F.E.A.R. 3

Can't help but feel the developers may have missed the point about what made FEAR 2 so much fun for a lot of us with this somewhat watered down threequel. What we have here is still definitely a really good game, but I found everything feels a bit... smaller... less coherent than the previous game, with the only real change being in the fun, but perhaps-too-central co-op features.

Picking up some months after the end of FEAR 2. "F.3.A.R"(Guuuuuh!) begins with you in control of the first FEAR game's central character, the always silent 'Pointman', as he breaks out of a prison under the control of soldiers working for bad guys Pharmacam. Helping Pointman is original FEAR central bad guy and Pointman's brother Paxton Fettel, a 'Psychic ghost' of sorts who has the ability to possess the living who follows Pointman throughout the game, serving as a second controllable character for the campaign's co-op mode. Outside of co-op though, you only see Fettel during cutscenes, or you can unlock him to use in single player after finishing each level as Pointman. Anyway... the two of them escape and decide to go and find their mother Alma, the super powerful psychic psychotic little girl/haggard naked woman from the first two games who continues to randomly pop up throughout levels just to go 'BOO' at you as before. Also, Alma is heavily pregnant after raping the main character in the second game... and the world is seemingly tearing itself apart in the build up to her giving birth. It's an odd plot, and not necessarily a good one. The narrative is badly handled, with the cutscenes that bookend each level feeling quite boring to watch and seem to consist of nothing more than Fettel spouting meaningless bad guy rhetoric about power in a Christian Bale Batman voice at Pointman, who never does anything except silently stare ahead. Considering John Carpenter had some involvement in this story being put together I expected something a little better... but hey, at least we get Pointman now looking like 'The Thing' era Kurt Russell, which is awesome.

The game does play much like FEAR 2 for the most part, but there have been a number of tweaks to the game at the same time that kind of dilute the gameplay a bit for my liking. One major change of note is that the game has adopted a number of elements from Killzone 2 and 3, most notably the ability to 'attach' to surfaces to use them as cover in a manner most commonly seen in third person shooters. The gameplay also feels considerably more 'weighted', with much toning down feeling like it has been done with regard to the superhuman reflexes of Pointman. You can still slow down time and such though, so it isn't a complete overhaul. Levels also feel much more linear and narrow and the scale in their design feels a lot smaller... like, remember those sequences in FEAR 2 where you were running down ruined city streets getting into pitched battles with huge mechs while using a mech of your own to tear through the walls of collapsing skyscrapers? There's nothing nearly so grand in FEAR 3. Sure the mechs are still here, but they are a lot less common, and the rare sequences where you get to pilot one yourself are pretty much just brief, linear shooting galleries. As I said, it feels 'smaller'. A lot is the same, I mean, all the guns from the last game are here (Though I wasn't best pleased by how rare the hilariously fun to use bolt gun was) and the gore is as OTT as always, but I found it just didn't 'feel' like FEAR anymore. Saying that, the gameplay mechanics are definitely still very solid and the whole thing is incredibly polished, with some surprisingly sharp AI on enemies and an extremely satisfying new 'challenges' feature that keeps a constantly running tally of how you are doing with regard to a large series of set challenges that are constantly active and function on a level by level basis. These consist of both fairly basic challenges like 'Kill 30 soldiers with the shotgun' and more challenging reflex testing affairs like 'get three headshots in a row during a single use of reflexes'. There are a lot of them and completion of each one earns points towards your 'ranking', which is kind of a levelling up system that runs through all the game modes and determines which gameplay perks and enhancements you have access to (eg. extra ammo/grenade carry capacity, longer reflex meter, etc). It's a system that really provides great incentives for replaying levels and for going out of your way to maximise your performance. It really does make the game in my opinion, and it's something I'd very much like to see used in more first person shooters in future. The game is also a lot more fun in co-op mode I found, with the story seemingly designed with the idea you'll be playing it in co-op being at the forefront of the developers' minds as this is very much a two man tale and the whole thing does play very differently depending on which character you play as, given Fettel's very different ability set compared to Pointman, with Fettel only having psychic blasts to use as weapons as he can't carry guns, but he can temporarily possess any standard enemy when his reflex meter is full in order to use any weapons around. It's a fun mechanic and is a welcome departure from co-op shooters where what character you play as is completely incidental. The competitive multiplayer I only tried very briefly, but from what I could tell it wasn't a whole lot different from FEAR 2, despite some... 'interesting' new modes in addition to the new cover system... which nobody seemed to be bothering to use.

Graphically the game is of a very high quality. It looks great, it runs great and has some really impressive physics and lighting effects at play. Besides some infrequent frame rate dips I've no real complaints on that front. The soundtrack is good, with suitably moody music in addition to a couple of 80s synth sounding numbers which I assume are some sort of homage to John Carpenter. The voice acting though is pretty weak. I mean, bad enough Pointman doesn't talk ever, but when next to that the most prominent voice you hear is Fettel's constant drawl it gets kind of annoying.

This isn't a perfect game by any means... I have some concerns about the longevity, as the campaign is extremely short, but at the same time is designed to encourage replays and has a genuinely fun co-op mode. However the gameplay and game structure changes are likely to polarise many who enjoyed the last game... plus the story is just laughable.

Even with the concerns though, there's no denying this is still a well put together, satisfying to play shooter that has some really great ideas and I would gladly recommend it to anyone who likes such games. Just be aware that it may not last you too long... especially if you're only going to be playing by yourself, so you may wish to wait for a price drop.

The third instalment of the Fear series released on this generation of consoles and it appears that the game has rediscovered a small percentage of the magic that made the first game a classic in my opinion.
The premise is the same as the previous games - shoot loads of bad guys and monsters while on your way to see Alma. Nothing new here then for fans of the previous games apart from the fact that the horror element has actually been turned up a notch from the second game which for all intense purposes lost the horror in the FPS horror genre label associated with the first game.
As a horror title it is still lacking but there are a few moments which will send a cold shiver down your back rather than make you jump out of your seat.
The FPS aspect of the game is fairly solid and although it will not win any awards for originality at least it does the job that it sets out to which is supplying a high amount of carnage with a paltry selection of weapons.
Graphically and sonically Fear 3 is fairly solid with some fairly impressive lighting effects and of course the sound effects add a lot to making the few horror moments stand out.
Unfortunately though due to the fact that the horror element is so limited and the fps aspect of the game is soo generic means that this is probably a game for fans of the series only. However, it is quite a harmless shoot em up which will be completed fairly quickly.

Great fun. Once I started playing it, I was excited to continue. Handy 2 controller co op mode too, but I recommend you play it first time single player for the full experience.