No F.E.A.R.
Not to mention an army of clones, insane telepath, speechless soldier from a secret government agency what fights supernatural stuff. But that`s the story of F.E.A.R. folks. Yes, an insane telepath/psychopath named Paxton Fettel takes over an entire army of Replica clone soldiers and assaults Armacham Technology Corporation for... oh, god knows what. You, the `Point man` of F.E.A.R. organization, are sent to kill everything that`s hostile and save daughter of an important employee of Ancharm Corp. After unexplaining intro we`re brought into an old warehouse and start seeing things [including the dead girl who`s called Alma BTW] between the extremely satisfying action sequences. Scary? In the beginning - possibly. But in the third - fourth level you understand that the visions are completely unharmful [but near the end they`re starting to get... painful]. Dead people, hospital corridors sinking in blood - what`s so scary about it? Ok, last levels pack a chill or two, but I don`t F.E.A.R darkness [too much] or a pile of dead bodies. Plot is handed pretty much like Doom 3 - but instead of e-mail we listen to messages left into phone. That`s not too good - it`s easy to miss something, difficult to understand an the most disappointing - that`s just plain boring. But don`t be too sore about it - F.E.A.R actually has a deep and complex storyline, good twist and really satisfying ending.
Gameplay is what makes F.E.A.R great. Technically it is a standard FPS, but with some extras. Bullet time - sounds familiar? Matrix, Matrix, Matrix. This popculture phenomenon is not just for good looks [however, it really looks good], BT helps us to get out of tight situations, avoid bullets and overpower the enemy. It has a limited ammount of time which automatically refills and we can find BT time and health boosters what makes the battles easier. And about gunfights - they`re simply amazing. Clones collapse realistically, spraying blood all over the place, bullets make holes into walls, dust [it`s impossible to see through - you have to wait `till it goes down], hits sparks out of lights and stuff. And the incredible clone soldier AI - wow. They see light from our flashlight, hear us before we do, cooperate, tries to envelope us and really tries to be like real soldiers. There is one BUT however. Just 5-6 types of enemies? WTF? Usual meat, fellas in body armor, samfishers [I can`t come up with a different name] with optical camouflage [like MGS], turrets, flying turrets and ghosts, who show up near ending. Unfortunately ghosts cause an OMGWTF feeling and doesn`t quite fit in. There are no bosses as well [at least I don`t consider Alma as a boss]. Also a condemnation for poor arsenal of weapons - pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, submachine gun, sniper rifle, `Penetrator [something like nail gun] and a spectacular Plasma rifle. The problem is that common soldiers carry only shotguns and assault rifles and we, god damn it, can carry only three guns, so it is difficult, no, almost impossible to get ammo for, let`s say Plasma gun. A nice addition is CQC [Close Quarters Combat] however it feels overpowered - a single hit with gun stock and one Replica soldier is out cold. And of course I must criticize the level design. Dull environments, straightforward hallways, repeating rooms - no, that`s not working. Basically there are five base locations - abandoned warehouse, abandoned office, abandoned mansion and abandoned secret bunker. all these places are not memorable and unimaginative. That certainly doesn`t help the game much. But overall combat is very satisfying and addictive. In fact it is the only drive what keeps you going if you`re not following the plot.
Sound is OK - guns as guns [in bullet time they even sound bit different], NPC voice acting is quite fine, but it doesn`t really matter. Music - heck, I don`t even remember anything about it! Not spectacular, but good enough for game`s atmosphere.
I mentioned graphics greatness earlier. They are very good, but the programming could have been done better - F.E.A.R. is on hell of a resource hog. I had to play on medium settings, but my machine could rock Domm 3 and Quake IV stable at max. Quite sad that dull environments doesn`t let the engine to prove what is it truly capable of.
F.E.A.R. has a potential. If only developers had put their soul in it, this have could been a masterpiece rather than just a hit. But F.E.A.R. is one helluva hit and I strongly recommend it to any shooter fan.