My thoughts on FEAR

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2006-05-09 01:37am

Just bought the game last saturday and I finished it today. And thats with a work day today no less. Kinda a short game, though very engrossing. The graphics are incredible. Even better, it runs on a slower system smooth as can be and still looks incredible. The game play is very solid and likeable. The firepower, accuracy, and capabilities of the weapons are all portrayed at a nice mid ranged realism level.

The storyline to FEAR was really sweet. Totaly engrossing. You want to finish it to see WTF is going on.

One other thing. The game scared the shit out of me. And it didn't use the cheap tactics that Doom 3 did. No, FEAR really does a good job playing mind games with you. Gah, the sounds in the background of the complex once Alma is let loose absolutely fuck with your head. And the phantoms. Gah!

I love the game and I intend to never play it again because it creeped me out that much.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2006-05-09 01:49am

Ah, you have tasted glory.

Welcome to the club, I suppose.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2006-05-09 01:50am

Fuck you :p

FEAR barely runned on my buddy's system, which ran HL2 and Doom 3 as smooth as silk. Stupid under-efficient shit!

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-05-09 01:52am

Yeah, saying FEAR is good for lower spec machines is laughable. Many mid-range machines struggled with it.

But hey, he *liked* the super-cheap phantoms.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2006-05-09 01:54am

My machine isn't exactly lower spec, but I was told I could barely run FEAR. Instead the game looks beautiful, and the settings are not very high. Runs smooth as can be.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-05-09 02:03am

You're a big HL2 person, so how do you think it compares? When it came out, people felt that it's performance/quality ratio wasn't good enough to compete.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-05-09 03:26am

I didn't like FEAR. Too little variety in things, and annoying requirements. It looked a lot cruddier than HL2, which runs far better and looks better (thanks to great textures mostly and crisp ones.)

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-05-09 03:40am

Alyeska wrote:
I love the game and I intend to never play it again because it creeped me out that much.

Heh..., kinda feel like the same thing, altough I think I'll play it once more, if only for the levels in the office building (my favorite part by far)

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-05-09 04:06am

You *liked* the horribly long, monotonous AMC building? That area was so crap I stopped playing for days, and only came back to finish it (and see the rubbish ending). It was almost Halo Library-bad - endless basically identical areas, a turret here, a lab here, a chain-link fence here, a floorplan that makes no sense. Terrible.

However, on reflection, perhaps better than the FPS standards like 'the sewer bit' and 'the ruined building bit' and 'the warehouse bit'. FEAR originality = zero.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-05-09 06:31am

Stark wrote:You *liked* the horribly long, monotonous AMC building?

Clean, tidy offices filled with expensive equipment ready to shoot to smithereens? Hell yeah I loved it

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-05-09 06:35am

wautd wrote:Clean, tidy offices filled with expensive equipment ready to shoot to smithereens? Hell yeah I loved it

Heh. Someone else on the eternal mission to Destroy All Glass.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2006-05-09 06:56am

FEAR was like dumping tar into a diesel engine.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2006-05-09 07:12am

What really killed FEAR on my system has having the physics settings up too high, the damn thing needed to be lowered a notch before it stopped chugging. And more ram than 512mb

wautd wrote:Clean, tidy offices filled with expensive equipment ready to shoot to smithereens? Hell yeah I loved it

Someone has repressed hatred there

or in this case not so repressed.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-05-09 07:31am

Actually it reminded me of ye ol Crusader games where you could also shoot cool weapons at guys in armored suits in a destroyable office environment, only this time in first person (and far better AI)

Well that, and the repressed hatred

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2006-05-09 09:36am

But without the snaaaaaazzy red battle-armor. ...Dammit, now I want to play Crusader again.

Post by **Vympel** » 2006-05-09 10:24am

White Haven wrote:But without the snaaaaaazzy red battle-armor. ...Dammit, now I want to play Crusader again.

Too bad you can't without an old PC, because god fucking hates us.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-05-09 10:24am

Vympel wrote:
White Haven wrote:But without the snaaaaaazzy red battle-armor. ...Dammit, now I want to play Crusader again.
Too bad you can't without an old PC, because god fucking hates us.

I belive the latest FreeDOS version lets you play it.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2006-05-09 10:51am

Sorta a moot point, as I'm at work.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2006-05-09 10:52am

Crusader runs fine on my computer with DOSBox.

Captain Cyran · Post by **Captain Cyran** » 2006-05-09 11:28am

Ah, FEAR. Couldn't play it myself as my computer isn't good enough yet. But my roommate played it so I got to watch. Very good game, actually got my Roommate to scream and jump. Favorite part was in the office.

Me: Did you see something move?
Roommate: No.
Me: I could've sworn I saw something move...
*A few seconds later*
Roommate: HOLY FUCK! NINJAS!

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-05-09 01:19pm

FEAR is a total systems hog. I despise it for that. But it was a fairly good FPS with a few repetative environs and an endgame that was a little dissapointing in gameplay but really good in the dramatic payoff.

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » 2006-05-09 04:11pm

I completed FEAR on Saturday. I bought it at Christmas. I could have done it quicker, but 1. it scared the shit out of me and 2. I took a few months of break because the office scenes got boring.

However, I think its certainly a fantastic game. I wouldn't say its graphics are anything brilliant, the surfaces reflect too much (I think everything has a sort of glow even if it shouldn't have, ie soldiers, and a lot of the objects have a 'soft' appearance), but its physics are good and the weapons are reassuringly realistic without being OTT.

FEAR is really the first scary game I've played. I've had a bash at Doom 3 at a friends, but nothing has really come close to FEAR's ability to make me go 'HOLY FUCK *runs away from computer*'. A couple of magic moments include the point early in the game when you walk to the end of a gantry, press to go down the ladder, and as the characters viewpoint turns Alma is stood RIGHT BEHIND YOU! Also, lights flickering and Alma scuttling across the floor towards you before evaporating, the guy leaning round corners to look at you then disappearing. The vision scenes are also pure magic, the way in which they are integrated into the 'RL' game is truly inspired.

It does get a bit repetitive in the office, and most of the time I was just running and gunning and not really knowing why. Clearer objectives would be good, and points where you team work with the AI rather than all your companions mysteriously becoming injured/being gibbed/getting shot so your on your own.

The end was a bit of an anti climax I thought, I was expecting something amounting to a boss fight or major challenge, but I just shot the nuclear cell thingies, then ran the fuck away. there was that vision which involved shooting daemons, although they were one shot kills in 'RL' as well, which could ahve been done better for more challenge. Then you get to the surface, shit blows up, and you miraculously survive. Cue cliffhangar ending. Certainly not the most difficult point in the game.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-05-09 04:15pm

The game didn't scare me because a) it's stupid 'lolz boo' scaring and b) nothing scary EVER happens in the shooty bits. If you go a few corridors without seeing one of the WORTHLESS genetically engineered, centrally controlled soldiers, there is a scare coming. If you JUST saw an idiot soldier, there is NOT a scare coming. Weak-ass design. Seriously, there'll be some guys, then a creepy pipe drippy-water area, with a scare, then back to corridors with soldiers. It's jarring once you notice, and I noticed right at the start.

Pint0 Xtreme · Post by **Pint0 Xtreme** » 2006-05-09 07:40pm

There was one part in the game where there was a scare during a fight scene. In the office building, while running through a whole bunch of clones, Alma crawls out of a cubical towards you.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-05-09 07:47pm

Really? I only remember the tunnel-Alma, that was just after or during a gun battle (depending on how thourough you are). But my pulse skyrocketed when I hadn't seen a bad guy for ten seconds, because it meant there was some 'boo ghost lol' moment coming up.

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My thoughts on FEAR

My thoughts on FEAR

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