Reviews for Sierra F.E.A.R.

Worth the hype, but the game should be longer

Strengths: Intense action, very suspenseful with intelligent horror, good AI, great graphics and effects, love the bullet time, great "horror movie" begining and ending

Weakness: story drags a little in the middle, TOO SHORT!

F.E.A.R. has so many heart pounding moments of pure fright; very fun to play at night with the sound turned up. This game scares you at a mental level rather than cheap gore or monsters jumping out of closets Doom 3 style. The 2 primary enemies you're after the whole game are psychics, and they mess with your mind alot; they can make you see and hear things that aren't there, unfolding your shadowy past. The bullet time is more fun and effective than in Max Payne, and this ability has a story behind it that unfolds with the rest of the plot ("You were born here...I was there"). Play the game on it's hardest mode, and the AI will give you a good challenge throwing grenades to flush you out, cover fire while you are flanked, set up ambushes, retreat from you when you overpower them; it's intense. Great multiplayer; watch the videos online for P.A.N.I.C.S. created by the minds behind Halo's Red vs. Blue. I LOVE the "horror-movie" ending to this game. My only real problem with the game is that it is too short (the sole reason it got a 4 instead of a 5). It needs an expansion pack or some mods to come out to extend the single player experience.

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A great FPS!

Strengths: Weapons, slow-motion, graphics, creepy story and vision sequences, enemy AI.

Weakness: Some levels a little bit repetitive.

Good:

A really fun game that looks great. Unique combination of action and horror; shooting and suspense. F.E.A.R. is Dark, moody, creepy and was made with alot more imagination that Doom 3. The creators were obviously Japanese horror fans.

Slow-motion took some getting used to but ended up being fun to use and really helpful when the combat got too crazy.

The weapons recoiled and were LOUD. When something exploded near you, your ears would ring for a few seconds. Shooting things was immensely satisfying. The AI was fairly intelligent and challenging. They would react to your flashlight or if you made any sound and then stalk you.

The visions you have were scary and could actually hurt you.

Played great on my Dell 8300 with a gig of ram and a Ge-force 6600GT.

Bad:

Some levels, particularly the office building, got to be a bit repetitive. I never want to listen to another damn voicemail again.

I didn't find the game to be overly challenging in terms of enemies or puzzles. There was always tons of ammunition and healthpacks laying around. It was much easier to beat than Half-Life 2 or FarCry IMO.

Overall:

A huge amount of fun to play. Worth the $35 I spent on it.

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F.E.A.R. (PC)

Strengths: great graphics, good enemy AI, fun spooky story, good assortment of weapons and enemies

Weakness: None

I enjoyed FEAR immensely. I enjoy First Person Shooter single player campaigns and FEAR is one of the best/unique stories for a FPS. Added to that some jump in your seat moments and it lives a very good lasting impression.

As a member of an elite First Encounter Assault Recon team you have the unique ability to move very fast due to super reflexes. But for playability this is implemented as "bullet time" where you move normally but everything else is slowed down. You have a limited amount of time to use bullet time before you have to recharge it.

The graphics are very good in this game, the enemy AI is very clever (they will take alternate routes to get around behind you) and the story is a lot of fun.

You get a variety of standard weapons and some unique ones too (like a "nail" gun that will penetrate the enemy and the wall and cause them to be propped against the wall even when dead, or the "lightening" gun that will leave charred bodies scattered about.) You can only carry three weapons at a time so you're constantly shuffling weapons to keep the ones with the most ammo and a nice mix of types (sniper type vs. machine gun type vs. shotguns etc). You also have 3 types of grenades that you can use, standard throw and blow up grenade, a proximity grenade that can be places and will blow up when enemies get close enough and a remote control grenade that you close when to detonate.

But the thing that makes FEAR different from most FPS games is the spooky story. The game is dark in places but not too dark (like Doom 3). There's lots of blood and carnage. And there are times when you just jump out of your seat when someone or something jumps out/appears at unexpected times. Doom 3 tried to do that but with less success - monsters would spawn behind you so often that you came to expect it. With FEAR you rarely expect the surprise and often the surprise isn't an enemy and doesn't require you to kill anything.

I would definitely recommend this game to anyone that enjoys playing the single player campaigns of FPS games. FEAR multiplayer is available via free download now so the only reason to pick this game up is for the campaign - but it's well worth it.

[Beware of the expansion pack though. The developer and publisher have split up and the publisher is making games under the FEAR name but the "real" sequels will be coming from the developer under a different name.]

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F.E.A.R.

Testseek.com has collected 30 expert reviews for F.E.A.R. and the average expert rating is 87 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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