F E A R - First Encounter Assault Recon

Games/Kids/F E A R - First Encounter Assault Recon
1 stars (Very disappointing...) - F.E.A.R - Vivendi Universal,f,e,a,r,first,encounter,assault,recon,vivendi,universal,games,kids,f e a r -firstencounterassaultrecon 18 october, 200,F E A R - First Encounter Assault Recon
Software Developed byVivendi Universal

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Description :

F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon review:
1 stars (Very disappointing...) - F.E.A.R. was hyped to be one great horror shooter. It delivers some good visuals, good positional audio, but...



The story is way too poorly covered to convey any real sense of dread - OK, you're fighting evil, but how and when and why Alma became this evil agent is never really explained - nor is most of the rest of the story.



It's doled out piecemeal, as you'd expect with a horror game, but the first 80% of the game has 20% of the story, while the last 20% (when you get to the underground site) has about 40% of the story squished into a small timeframe and area. That's right - 40% + 20 % = 60%. So where is the other 40%? Apparently, hopefully, somewhere in the sequel.



The game plays like a cardboard cutout shooter, too. The weapons are wimpy (except one, which has too wide of an area of effect to use it for most of the game). The levels are very drab, run of the mill shooter stuff - big pipes and wooden crates are everwhere.



It's also very short, and the ending, because of the story elements left out of the game, comes up very abruptly.



This shooter is nothing new...sadly, it's the same old Resident Evil clone, dressed up in a 2004 era engine.
5 stars (Great game, but you will only play it once.) - The storyline is FEAR is genuinely disturbing for the early part of the game, but it is obvious that the developers run out of tricks by level 3...



Not to worry though, because the game then goes into John Woo overdrive mode, with over the top gun battles, complete with Matrix style slo-mo and explosions, shattering glass, and enough blood to paint the town red. You also have limited hand to hand combat moves, so you can also take the enemy out with some great kung fu moves (this is recommended for some of the hard to kill baddies, because they will otherwise seriously deplete your ammo).



The other really cool thing about this game is the enemy AI. At one point, I knocked over a shelf, thus cutting the path of the AI. I didn't expect the enemy soldier to crouch down and crawl underneath it through a gap! Better still, when I died and had to pass through the same area again, it became clear that this behavior was not scripted - the enemy soldier was really thinking about how best to get into a good firing position and tried a different tactic because this time the shelf did not go over!

Another thing the enemy AI do well is to use cover properly. They will lean out of cover and suppress you, rather than just dumbly run at you in numbers (as they seem to do in most other FPS games, particularly the Doom/Quake franchise games).



Another surprising trick the AI have is the ability to flank you - they will go though several rooms and appear behind you if you start camping behind a barricade.

The AI also talks to each other, so you can hear what the AI is thinking, which is another cool game-play touch. Generally, it really feels as if the AI soldiers are working as a squad, and this makes the game a little more strategic than other FPS games.





There are a few glitches though, and many of them are already covered by previous reviews - low number of unique locations and not much variety in the enemy graphics.



The other big issue is a few plot holes, like,

- If the enemy soldiers are controlled by a psychic commander, why do they have to talk to each other?

- The motives of the two main central characters in the game are never really explained, and although your part in the story is explained at the end, the back-story of how you are embroiled in the main arc of the story is not explained at all.

- The other central character doesn't even know who you are till the end, so it all seems a little unbelievable that it is all down to chance.

- The last thing said in the game is `distinctly Half-Life 2, and seems to make no sense at all' (except perhaps to set us all up for the sequel, where perhaps some of it will become more apparent)



Although several reviews state that this game requires a fast system, it works very well on my modest system (radeon 9800 pro, 1GB memory, XP2800 processor). As long as you don't use maximum quality textures of maximum lighting effects (neither of which make much of a difference over medium settings), you should be ok.

As with many graphically intensive games (Far Cry, etc), I strongly suspect that it is memory that is the limiting hardware factor and not the graphics card or processor - if you see stuttering or slow graphics (and especially if your hard drive light seems to be constantly on), it is most likely that you need to upgrade from 512Mb to 1GB of main memory. Modern games seem to require 1Gb, irrespective of what the hardware requirements on the box are.



Despite the glitches, there is really nothing as good out there at the moment. FEAR is not as good as half life 2 or Far Cry, but those are benchmark games and unlikely to be beaten.



FEAR is better than the nearest other game out now - Quake 4 (a game I have also played to the end and cannot recommend because I found it very disappointing... apart from the cool graphics, everything else is just plain bad - no AI, poor storyline, poor game balancing (mostly far too easy, with a few die-retry choke points that are just impossibly hard and become annoying), and lots of level retracing, which simply makes the game boring).



If you want a game wth longevity, then FPS shooters are probably not what you want - all of the recent FPS games I have played (Pariah, Quake 4, Brothers in Arms 2, some of Call of Duty 2) seem short, and Fear is no different. If you want to play the best FPS out there, and don't mind too much if it only takes 2 or three days to complete it, then this is the game for you. The advanced AI in the Fear game engine may be the redeeming feature though, especially if we start to see community levels and total conversions (heres hoping!).


4 stars (Comes just short of perfect) - I loved this game, it is easily the best FPS since Half Life 2. Is it better than HL2? No. I don't understand how people can say that it is, seeing as it does have a host of flaws, but it does come closer than any other shooter in recent memory.



Graphics: Terrific IF you have the hardware. While it's true that the maxed out graphics of FEAR are potentially better than HL2, the hardware and processing power required means that only people running twin Geforce7800 in SLI mode will be able to get them. The lighting is gorgeous, and the textures and effects are second to none. I can't fault FEAR for pushing the envelope, but I have to praise Half Life for giving us graphics that are just as good (for the majority of PC owners) with lower hardware requirements, a year earlier. Oddly enough, the facial graphics aren't as good as either Doom 3 or HL2.



Sound: Awesome. The sound is really, really well done and is easily the best I've heard in a while. This game in 5.1 surround will scare you and blow you away!



Gameplay: Terrific, although there are only 3 'real' levels. While there are 11 levels in the game, they all take place in either an abandoned warehouse, an office building, or a secret research lab. That's it. They are really well done, but this is where the game drops the ball- the repetitive nature of the levels and the enemies will turn off some gamers. The 'horror' angle of the game is very well implemented, and there are some genuinely freaky moments. If you liked The Ring, you'll like FEAR. Overall, this game takes the best bits of various shooters and combines them: Max Payne's slow-mo bullet time is here, and very well done, as is Half-life 2's 'story unfolds as you go' brand of storytelling, which is more effective than the boring exposition that accompanies most games. The controls are intuitive and effective, and the gun battles fun as anything.



Overall: A terrific game, though the repetitive nature of the levels and enemies makes for some disappointment. The ending is also a tad of a letdown, though I didn't mind it. I recommend this game very heartily, it is an instant classic. Does it blow away HL2? No. The story is somewhat formulaic and easily predictable, the levels a bit dry, and the game a bit soul-less when compared to Valve's masterpiece. That said, this is a keeper.

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Kids

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