Gameplay in FEAR can be broken into three categories: scary, combat, and walking between scary and combat. FEAR is one of the few games in recent memories that actually did creep me out on a consistent basis. There are some really good scares in the game and not just the cheap “monster closet” crap that was so liberally used in Doom 3. This is the perfect game to play in the dark with the sound turned up late at night as the folks at Monolith did a great job of creating a tense, scary, “did I just see something move over there in the corner or is it just my imagination” mood in the game. I’ll talk about the combat section later on but FEAR does sport some of the best firefights I’ve played in a FPS. Alas there is also a bit of walking around with nothing happening. You’ll uncover some of the plot points in the game during this section and work your way through a few puzzles but they just feel like filler between the other two main gameplay types.
At the basic level FEAR is your standard every day first person shooter. You’re going to spend your time moving around and shooting almost everything that moves. The game features almost every FPS cliché in the book. From the generic office and warehouse locations to levels full of crates and explosive barrels, it’s almost like there was a checklist of things that had to be in the game. While these things do make sense in the context of the plot it gets a bit old quickly as you spend most of your time in a dark corporate tower. It’s like my day job except they turned the lights off. I’d also like to state that the Armacham Company has to be one of the most safety conscience companies I’ve ever seen as you can’t go more than 50 steps without seeing a medical kit.
FEAR does bring a few new things to the table though. The first is the SloMo mode which while it’s not unique (it’s a bullet time mode that we’ve seen in other games like the Max Payne series) the execution is one the best I’ve seen in a game. I like the fact that that enemy characters actually react to when you are in the mode by saying “He’s too fast for me” and other similar things. The SloMo mode also works well because of the addition of the new melee combat mode. Not only do the enemies slow down but you can actually see all of the bullets (incoming and outgoing) that have been fired which makes it a lot easier to dodge them. The sound effects even slow down while you are in SloMo which is a really nice touch as is the cool sound the game makes when you enter and exit the mode.
For me though, the biggest new feature is the afore mentioned melee combat system. It’s nearly perfect and allows you to do a lot of really cool moves when used in conjunction with the SloMo system. When you are standing still you do the standard rifle butt to the head move that you’ve seen in other games like Call of Duty and Halo. Where the game really shines though is that in addition to the standard mode you can also perform spinning kicks (ala Ken in the Street Fighter series) and flying scissor kick (similar to Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat series except without the bizarre yelling). This system allows you to take packs of enemies out in some amazingly cool ways. My favorite move of the game was hitting SloMo, jumping at the first guy in a group and taking him out with the flying kick and then taking out the two guys behind him with the shotgun. It sounds kind of dorky but it’s the first time I’ve pulled off something that cool in a FPS game.
The firefights in FEAR are another area where the game really shines as the gun battles have a very cinematic feel to them. What Monolith has done is to add all kinds of particle effects and graphical touches to world so that when you shoot a wall not only does it leave a mark but it also kicks up dust, creating clouds of debris that obscure your vision. It doesn’t sounds like much but after getting in some major battles you are often left with a smoke filled room that takes a while to clear.
Speaking of weapons there aren’t a lot in the game. There are only seven or so unique weapons in the game but you can only hold three at a time along with three grenade types (proximity, throw and forget, and trigger release). You have your standard pistol (which you can dual wield), a sub-machine gun, machine gun, nail gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, plasma sniper rifle (with hot disintegrating action), and repeating cannon that you pick up near the end of the game. It’s a nice mix and you’ll use all of them through out the game. I’m not normally a fan of the pick up a new weapon and retire the first set of weapons you get game play as it’s another way of marking your progress through the game but in FEAR the weapons set works pretty well. The grenades are a lot of fun as well. You have your standard throw and forget grenades as well as proximity mines which you throw and then try to bait bad guys into stumbling onto them. The final type of grenade allows you to attach the grenades to surface (or bad guy) and then detonate them remotely. Effective for when you know someone is going to come through a particular area or when you can get close enough to someone to attach them and then run away.
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