F.E.A.R Xbox 360 Full Game

[Plisken]

excellent game! easily one of the best xbox live games as well, the deathmatch and slowmo modes are incredibly solid...ace acheivements as well, well bloody hard!

[TEENWOLF]

Been playing this the last couple of days and I'm very impressed with it.

Didn't really get away with the demo I played but thought I'd give it a chance due to the love felt for it on here.

Reminds me of playing a Hollywood blockbuster at times, the use of sound is excellent, especially in 5.1

I don't think I'll ever tire of whipping out my shotgun and blowing some dude in half and watch him fly backwards in glorious slow-mo

[Yoshimax]

Yeah it's a strange one at times it can look very blocky and low tech but at others (pumpy to the mouth in slow-mo guy flying back with light bouncing off him and oodles of blood) it can look stunning.

Best thing is when slow-mo runs out half way through a clip - the sound transition is outstanding

[Paulos G]

I lent this to a friend when I first finished this and he dropped it back round today.

As I hadn't played in about five/six weeks I decided I'd have a quick go on Extreme and was instantly reminded how good this game is.

I got about half way through the 3rd interval today (and will chip away at it in future). Tension level really ramps up on Extreme. Manging ok against the bog standard bad guys but not looking forward to the

->Open Spoiler<-

uber stealthy and swift ninjas of doom

!

[Unwell Cat]

Still playing this game and loving it. The AI is some of the best I've come across. It needs a patch though to add some kind of lobby to the multiplayer so you don't have to quit out to start again.

[Number45]

This thread is older than I was expecting!

Firstly I want to temper this post with the fact that I'm playing the PS3 version, so it's entirely probable that a lot of my concerns stem from that.

I'm a fair way through this now (Don't think I have too far to go, I've just dropped into an area where I need to look for Harlan and/or Alice Wade), and while I'm enjoying the game there are a couple of points that the game always seems to get kudos for that I personally am not feeling.

First things first though, this game doesn't perform particularly well on the PS3. It's showing it's age obviously - it has some really nice lighting and shadow effects, but when there's a lot of them going at once the engine really seems to have difficulty keeping up.

More of a concern for me is the audio mix, which seems completely ****ed up. Having a decent surround setup is usually a big boost in a shooter, where you can often hear the location of the enemy long before you need to engage, but it's so out of whack in this that I've basically had to play through the game ignoring the audio cues, as everything seems to be the wrong way round. All other PCM stuff through the PS3 is fine for me, so perhaps it's a problem with the DTS decoding... I don't know. :/

I will give props to the AI. I'm only playing on the Normal difficulty mode, but for the most part the enemy AI is immune to tricks you can normally employ with success on other shooters (Most notably the ability to bait them into traps) and they will attempt to flank you if the option is available to them (Which is extra effective for me with the audio problems, as it confuses the **** out of me! ), even tracking you through a totally different route.

It's a shame the explosives aren't more abundant in the game, because using them is a lot of fun (Took out one of the rocket heavies with three well placed proximity grenades and two of the remote bombs last night). I always feel like I need to conserve them for more tricky encounters.

I remember when the game was released, it reviewing particularly well because of the feel of the guns, but I have to say I'm not feeling this at all. None of them seem to pack any particular kind of punch at all. I've gone through the game using pretty much just the combat shotgun, assault rifle and penetrator (Switched out with a sniper rifle or rocket launcher if they're available and the situation demands it).

And lastly I find the delivery of the story really ineffective. The game doesn't seem to bother to provide any real explanation of what I'm doing (And why, as a rookie point man, I'm the only person actually doing anything in the game), despite having the constant comms link to the command team. The box that pops up in the top left to tell you who's talking is so small it's impossible to determine the name, and the audio sound bytes are really difficult to pick up over the ambient noise (Though again that might be down to the audio problems I'm having).

Mostly negative comments, but I've still enjoyed the game up to this point. Too much more of it and I might start struggling.

[rmoxon]

This thread is older than I was expecting!

Firstly I want to temper this post with the fact that I'm playing the PS3 version, so it's entirely probable that a lot of my concerns stem from that.

I'm a fair way through this now (Don't think I have too far to go, I've just dropped into an area where I need to look for Harlan and/or Alice Wade), and while I'm enjoying the game there are a couple of points that the game always seems to get kudos for that I personally am not feeling.

First things first though, this game doesn't perform particularly well on the PS3. It's showing it's age obviously - it has some really nice lighting and shadow effects, but when there's a lot of them going at once the engine really seems to have difficulty keeping up.

More of a concern for me is the audio mix, which seems completely ****ed up. Having a decent surround setup is usually a big boost in a shooter, where you can often hear the location of the enemy long before you need to engage, but it's so out of whack in this that I've basically had to play through the game ignoring the audio cues, as everything seems to be the wrong way round. All other PCM stuff through the PS3 is fine for me, so perhaps it's a problem with the DTS decoding... I don't know. :/

I will give props to the AI. I'm only playing on the Normal difficulty mode, but for the most part the enemy AI is immune to tricks you can normally employ with success on other shooters (Most notably the ability to bait them into traps) and they will attempt to flank you if the option is available to them (Which is extra effective for me with the audio problems, as it confuses the **** out of me! ), even tracking you through a totally different route.

It's a shame the explosives aren't more abundant in the game, because using them is a lot of fun (Took out one of the rocket heavies with three well placed proximity grenades and two of the remote bombs last night). I always feel like I need to conserve them for more tricky encounters.

I remember when the game was released, it reviewing particularly well because of the feel of the guns, but I have to say I'm not feeling this at all. None of them seem to pack any particular kind of punch at all. I've gone through the game using pretty much just the combat shotgun, assault rifle and penetrator (Switched out with a sniper rifle or rocket launcher if they're available and the situation demands it).

And lastly I find the delivery of the story really ineffective. The game doesn't seem to bother to provide any real explanation of what I'm doing (And why, as a rookie point man, I'm the only person actually doing anything in the game), despite having the constant comms link to the command team. The box that pops up in the top left to tell you who's talking is so small it's impossible to determine the name, and the audio sound bytes are really difficult to pick up over the ambient noise (Though again that might be down to the audio problems I'm having).

Mostly negative comments, but I've still enjoyed the game up to this point. Too much more of it and I might start struggling.

Its not that the engine cant keep up as it was fine on other machines, from what Ive read the PS3 port just isnt very well done. But having said that....

Compared to F.E.A.R. 2 the gameplay is lacking in a few areas, and as I mentioned in the sequels first play thread only yesterday Monolith are a good developer but seem to struggle when telling a story.

It's a good game but its certainly not the masterpeice it was originaly said to be by the press ect...

[Number45]

Its not that the engine cant keep up as it was fine on other machines, from what Ive read the PS3 port just isnt very well done.

Yeah I know it wasn't terribly well received, which is why I've taken so long to pick it up (Loved the NOLF series so I always keep an eye out for Monolith games). It's definitely more than adequate if you don't have access to either of the other versions though, in case anyone's wondering.

[MattyD]

The thing with small text on the screen is the same on all platforms. PC games typically use small text and HUD displays because they're made under the assumption that you'll be sitting at a desk, right in front of the screen. It seems that when they ported it they just didn't think to change it.

Of course this works both ways as well, since any multi-platform game that appears on consoles and PC always gets bashed by PC die-hards for having 'huge console-style HUDs that fill half the screen'

The weapons thing I think is something to do with the lower framerates on the console ports. I've played the PC and 360 versions and the 360 game felt completely different, especially the sense of connection with the melee attacks.

[abigsmurf]

One thing with FEAR is that it did have an excellent AI system and areas designed to take advantage of it. Really took the shine off of HL2's comparatively simplistic AI

[Number45]

Blimey, each time I think the game's going to end it opens up a whole new area/building!

I have to say I really enjoyed the section I played last night, where you work your way through a building trying to find Harlan/Alice Wade. A really good mix of action and quiet parts - at the moment I think I enjoy the game the most when nothing is going on, it's really doing a great job of tensing me up at those points.

[Uli]

FEAR is superior to FEAR2 in many ways for me. the combat was simply more fun, the weapons and gadgets were better, more useful and you had to really use them all. the AI is more challenging too. story? well, i found the storytelling a little less crazy in FEAR and therefore a little more interesting. also there is the great instant action mode, which is sadly missing from the successor.

[rmoxon]

FEAR is superior to FEAR2 in many ways for me. the combat was simply more fun, the weapons and gadgets were better, more useful and you had to really use them all. the AI is more challenging too. story? well, i found the storytelling a little less crazy in FEAR and therefore a little more interesting. also there is the great instant action mode, which is sadly missing from the successor.

I completely disagree with this.

F.E.A.R. has a flashlight that runs out every 5 seconds, the combat relies far too heavily on the slow motion mechanic, and the level design often feels uninspired and down right boring at times. Plus nearly every single scare in the game is based around a little girl popping up out of the dark.

In comparison F.E.A.R. 2 has a flashlight that dosent run out and is no longer a hinderence, the combat has been fine tuned so that the bullet time is still helpful but not so essential. The level design is more varied both in setting and in layout, with more intresting set peices and more stand out moments. And finally while the game attempts to be less scary, that just means there arent as many moments where a little girl pops out in an attempot to scare you, it never gets dull.

Overall the sequel was a MAJOR improvment.

[Number45]

I have to agree that the flashlight is a pain in the first game. I'll find myself moving around, stopping to recharge it then carrying on - which is a bit clumsy. I don't have a problem with the battery running down, I just think it should have lasted considerably longer.

Each of the past three nights I've played this I've felt like I was close to finishing the game, and each of those nights I haven't got there. While I hadn't had a problem with the copy/paste environments in the game (Because the gameplay's fun enough to make it a non issue) up until now, I am starting to get bored with them based on the length of the game. At a guess I'd say I've played it for 12+ hours (Don't think there's any stat tracking in the game), and that's on normal without hitting any bottlenecks (Though I'm not one to rush through games).

I have the bonus mission unlocked already as well, which is odd as I haven't finished the game. No idea what that is yet.

[rmoxon]

If its the same as the 360 version then Im pretty sure the bonus mission is unlocked as soon as you start the game.

in it you just play as one of the regular team members, so you dont have any powers to slow down time. It lasts about five minutes and is generaly pointless.