longer run. Once again, I uninstalled/reinstalled, hoping that the retail version 1.0 will work. No such luck. The game crashed as it loaded my saved game. What gives? Way to punish the gamer.

First and most importantly, I would like to say this isn't a game for everyone. Stong language and violence abound here. Violence and blood is important in this game where everything revolves around horror and gun fights, but the language bothered me. I had a hard time with cyborg soldiers dropping the "F" bomb constantly. Luckily, I found a professional swearing edit mod for the game. Even still, this is one of the greatest games ever made. Why is it so good? Here is my rundown:

1- GRAVITY. The game physics feel REAL. If your falling, jumping, running, crouching, shooting or standing still. You can imagine the main character as "actually human." Perfect timing for all actions make controls and game-play smooth. Never do you feel to slow, or to fast. No "smooth walk" like Half Life 2, (which really bothered me) but not too bumpy either.

2- THE ENEMY. The combat is second to none. Arenaline pumping action complete with a "slo-mo" reflexes that only add to the experiance. The advanced A.I. works against you as a team, distracting you while the others come in from behind. Shooting around corners is the best!

3- LIGHTING. Highly detailed shadows create dark and gritty enviornments. Realistic yet frightening in it's simplicity, every room and hallway can make you jump.

4- SOUND. Every gunshot pounds into the floor and every footstep can be heard. Each weapon feels powerful by the sound it creates. (My favortie is the pistol.) The music and effects make the game.

5- DETAIL. Everyone agrees the graphics are outstanding, as long as you have a system to run it properly. (I wouldn't recommend buying this game unless you at least reach the recommended requirments.)

6- FRIGHTENING. Being a fan of everything scary, this game scared me more than any movie has. Its one thing to watch, and another to walk through it. Stopping at every corner and peeking around, waiting for something to happen. You feel safe, then it finally hits you. (The watchers really got to me the first time.)

7- STORY. Very unique and engaging. I had to know what would happen next!

That concludes my opinion one of my new favorite games.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10

CONS---

High system requirments.
Not for the weak of heart.
Cannot play with your family around. Not sutible for young viewers. Not only would it scare them to death, they would freak over the violence. DID YOU JUST BLOW THAT GUY UP? yup. heh...)

(My favorite thing is to throw a grenade torwards a group of enemies, use slow mo and shoot the grenade right when its above their heads. Creates quite a mess, but the hard part is what makes it fun. When you actually pull this one off it makes you feel unstoppable.)

`Half-Life', `Doom', `Quake', `Farcry' and now `F.E.A.R'. Boasting the new Havoc engine and a story as big as Half-Life 2 it is not hard to see why F.E.A.R is occupying a whole shelf by itself. Sierra has certainly found a new contender that is going to demand some sequels. F.E.A.R is a mixture of all the well loved first person shooter titles, and then some more. You are a member of a tactical recon team pitted against other recon squads that are controlled by a telepathic genetically engineered squad leader. It mostly resembles `Half-Life 1', not `HL2', as the action takes place inside buildings. The new Havoc engine is similar to the Source engine in that most objects in the game are movable and or destructible. There is a higher degree of special effects in such things as bullet impacts, dust effects and blood gushes. The F.E.A.R engine also includes slow motion bullet time effects so you can literally find yourself using a shotgun to blow the enemy into a pile of guts while moving through the spray. The atomizing effects make fighting more furious and certainly creative leaps and bounds ahead of any other game out there. F.E.A.R simply has an astonishingly evolved enemy AI that leaves `HL2' to go pound on sand. The enemy AI is a step beyond `Farcry'... in fact, is a step beyond anything you have seen before. The enemy reacts realistically enough to hide, aim, miss, crawl, limp, walk wounded, shoot you, gang up on you or leap over a stairwell. F.E.A.R now owns the enemy AI market! Sierra delivers on its promises. You will be enjoying hours of going around office floors just blowing everything to dust while the enemy advances. Expect a non-stop running, window splintering, limb flying and cement shattering experience all the way. In terms of scares, `Silent Hill 3' still rules, and `Doom 3' is one big scare-a-thon, but F.E.A.R can compete. Even though it rips off the movie `Ring' completely, and mixes it with dashes of `Resident Evil' the hybrid nature of F.E.A.R being a combination of all the top material does not stop it from being a contender... and that it is... very much so. There is a number of interesting in-game dream sequences that are semi-playable. There are various subliminal ghostly flashes and lots of environmental poltergeist activity. It has a `Doom 3' atmosphere where the story is told by listening to phone messages or downloading vital information from a laptop that is relayed to you `Splinter Cell' style by your advisor on a microphone. Although being a five star experience, this does not necessarily make it the first person shooter replacement by any means. The texture detail, modelling and environments try to compete with Half-Life 2 but HL2 still rules them. F.E.A.R also still resides in the world of button touching puzzles that are easy to understand and beat. It is hardly likely that you will get stuck anywhere or have your brain teased much. The new Havoc engine, for all its glorious special effects (the main reason to play F.E.A.R), can be a demanding game engine like HL2. If you use DirectX 9 then ensure that DirectX 8 shading is turned off (it is automatically on sometimes) or else it will only play with your systems settings and allow you minimum settings. Turn it off and DirectX 9 will allow you to max out even on a 265mb card. The Havoc engine is all about particles and time dilation, and for that it scores in aces. With that said and done F.E.A.R can literally display bullets rippling through the atmosphere. This means that F.E.A.R is a fully fledged Directx 9 first person shooter. The single player campaign is closer to HL1 than any other first person shooter out there (except for Half-Life 2). It has elements of `Die Hard' where you shoot up about a thousand foot soldiers in the Armacham Technology Park buildings. Sweeping through each floor gives it a real recon feel. There is lots of vent crawling and automatic laser dodging to keep you occupied. You can also save wherever you want to save and it is not like the current wave of checkpoint save games that have found their way into mainstream gaming that has drawn so much negative criticism. However F.E.A.R lacks the number of enemies that "HL2" and "Doom 3" have to offer with five or six variations in characters... eeekk, however the animations of these characters are top of the line stuff. Another downside is that the weapons are limited to about six or seven that offer nothing really new, but the machine gun is by far the best any game has had to offer and feels the smoothest of any of the shooters. Instead of using target area pixel sensors, it actually feels like the bullets are moving through the air and impacting with the target. Overall it took me 3 days play to beat the game. That is akin to HL2. Does it beat HL2? Not by a long shot. Does it have anything new to offer? Yeah, heaps! That is why the name F.E.A.R will be household terminology soon enough. F.E.A.R has its power in being the only first person shooter to do slow motion. And for that it is an exclusive smash hit... and yes F.E.A.R rules "Quake 4" that was released at the same time. Q4 is all scripted (no enemy AI) with OpenGL graphics that are not a patch on F.E.A.R - the new DirectX 9 screamer.

Pros:
- The Havoc engine's slow motion particle effects system
- Enemy AI is the best ever
- Abundance of frights
- Multiplayer is not bad at all
- One big gunfight from start to finish

Cons:
- Last scene is terrible!
- Not enough characters.
- The whole game is set indoors.

F.E.A.R. is one the best horror games I have played,
It's like Silent hill in First person view.
There was one great part where you jump into this pool of water and instantly go into a diffrent realm, It was awsome.
The Graphics are awsome too. The levels are well detailed,
Now about levels being repetitive, I actually had to replay fear just to see what everyone was talking about.
Now that I whent over It again, I can say that they are repetitive,
I did'nt notice that before, Probably because I was too busy kicking a** lol.
About the language: I did'nt see anything wrong with the language after all If you were getting shot at what would you say?
About the violence: Does FPS mean anything to ya'll. I did'nt see anymore violence in this game than I did in Metal Gear Solid or The Punisher.
The story: This game is like one of those movies that you actually have to follow through and payattention too. But If the story does'nt keep you playing the action will.
About Replayability: you'll probably play this game about once or twice, Because going around the second time does'nt offer anything. No story changes. No unlockables. Nothing new.
But the greatest thing about the ai is that there unpredictable. (Meaning they don't strike the same spot)
I was shooting one guy while the other guy sneeked around the corner behind me.
Enemies being repetitive, I think not.
The only thing I hated about F.E.A.R. is the 5cds they should have put
It on dvd, or did they? If they did I could'nt find It so I'm stuck with 5cds

Now about the specs. I have a upgraded gateway gt5040 Pc
Video/Graphics card: SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO (one not two),
and 3 gigs of ram
That's all I've upgraded soo far.
I can run fear at max flawlessly.
and thats without using crossfire (two video cards).
Looking at everybodys specs, there computers seemed to be more powerfull
than mine. But yet can't run at max settings. Maybe It's Geforce lol, or probably ram.

About the cd being needed in the drive to play. Get a nocd crack at gamecopyworld.com or Alcohol 120% at alcohol-software.com

Overall: A great game to play once or twice, But some may find it too violent or too much bad language. Just download the demo befor you buy it.

The below reviewers are right and they are wrong. The game is fantasic. Period.

Good points:
-Great graphics. No you don't need a super computer either. My computer is high end, but it isn't SLI enabled and isn't worth 4 grand. I'm running a 1.8 64 AMD, 1 gig ram, nvidia 6800GT (256MB). I didn't have one problem running the game. Yeah, the 68 does alot, but if you aren't running at least 128 MB right now and you're into first person shooters, then it's time to upgrade anyways. The new generation of shooters demand alot from a PC and it is necessary towards the evolution of FPS from the old school "run and shoot", to the strategic masterpieces that we see today.
-Good Plot. Yeah, I guess its a bit "formulaic", but only if you're picky. There's also a great twist towards the end that drops your jaw.
-Amazing Weapons. You only get to hold three, which forces you to become strategic with what you use.
-Beautiful environments. Yeah, some would say they get repetative, but it's also realistic. Has anyone actually walked through an office building before?? It all looks the same! Warehouses and science buildings too! That's the side effect to making a large building.
-The slow mo feature is amazing. You can slow down time which allows you to take better aim and react a little quicker outside of the game.

Bad points:
-Though the enemy's AI is good, you can quickly interpret what the enemy will do depending on your actions.
-Sometimes the enemy just....knows you're there. It can be a little frustrating to walk around a corner in complete darkness or when the enemy isn't looking in your direction and suddenly get shot at even though it wasn't possible to be seen.
-Kind of like the last point, Stealth is an issue. Confrontation is 99 percent of the time required and can sometimes be taxing.
-The ending IS a slight let down in two different ways. The first is the lack of an end boss. There's an end level, but no boss. It's a let down because there's such a buildup for one, but never has one. The second would be the actual ending. I wont spoil it, but the epilogue lasts about 2 minutes and isn't very entertaining. Actually, now that I think about it, it's alot like "The Ring's" ending in some ways.

Another sort of Neutral aspect of the game is the reloading feature. There's no checkpoints. Also, if you save just before going into a room and attacking baddies, then reload because you didn't like how it went, the baddies stay alerted so you cant cheat and take an advantage by reloading. I think that it's cool, but it's a pain too :) .

The game does have a few goodies from other games, but nothing big. If you're looking for something to blow half life away, then keep looking. You wont find anything. Try not to think of every new game as a blowout of a previous game. It's like trying to compare lord of the rings to the matrix or star wars. They're all great!

In any case, this is a great game that takes a few to beat and challenges you in several different ways.

FEAR does not disappoint.

The game is an excellent jaunt into the genre of suspenseful horror for the FPS style of play. Plenty of thrilling moments, fantastic use of lightning and environment to heighten the experience, and very subtle yet successful employment of great horror elements to keep your blood chilled.

Above all, if you have the capability to appreciate it, are the astonishing graphics and their ability to mold to the action effects around you. FEAR is as much a cinematic experience, especially considering its use of an unraveling mystery and classic film horror techniques, as it is a great game. When you fly into combat you'll actively try to make it look as eloquent and action packed as the game feels. And you certainly won't find yourself bored with the rather intelligent AI and strategic weapon utilization either.

Where FEAR probably comes up short the most is redundancy with level design and art. Many of the textures will start to seem very repetitive before you're even half way through, and they don't get better through the second act. There's rarely more than one way to go and the design concept begins to look identical for every interval before long. The game can be fairly easy with use of the slow mo and insta-saves, even on the hardest setting, and some of the mobs will have trouble navigating certain areas to pursue you.

Even so, I can't think of anything bad to say about the cinematic touches and eloquent horror elements in the game. The puzzles are few and far between, leaving something to be desired, but the action is beautiful and fluid to participate in, even if it feels a bit easy at times. Considering how graceful the action sequences are, how stunning everything is to the eye and how well the game moves along the story, the paltry drawbacks hardly matter in comparison. It's a clear 5 stars.



Don't waste your time weighing if this better than Half-Life 2, Doom, FarCry, or anything else they bring up. It's a superb achievement in FPS gaming, and deserves a place on the throne with every other FPS of its generation.

If you consider yourself an avid FPS player, or a stickler for truly horrifying and suspenseful movies, or even if you just want a slightly different take on a very old and stale genre, you should be playing this game right now. Seriously - *right* now. Kick yourself if you haven't and move your mouse to that order button!