F.E.A.R. (pc)

[Corrupt Rose]

The horror aspect is rubbish really, so generic. Yes, here is a spooky girl in a blood-soaked dress crossing your path at predefined moments and then disappearing. Look! There are bloody footprints on the floor. YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!! Oh noes!!!

That pretty much sums it up. There's no threat from the supernatural effects at all, and it's clear from the start of the demo that there won't be, especially since they're so segregated from the actual "game".

If the full product features supernatural ambushes (doors slam, lights go out, etc) and you can be killed in those environments, it's going to even further enhance the feeling that you've got to memorise and prepare for encounters, rather than dealing with them with your own skill off the bat.

I remember that sort of gameplay very recently again from Max Payne. I'm sure it features everywhere, but this game feels so bloody similar anyway, it does evoke those specific memories.

[Corrupt Rose]

Had it been me designing the game, I would have made the combat, slower (not including bullet time, obv), slightly less deadly, and superimpose the horror effects on combat. Have things jump out at you, only not to be there when you turn to fire, all the while you're pressured by real targets.

Perhaps added the extra facility to bullet time where supernatural phenomena are more obviously fake in bullet time, allowing you to pick out your actual largets better, rather than just effectively making it another gimmick.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I get the impression from the screenshots I've seen of FEAR that the supernatural stuff *is* part of the gameplay.

[Mephistopheles]

Turning shadows off significantly increases the framerate. Managed to run well on max settings with them off.

The game really feels tight. The slow-mo and zoom features are fun especially when you see bullets flying towards you and the way enemies are hurled back slamming against walls and shelves when you pump them full of shotgun shells and the dust scattering in the air. The particle beam gun is particularly brilliant, acting as a great sniper gun to catch enemies unaware and disintegrate them into skeletons! Funny dialogue by the enemies as well.

I agree with those who didn't find the game too scary, although I did (barely) jump when I saw the girl as I was going down the ladder and the guy when I got to the bottom. One cool thing I noticed was near the very end when you walk down the corrider with the blood dripping from the ceiling, if you equip your gun and shoot the ceiling the blood will begin to shower down furiously!

In spite of these glowing comments, the look of the game didn't do anything for me. Very generic. Starts in a warehouse *yawn*. The enemy designs are ripped off HL2 expect HL2 is a far better looking game. The guns look bland and the shotgun looks especially crap.

The main thing though is that the gameplay and physics are well up to par. Looking forward to the full game.

[Richard.John]

Seems OK, but is the slow-mo going to be its one trick and the rest is just FPS by numbers? We will see in due course.

[PeteBrant]

Turning shadows off significantly increases the framerate. Managed to run well on max settings with them off.
.

Does that turn off all shadows? There are some "walking behind you" shadows of the girl, which if they were removed with no shadows, would be a shame - all adds to the atmosphere

[Spatial]

Well, this game made my system cry. If I'm ever going to play F.E.A.R. then it looks like I'll have to wait until the New Year when I can afford to upgrade my system quite a bit.

Still, I can't complain too much as this is the first game in around 4 years that I've not been able to play 'cos my systems not up to scratch (and I eventually managed to get it relatively smooth at 1024x768 with the settings on High - auto detect was crap as usual)

Anyway, enough moaning about my out of date PC and here's what I though about the demo.

It?s alright - hard to get the full feel of it from the demo.

I love the enemies and they are clever little bastards no doubt about it. Watching them jam themselves into corners for cover and the way they duck,roll and vault over cover is great stuff. They seem a bit too intelligent on times though and I found myself getting my arse handed to me on a plate quite regularly.

Had to laugh at the few f-bombs the developer have thrown in there as well.

Cover is definitely everything in this game. Gung-ho charging in tended to get me killed quickly. It made things much easier - except when the enemies then went on to flush me out with a grenade.

The darkness in this game seems a bit excessive to me as well. I know that sounds a bit stupid in a game like this, but there are some areas where you just can't see **** unless you use the flashlight (which seems to run down waaaaay too fast for a game as dark as this). Obviously it needs to be dark for tension but there are some areas (in the pipe house section of the warehouse for example) that seem pitch black just for the sake of it.

I found some parts quite tense. Not scary `Wargh!!` but more scary `whats going to happen?` In particular the bit in the sewer at the start with the heavy breathing and the flickering lights was quite good. If this is what they do in the opening stages of the game then its a good indicator for what they've got planned for the rest of it.

Overall I really like it and it?s just a shame that I'm going to have to duck out until the New Year to play it (still, it'll probably be cheaper by then).

Oh and a special mention for the intro music. It's really lovely

[Spatial]

And to think I wasted hours of my life playing through the moribund Pariah the other day too...

You sir, are a complete sadist

[marcus]

Impressed so far, not sure how the supernatural aspect will work but the gunfights are all quite convincing and intense, and its nice to see a bit of variation in enemy movement (ie crawling, jumping through windows etc). Graphically Im running at 1024 x 768 as this is what best suits my plasma screen, and apart from jerkiness during loadtimes it looks quite superb.

Ill turn off shadows as mentioned above though, as I dont think ill miss them and they may well improve performance somewhat. The particle gun is amazing, try going slow-mo and vapourizing an enemy, you see their skeleton as it hits them, its well cool. So far, so good for me, could well be the next level of FPS if its promise is realized.

Also, games like this are not scary and I wish people would stop carrying on like its meant to be, games that succeed in being scary do so by slowly building up an intimidating atmosphere, with the possibility of what could of could not happen weighing heavily on your mind (only scary FPS I can think of is System Shock 2 offhand). This is an action FPS, and although the intention is clearly too unsettle you (which I feel it does, particularly the early parts in the sewer with the breating etc), its not scary at all as theres little to make you concerned about the potential for death. After all, all you need do is hit F5 every so often, and death becomes an inconvenience rather than anything remotely costly.

[Richard.John]

Does anyone know if its possible to tweak the length of slow-mo (Console?) as I would like to play around with it?

[PeteJ]

God damn, am I the only one finding the demo really hard? I can't get passed the helicopter bit at all! Didn't realise you could quick-save though

I'm a huge fan of both horror and FPS, so FEAR is the game I've always wanted. All in all I am pretty impressed with it, but it still has that horrible "Monilith" feel to it. I've never felt they've been able to get the feel right in an FPS (going all the back to Shogo), and Fear has the same problem: It isn't responsive enough. The weaponary in particular is too slow to fire and too slow to stop firing after you stop clicking.

It has a good atmosphere though, and the story is interesting me already. Lovely sound effects and some of the firefights look really spectacular. Running the game in maxed out detail is really quite something, and I'm pleased my machine can run it without a hitch. When nothing is happening in the game it actually looks very bland, so I'd say the HL2 engine still beats it, however the amount of stuff flying around, and the cool smoke, really livens things up.

It is a must buy for me, but I'm ready for a few flaws. The combat, though good (excellent AI, as already mentioned. Can't believe they managed to trick me so well!), doesn't feel at all responsive. It's almost as if I'm not the one playing.

Anyway, to try again on easy

[marcus]

I find it tricky also, although again I find myself struggling to remember what key I assigned to what, there always seems to be one or two commands that I cant fit to a natural position on my media pad >_<

[anephric]

The A.I. was pretty good, but my last frame of comparison would be Pariah, where said A.I. consists of enemies disco-dancing in front of you.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Just played through it on extreme difficulty. The AI is superb, really feels like fighting highly intelliegent opponents.

I'm surprised to hear the negativity towards Fear. I do get the Max Payne comparisons, but the level of intensity of the gunfights in Fear is truly awesome and puts it into an entirely different league. Monolith really know how to make great games so I have no doubt this will be a winner.

[Spatial]

Having played through it again just now (with the shadows off so it did run a bit smoother but not by much) there are lots of neat little touches to this game that have drawn me in.

I love the way that the F.E.A.R. charcters fade out of the cutscene where they're are talking about you (by kind of going all misty and gassy).

And the magazine on the bench which proclaims "Event Horizon discovered"

I also really love the distorted scream in the intro that awakens the clones.

Can't beleive that I missed the particle gun. I'm going to play through it again now so just so I can get it

Also Pete, what's your system specs?