Err.... I mean does the review text match the score?

I wrote a review for F.E.A.R. which I posted just now. I'm off the belief like Lark that games do not start at 10 and get knocked down points for flaws. Games have to build merit from the ground up. Before writing the review, I figured I would score the game 7.5. But then I wrote the review and I hardly faulted the game at all. There are a few but they are pretty minor. But the game didn't give me that ultra wow factor that would be deserving of a 9+ game. After reading over my review text, I did up the score to 8.

Has anyone else found that issue where once you write up a review it feels different than how you were initially expecting it to turn out? In any case, on with the review.

Foreword : Please note that this review is for the single player portion only.

F.E.A.R. puts you in the shoes (or combat boots) of a soldier on his first real mission. The F.E.A.R squad investigates supernatural activity, and something is afoot. A man by the name of Paxton Fettel has exhibited his paranormal abilities by commanding a cloned army to do his bidding. Without spoiling too much, your task is to explore various buildings controlled by the Replica forces in an attempt to take down Fettel. The story is woven into the action, with you receiving updates from command via your commlink. You will meet some other members of the F.E.A.R. squad, and a few other individuals wrapped up in the story. Your interaction with them is usually brief and you won't be fighting alongside your comrades, but they serve the story well enough.

The meat of any first person shooter is of course the combat, and F.E.A.R. offers very little to complain about. The guns all feel like they have weight, and while you may find yourself with preferences (you can carry 3 weapons at a time) none of them feel decidedly worse than the others. Most of them are grounded in reality, with submachine guns, a shotgun and assault rifles, there are a few that push the boundaries of realism without being silly, such as a particle weapon that fries most enemies with a single shot. Everything from the sound to kickback to their efficiency at making mince meat of your enemies makes them all feel powerful.

Regular Replica forces aren't without the same weapons though, and can rip you to shreds in short order if you aren't careful. Most impressive about the soldiers is their behaviour both individually and as a group. If a squad catches sight of you and they are holed up in a nice position, you can't just stand around the corner and wait for them to chase you one by one; they will stand their ground and wait for you. If they have a reasonable idea of where you are, they will throw a grenade in your direction. They will run from cover to cover, and their movements never seem predictable. If there are multiple paths, they can and will try to flank you. If it makes sense for them to do so, they will jump over a desk to hide behind it, or jump through a window to get to you. If you decimate a squad, the final member is likely to run from you blind firing back at you as he panics. All of this is backed up by great radio chatter as they co-ordinate with each other. It probably isn't realistic to yell all this stuff out, but it does get the point across that they are working like a squad.

Walking into a room full of soldiers is likely to get you killed pretty quickly, so you will have to exercise a few tricks up your sleeve. Using the D-Pad left and right, you can lean to either side, and release to stand straight again. This is great for peeking around corners, and also for popping off a quick burst before getting back behind cover. As the point man of the squad, you have some insane reflexes, and you can activate a slow-mo mode. A guage shows how much you have left, and it slowly restores when not in use. On the one hand this can make combat a little easy, but without it combat can be fast, furious, and tough when facing multiple enemies. You will likely come to rely on it, and popping around a corner in slow mo and blasting a couple of Replica soldiers in the face with a shotgun before they can return fire is something that never gets old. If you jump and then melee you also do a jumping kick that takes down most regular enemies in one shot. The fact that there is no regenerating health means you will want to make the most of all your combat maneuvers. You can hold up to 10 health packs which restore some of your life, and you can also pick up Health Boosters and Reflex Boosters to increase your maximum health and slow mo respectively.

There are some other enemies, some humanoid and some mechanical, that you will encounter. These don't feel as engaging as playing cat and mouse with the regular soldiers, but adds to the variety. As you progress the game offers some paranormal moments, as if someone is trying to project thoughts into your mind. The screen flickers and you may find yourself somewhere else, in slow motion with your vision blurred, or visions will appear in front of you while someone whispers in the background. These work well in telling the story, but don't feel particularly scary. After the first few it becomes apparent that they are hardly ever threatening. There are still some standout moments where the game creeps you out, or has you jump out of your seat at an unexpected event, but isn't quite on par with the likes of Condemned.

The environments are usually stark buildings, and you will often have to employ your flashlight to get a good look at your surroundings. Sadly it employs the tired convention of flashlights that only last 30 seconds, which usually only serves to have you stop every so often in a safe spot, turn off your torch until it recharges, turn it on again and keep moving. Enemies are smart enough to see your torch though, so you will have to limit its use if you want to sneak up on your foes. You will travel mostly through secure office complexes, with some forays onto some rooftops, a multilevel carpark and a few other locations. There are a few minor puzzle elements where you may have to turn off gas valves after an explosion to progress for example, and these are nice diversions and break up the pace nicely while complementing the level design. While locations seem very similar, there is enough variation in the layouts to make the combat feel fresh each time to show off the squad combat. Graphically the game is decent. Environment textures don't seem detailed, but it works in making the levels seem stark. Enemy, character and gun models all look fine, but shadows can be inconsistent. At times there are soft shadows but sometimes (with your own shadow in particular) it's solid black or nothing. Smoke and dust is often kicked up by bullet sprays, and by todays standards the effect is dated. While you will notice them, none of these things get in the way of having a good time with the game.

As mentioned the game can be easy because of the slow-mo, and my playthrough was on Medium. As such I did attempt to bonus mission on Hard, but you don't have slow-mo in this level, and I found the going without it tough enough that I restarted it on Medium. Those looking for a challenge could try playing the entire game without it. Should you fall to your death, forget to use your health packs or run out of them (which is unlikely to occur), you will start from your nearest checkpoint. There are usually 3 or 4 in each level, and could be a few minutes from your point of death. Thus there is some punishment for death, but it is not too severe. I did run into a game breaking glitch in the bonus mission, where the person I was escorting would not move. I did not repeat the mission to see if it was a one-time glitch, but the main portion of the game had no such glitches.

Overall F.E.A.R. has a very gritty dark feel that permeates the whole game, from the dim environments, to the subject matter, to the visceral bloody combat. While it's not without flaws, it's refreshing to see AI that seems to mimic actual behaviour instead of simply being the most efficient. While some of the graphics have dated slightly from a technical standpoint, the consistent style still holds up well. F.E.A.R. is a solid shooter that is at least worth a rental.