Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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153 of 167 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Comes just short of perfect, November 6, 2005
I loved this game, it is easily the best FPS since Half Life 2. Is it better than HL2? No. I don't understand how people can say that it is, seeing as it does have a host of flaws, but it does come closer than any other shooter in recent memory.
Graphics: Terrific IF you have the hardware. While it's true that the maxed out graphics of FEAR are potentially better than HL2, the hardware and processing power required means that only people running twin Geforce7800 in SLI mode will be able to get them. The lighting is gorgeous, and the textures and effects are second to none. I can't fault FEAR for pushing the envelope, but I have to praise Half Life for giving us graphics that are just as good (for the majority of PC owners) with lower hardware requirements, a year earlier. Oddly enough, the facial graphics aren't as good as either Doom 3 or HL2.
Sound: Awesome. The sound is really, really well done and is easily the best I've heard in a while. This game in 5.1 surround will scare you and blow you away!
Gameplay: Terrific, although there are only 3 "real" levels. While there are 11 levels in the game, they all take place in either an abandoned warehouse, an office building, or a secret research lab. That's it. They are really well done, but this is where the game drops the ball- the repetitive nature of the levels and the enemies will turn off some gamers. The "horror" angle of the game is very well implemented, and there are some genuinely freaky moments. If you liked The Ring, you'll like FEAR. Overall, this game takes the best bits of various shooters and combines them: Max Payne's slow-mo bullet time is here, and very well done, as is Half-life 2's "story unfolds as you go" brand of storytelling, which is more effective than the boring exposition that accompanies most games. The controls are intuitive and effective, and the gun battles fun as anything.
Overall: A terrific game, though the repetitive nature of the levels and enemies makes for some disappointment. The ending is also a tad of a letdown, though I didn't mind it. I recommend this game very heartily, it is an instant classic. Does it blow away HL2? No. The story is somewhat formulaic and easily predictable, the levels a bit dry, and the game a bit soul-less when compared to Valve's masterpiece. That said, this is a keeper.
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86 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Half Life 2 is just a distant memory , October 20, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
This is one terrific shooter. More involving than half life 2 and I swear the the graphics are at least as good if not better. Certainly, I have never seen better use of lighting or shadows in any game I have played.
FEAR is more linear then Far Cry but much less so then HL2. The story line is suspensfull. At times it can get downright chilling. The combat action is fierce. One of best shooters I have played in several years.
Some folks have complained that FEAR needs a super PC to run decent. I don't know what they are talking about. Yes, it needs a bit more power. I had to turn many of the graphic options to medium. However, I'm running on a rather old PC (slot A Athlon overclocked to 1.1ghz, 512mb of PC100 SDRAM, Radeon 9700Pro at AGP 1X - yes 1X!, 17" LCD monitor at 1024X768). No problem at all running FEAR on this rig and it has half the power of a low end PC today. I guess if your running this at max settings on a 50" monitor, you may have some issues.
There is some bad news. Like HL2, there are 5 CDs to install. Unlike HL2, once the last CD is loaded, you don't have to spend the next couple hours getting "steamed" before you can play.
The game itself runs flawlessly. I have encountered no problems whatsoever - how refreshing.
If you love shooters, I highly recommend FEAR. You will not be dissappointed.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Supernatural Spooker, November 5, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I've heard tons of ranting and raving about this game, and tried to read some spoiler-free reviews on here to give me the scoop about this game. Based on that I opted to go to Wallyworld last night and plunk down my hard-earned $30 to see what all the hooplah is about. I just finished the game and I'm far from disappointed!
FEAR starts with an unusual premise. You're a no-name super-soldier who's joined a special ops group named First Encounter Assault Recon (the titular F.E.A.R.), and your shtick is to investigate (and by extension whack) out of the ordinary bad guys, namely paranormal and psychic types. You have the special ability to use a "Slo-Mo" feature, basically a handy function that slows everything down around you, identical to the bullet-time feature from Max Payne. The government has dispatched you to take out an out of control psychic "general", named Fettel, who holds mental control over a battalion of his own customized troops. He's on the loose in the local water treatment plant and is killing everyone he comes across. As you pursue him you'll also be seeing a creepy little girl who seems to have personal plans for you, in addition to popping up at random times and scaring the (censored) out of you.
I'm not a hardware expert and couldn't pretend to be, but the game ran fairly well on my Athlon 3.2 Ghz and ATI X800. On medium detail the game is well-detailed and despite a few slowups my system didn't have any major problems handling it. I have cheap, stereo headphones though and this is a game that makes me lust after the thought of having a full fledged EAX surround system for my computer. The ambient sound is unbelievably well done, evoking feelings of paranoia and dread at various points of the game.
As I played the game I made a few mental comparisons to some of it's forebears. This game isn't so much Half-Life 2 as it is a mixture of Doom 3 and Far Cry, with a number of ideas pulled from AvP2 for good measure. The latter doesn't surprise me at all since both AvP2 and this game are LithTech creations, and these folks *know* how to create a creepy atmosphere filled with things wanting to kill you. Weapons selection was pretty good, although one can only truly carry 3 different weapons at once (much like Far Cry). I found myself drawn to the shotgun and I never came close to using up all the ammo for it. There's a number of different machine guns and a couple of exotic weapons for those who like em' as well as the ability to purportedly use hand to hand actions, though I couldn't seem to get those to work right.
Between FEAR's plot, pacing, action, and horror angle, this game does very well for itself. It's not HL2 and doesn't try to be. Still, even a game this fantastic doesn't have a few issues. The flashlight function is first and foremost in my mind. It has a pathetic battery as you can only use it for about 30 seconds at a time, and the last thing I want to do in a pitch black room is have the thing run out of juice and having to wait helplessly for the battery to charge up. On the other hand, as it is, it provides a little extra horror addup since I half expected to see that creepy little girl whenever I turned the thing on again. The lack of manipulatable items (cans, lights, etc), as in HL2, would be a welcome change. I can't count the number of times I went through a half-lit room and couldn't use the little desk lamps sitting on furniture to help light the place a bit more. And as much time as I spent bumping around in the dark trying to find my way a few loose items falling to the ground would have amped up the scare factor considerably.
This is a game that was worth *more* than what I paid for it, and I'm very happy with the purchase. If you enjoy a different kind of shooter from the standard fare you may just want to check this one out. Keep your lights on though!
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