FEAR Review

Every now and then, in the gaming world a gaming gem is born and today im going to review just such a gem.

As you have read from the title the games name is FEAR, which in actual facts stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. Its a FPS (First Person Shooter ) game combining sleek graphics, with a twisted and mind boggling story all mixed together with an eerie dark soundtrack and a few very scary moments.

The game was created by Monolith entertainment and published and released in 2005 by Sierra.
Now before reading any further keep in mind the technology available at that time.
And it's in this area where the game truly shines. With some great in game effects like bullet time (those familiar with, Max Payne ) not to mention some great shadow and lighting effects.

For example, when shooting some overhanging lights the light will begin to swing around and the lights shadow will follow the movement creating very realistic shadows. Furthermore when in bullet time and shooting against the walls you can actually see the walls break apart when shooting them, and kinds of debri's just flying in all directions.All this without the need of an complex PhySX card.

The AI in the game is another great achievement and surely one for setting standards for upcoming titles. They mostly operate in squads, and are in constant communication with each other, and for example most of the game is played in dark levels with only a flashlight with limited battery life , to comfort you. You still have to worry about the super soldiers clones (for most of the game the main enemies ) , now don't just think they strafe a little to the left or right, no these guys are equipped with Delta tactics and will comment on your behaviour if provoked.
And as far as possible do all kind of tactical manoeuvres to make sure u don't advance.

To give an example. Lets say ur peaking around the corner and u hear some soldier walkie talkie conversation. And there u see an enemy behind a glass room...you take out your grenade, lob it towards the window and think well there u go, nothing to it...one less enemy....think again as soon as the soldier sees the grenade or hear the glass break, he will either jump roll out the window and get out of harms way or run out the nearest exit, and call for backup...making your life just a tad bit more interesting..

The story is pretty complex and told through telephone conversations and logs hidden throughout the game, which makes it difficult to keep track of what exactly is happening.
I went and downloaded a faq from www.gamefaqs.com where the full story was explained .
Im not going to go into details about it, since it's going to be a spoiler.
But I can tell u this, if love twisted and scary stories u will most likely digg this story as well.

The Single Player campaign isin't very long and can be completed in about 6h, playing on Easy difficulty.There are some great scary moments in the game, from blood dripping from walls and ceiling to the occasional eerie sounds and voices,coupled together with some scary flashbacks.All making this game an unique FPS Horror experience.

The Multiplayer aspect of the game is also alot of fun, and with the added bullet time effects makes for a pretty unique experience.
Since this is an rather old game now the system requirements aint that high.

Below is a link to the official game site, which will tell u the basic System requirements for the game, but to give u an idea of what is needed

PS: These are the recommended specs im gonna give you for playing the game.
Always make sure you have a bit more than the Min. Req. thus ensuring a smooth and LAG free game play experience...

CPU: 3.2 GhZ AMD or Intel P4 CPU.
RAM: 1GB or more.
GFX Card: Geforce 6800 or Ati X800
HDD: 5GB

My summary of the game is as follows:

GFX: 8/10 (Some pretty good effects and GFX for a 2005 game )
Sound: 7/10 (There aint to much music in the game, but the scary sounds and voices blends well together with the overall sound and feel of the game )

Lastibility: 6/10 (Though I doubt you'll go back to the Single player aspect of the game, the Mutliplayer would surely keep u busy for a while. )

An overall of 7/10 for me then...

It truly is a must playing for any FPS fan, and even if you are not it's still worth checking out.
If u love games like Resident Evil and the Silent Hill series, you will feel right at home with this.

This game is also available on the PS3 console.

Be sure to check out the sequel codenamed Project Origin(The name would make a lot more sense once you finished FEAR ) due for release in February
http://www.whatisfear.com/


That's all from me

Happy gaming !!!

Just some of the delighted friends you meet later on in the game !!!