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no, no, no

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 21
Date: March 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First things first. For a game called F.E.A.R this managed to fail in scaring me. I actually jumped once but only when I though I was being shot at--not when the little girl ripped-off from Dark Water and Don't Look Now showed up looking surplus to requirement. Her and the laughably smouldering `gory' corpses bothered me not one jot and may as well have remained at home.

Secondly the story is rubbish. It's truly predictable. Dark secrets hidden-away in weapons development? Please...spare me the details. I forgot to get my frontal lobotomy since I last I played through something with the same premise.

Thirdly the environments are dull. Unlike Rainbow Six Vegas - which has the better AI and a more developed all-round combat system sans the silly bullet-time - you'll never feel close to any of the fiery zones you've played through. Likewise the first person graphics are often poor and your weenie-sized hands clutching their tiny-sized guns are amusingly silly. Perhaps the real horror of the game is that anything you pick-up turns Lilliputian or that your eyes don't work properly. I mean, how will you ever fight the hoards of darkness when your fists are the size of a 6 yr old child?!?!

Lastly the rag-doll effects are a joke. They genuinely suck. Aside from people flying in half when you blast them with a combat round from a shotgun (which isn't true to life - trust me as I spent a year editing at Jayne's and know this for a fact) the whole space is a noisy menace. You may lightly clunk against a hammer and think the end of the world has begun due to the crashes and bangs, just as you may shoot someone and watch them turn into a helium balloon flying around the place. Weirdly the bullets seem to obey a degree of saner physics while running alongside the main feature. The reason for this fits my broader theory, which is something to do with the idiocy of gaming companies and the retarded level of most gaming consumers.

Basically computer games manufacturers truly don't care what they make as long as it serves five straightforward purposes. To begin with the product has to be simplistic so as to hit the widest audience possible...secondly it has to be either violent or rebellious so as to feed the destructive monkey on the consumer's evolutionary back...thirdly it has to make that person feel heroically special as if they're become either god, satan, vastly benign or powerful or whatever...and fourthly it has to make them feel as they've easily escaped your own life and become something amazing for a few quid. Of course fifthly, it has to make a profit from points 1 through 4, which is also the death knell for challenging their intellect. That's why the bullets can do their unavoidable thing in F.E.A.R while the rest of the game remains Hanna-Barbera on speed.

The final review for F.E.A.R is one of disgusted resignation. Like me you may stand in awe while drawing the AI towards a doorway spattered with 9 other NPC corpses (bang, bang and...oh...tediously bang yet again), you can fool the computer design by not behaving like a cretin and really taking cover while utilising the bullet-thingy (I've just killed the only competition while everyone else was talking through a flat battery) or sit and spot lots of other unaccredited horror movies that could have improved the experience (such as smatterings of The Number 23...in which you have to shoot various displays of Jim Cary's hammy performance while screaming "Burroughs and Wilson did this in the 70's you boring loser" and so-on until the credits).

In conclusion I would seriously warn anyone away form this game as it possibly drains your IQ. Who knows, it might even make you impotent. The final summation is that it isn't worth the cash and the manufacturers should be paying you to take it off their hands. Simply you don't need to spend money to watch someone test their next-gen platform as F.E.A.R is honestly a tedious game lacking style, content and purpose. Plus it retails for the kind of money which might otherwise buy you a few stimulating novels or some really enjoyable wine instead.

Look elsewhere

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First Encounter Assault Recon, or FEAR... The worst acronym in a gaming title yet, and a game that couldn't decide if it wanted to be first person shooter or survival horror and ultimately failed at being both of them.

The story is unoriginal and poorly executed, the level design and enemires are monotonous, the controls are terribly awkward, and there just isn't that much action. This game also contains the most anti-climactic ending in game history.

As far as the horror aspect of this game goes, a few things jump out at you every now and then which is pretty cheap but still fun for horror fans like myself. There are also some flashback/telepathic state type parts which involve some weird reality shifts and lots of blood and creepiness and so forth and are reminiscent of those paranormal moments in The Suffering in how they are executed and quite similar to The Ring in terms of their horror content. While these parts are pretty awesome, they probably make up about 3 minutes of the total gameplay which isn't really enough to warrant this game as a horror must-have.

If you're into first-person shooters in a big way and think the sound of a small injection of horror would be right up your proverbial alley, this game might be for you. However anyone looking for a serious survival horror game on XBOX 360 (no, Dead Rising doesn't count) should be patient a little longer, and anyone looking for a decent FPS should definately look elsewhere.

Save your money, rent it first before you buy into the hype

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: November 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

My introduction to FEAR was via the Xbox 360 demo downloadable from Xbox Live. The demo was fairly solid and since I had heard so much about this game from different online and magazine ratings I decided I was pretty safe to buy it. I figured that my demo experience was only a taste and that I was in for a real treat. Unfortunately, this game has not impressed me. If you download the Xbox 360 demo basically you are getting the entire game. That's no exaggeration. The gameplay turned out to be ridiculously repetitive and almost all the weapons available in the game are represented in the demo. Here's a breakdown of why I rated this game so poorly.

GOOD:
Graphics - For the most part they are amazing. One only needs look at some of the screenshots posted online. They didn't do too well on faces: they look like plastic dolls, but everything else is stellar.

MEDIOCRE:
Gameplay - Gameplay was OK. An element that has been incorporated before but is still pretty interesting is a slow motion button. The slow mo even recharges after a while. The enemy AI is pretty good, also. FEAR doesn't really bring anything that new and exciting in terms of gameplay, though. Nothing new in terms of weapons, maneuvers, or overall gameplay. There are no open environments like in Halo or Half Life 2 and there are definitely no vehicles.

BAD:
Repetition - This is the number one offense of this game and it should be underscored more than anything else. I would say that if you play the Xbox Live demo over and over for about 10 hours you'll probably have the same level of enjoyment. I was astounded at how lacking this game was in terms of originality. You leave one room only to enter another to go the exact same thing again. Even the creepy scenes get repetitious and my own horror soon evolved into numbness.
Storyline - For me, personally, this was a really stupid and overused storyline. I won't spoil it for anyone, but if you're a sci fi horror fan you can rest assured that this one has been played out a bit too much.
Sound - No music, period. Only ambient sounds. In addition, at least the Xbox 360 version of this game has some weird sound dynamics. Even with the in-game menu speech volume turned all the way up I had to turn up the volume on my TV full blast whenever anyone spoke so I could hear them.
Profanity - although this doesn't affect too many who play rated M games it should be mentioned for those who are concerned. The F word is prolific and I mean really, really prolific.

My recommendation to anyone thinking of purchasing this is to rent it first. I think it is a good rental game since you can probably get through it all in a rental period.

Nothing new

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is not too bad. But for the experienced gamer, this game is pretty linear. In parts I found it did not hold my interest because of the repetitive nature. The environment is dark and gritty throughout that variation seemed to be nonexistant. There were parts in this game that had a "shock" value, but not enough for me to say this is one of the best games produced. Rainbow 6, Halo 2 (and soon 3) are games that I would highly recommend in comparison.

I would rent it and if you like it - buy it.

You've already played this game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was told FEAR is a super scary thriller. My wife and I were excited to play it with all the lights off, hoping to have the bejebus scared out of us. After 3 of 11 "intervals" only the gameplay was scary.

FEAR is a patchwork quilt of gameplay and story elements that have already been done (and done better) by someone else. That's not to say that a marvelous work of art cannot contain influences from previous masterpieces, but if you just stitch together pieces of famous works by Monet, Rembrandt, & VanGogh you'll wind up with something appalling, not appealing.

The enemy soldiers sound just like the soldiers from the original Half-Life. Alma appears as a young girl with her face obscured by long black hair. Remind you of The Ring? Maybe The Grudge?? Paxton Fettel eats people like a Resident Evil zombie, except for the thin premise that he doesn't do it for nutrition- he absorbs their memories.

Speaking of thin premises, let's talk about SlowMo. Your character's reflexes are so fast that you can slow down in-game time. Thanks to the part about reflexes, that doesn't sound anything like Max Payne's Bullet Time.

Health dips into the original Doom's bag of tricks, complete with a max of 100 points each, health & armour- that is, unless you pick up health boosters that add 5 pts to your max. What is this, 1993?? Oh, and Heaven help you if you pass a checkpoint with low health. Also borrowed from Doom3 were messages left through the game. Except instead of watching clue-laden video-memos like Doom3, FEAR offers voicemails from one plant worker to another who asks "Are you alright? We heard loud noises."

There was ONE trait that was unique to FEAR: You can't always just pass over ammo & items to collect them. Sometimes yes, but most times you are forced to press and hold X.

Was there fear in F.E.A.R.? Apart from the occasional "Boo!" moment, no not really. Like the rest of the game, scare tactics were recycled and repetitive.

I cannot recommend this game.

Gets old quick

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: November 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Not a bad single player game at first, but not great either. The level design is horrible and the main reason why I didn't finish this game. You find yourself going through boring repetitive levels like offices that you feel compelled to explore even though you don't really find anything that interesting. If you are not paying attention it is very easy to find yourself lost and trying to find the way to go. Then when you finally find it (after wasting time backtracking) you think to yourself, "Are you kidding me?! Who designed these levels?!" Also at the end of most levels, you have to backtrack through the same annoying levels just to get to your extraction point. Very annoying!

Apart from the horrible level design, the gameplay is nothing spectacular. There are a few creepy moments with in-game cut scenes, but not good enough to make the game worth it overall.

If you like FPS's... do not waste your time with this game because there are plenty of other games that are vastly superior to this one.

Decent, but not great

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 11
Date: November 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was looking forward to this game, but so far it has underwhelmed me. Maybe its a case of high expectations, but the game is a bit boring. It is like a cross between Half-Life 2 and Condemned, neither of which impressed me. The environment is repetitive and so are the enemy soldiers. Graphics are just OK. I thought I would like this more from the PC reviews and the Live demo. I'd like it more at $40, $60 is way too much for what feels like an old game.

Don't Forget To Check That Answering Machine!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: December 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I really wanted to love this game. There is nothing wrong with the visuals or the gameplay. The bullet time was awesome(first time in a first person shooter?), and when the action happened, it was a great gaming experience. It's just that there seems so little of it. The hallucination stuff was very cool, and the game started off with a bang. But the further I went along(after cruising the endless parade of office hallways and checking countless answering machines and computers), I just got bored. I can think of a dozen first person shooters that are better than this...maybe two dozen. Sure, it looks 'prettier' than some, and it does pick up some near the end, but by that time it was too little too late.

Unbelievably monotonous

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: April 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is probably the most monotonous video game I have ever played. The level design is the same throughout almost the entire game (namely, making your way through ridiculously complex office buildings and the like). The graphics are good and the shooting is fun as as far as it goes, but boy was this game repetitive! And if first-person shooters tend to make you dizzy, break out the Dramamine before playing this one!

not a bad game once you get the hang of it.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I almost gave up on it the first day. But once I got the slowmo ability worked out I actually enjoyed it.

It has its flaws. Repeatition for instance. Also the story/ending left a lot to be desired. The environments almost never changed, which is really hard on a Halo nut like me, who loves all the different scenerie changes.

I liked the guns. Online-play was cool.

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