Do you know the true meaning of Fear?
In F.E.A.R., which stands for First Encounter Assault Recon, the player takes the role of a nameless point man recently assigned to the aforementioned anti-paranormal special forces team. All hell breaks loose beneath the eyes of the populace when an experiment at the Armacham Corporation goes horribly wrong. The company was creating an army of clone super soldiers for the U.S. government that could be directly controlled by a psychic commander. One of these commanders by the name of Paxton Fettel has gone insane and has taken a liking to eating people. It becomes your job to locate and kill Fettel before the situation escalates.
This is easier said than done however, as Fettel comes and goes like a ghost and has taken a liking to messing with your head. Because your character has superhuman reflexes as mentioned at the beginning of the game, you can see and hear things that others can't. Fettel and a creepy little girl named Alma will appear before you but not be there. Oftentimes you will see a shadow move behind you only to see that nothing is there. Other times, you'll swear you could have just seen someone in the darkness, but when you turn your flashlight on, there will be nothing. This game is extremely creepy and sometimes downright frightening, and after awhile, you will begin to blur the lines between what is real in F.E.A.R. and what isn't.
It is worth mentioning that this gives this game an astonishing atmosphere. Surpassing the mood portrayed by even last year's Doom 3, F.E.A.R. is downright chilling. Whereas Doom 3 used cheap scares like monsters jumping out of broom closets, this game has a much more mature, almost subtle kind of creeping terror. F.E.A.R. does not make you jump out of your seat; it makes you shiver in it.
F.E.A.R.'s atmosphere is enhanced by its graphics, which are, put quite simply, astonishing. Make no mistake; this is the best-looking game ever made. The shadows are incredible, and genius dynamic lighting effects enhance the setting. When you fire a gun in this game, it really feels like you are shooting someone. Imagine the infamous lobby scene in The Matrix and you pretty much have the firefights in F.E.A.R. down. During combat, sparks fly wildly, bits and pieces of things are tossed about, smoke and dust fills the air, and grenades distort and blur the space about them when they explode, showering the combatants with blazing shrapnel. No game before has ever even come close to capturing such an incredible portrayal of gun play before. Games in the following years will doubtless use F.E.A.R. as a blueprint for FPS done so right that it's scary.
The audio likewise in F.E.A.R. is beyond good. Instead of a real soundtrack, Monolith chose to fill the game with cold, creepy ambient noises and effects along with the occasional pulsing track when big battles begin. The weapons sound perfect, and as you lock horns with the clone soldiers, you'll hear bullets ricochet, shotgun shells impact with flesh, and shell casings clatter to the floor like metallic rain. The audio in F.E.A.R. is fantastic and just enhances the perfect tone and mood that the game sets.
And just before you thought that F.E.A.R. could not get any better, it does. What else could possibly make this game any more visceral than it already is? Why, bullet time, of course. That's right, at any time, you can hit a key and send yourself into the best-looking bullet time in any game ever created and dominate enemies like toys. Because your character has reflexes that are "off the charts", you can put this bullet time to great use during the game, as things quickly become very tough if you don't. And it does not just simply slow down time. In bullet time, you can actually see the swirling trails left by your shotgun pellets as they perforate a clone soldier's masked face. The shell impacts, knocking the clone's head back violently, sending blood and sparks flying everywhere and sending his body sprawling wildly through the air in slow motion, his weapon still blazing as he smashes to the floor is a messy heap. It simply must be played to be fully appreciated.
It is also worth mentioning that F.E.A.R. has the best AI ever produced in a game. The enemies are highly trained super soldiers, but you wouldn't expect them to actually ACT like real super soldiers. In most FPSs, you're lucky if the enemy can use cover. In F.E.A.R., much of the challenge comes from just how smart the AI actually is. Enemies will provide covering fire, attempt to flank you, make their own cover, flush you out with grenades, and act as a squad. They know their environment and use every bit of it to try and take you out. All in all, F.E.A.R. has astoundingly-good AI, and you might find yourself outsmarted by the enemy in the middle of a chaotic firefight. This is a real first for the FPS genre.
Likewise, F.E.A.R. certainly is not lacking when it comes to an arsenal. From basic weapons like a Shotgun and an SMG to the more exotic like Dual Pistols or the Perforator, the ladder of which is a rapid-fire rifle that sends crystal shards slicing through foes and pinning them to walls. You can also pull of awsome combat moves like scissor kicks and slides, which in bullet time are truly bad ass. Along with Remote Bombs, Proximity Mines, and the wicked Particle Weapon that zaps enemies into crispy skeletons, the game has a memorable arsenal that will definitely stay with you long after you've finished the game and jumped into Multiplayer.
Speaking of Multiplayer, you might think that with such a stellar Single Player experience F.E.A.R. would have to be lacking here. Thankfully, this is not the case. Multiplayer is fast and furious with grenades flying and headshots left and right. It also has the advantage of looking just as incredible as the rest of the game, and with a decent collection of maps and options, fun can be had with this game's multiplayer for some time to come.
If there is any fault to found with F.E.A.R., it is that the levels throughout the game can start to blur together. They all look sort of the same, which makes sense due to its horror pedigree, but it is disappointing all the same. You likely won't notice it until you have finished the game, so it won't really impede you in any way.
When it comes right down to it, F.E.A.R. is an extremely scary, unique game that pushes its genre that much farther. Monolith has done an incredible job, and F.E.A.R. is not only the best FPS of 2005 but a real contender for Game of the Year. And when a game's competition are things like Civilization IV and Guild Wars, that's no small feat.