Now Playing: F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R. is a first person shooter that originally released way back in 2005. It’s a rather cool mix of intense action and psychological / supernatural horror. I played it at release multiple times. Like many players, I loved the gunplay, I was impressed by the enemy AI, and I liked the horror elements. But 2005 was a long time ago. So how does F.E.A.R. feel to play now?

Well, the gunplay is still great. The weapon selection may seem rather small, but every weapon is fun to use. The shotgun is immensely satisfying as your enemies explode in a cloud of red mist. The assault rifle packs a hefty punch as each round slams into the scenery. The Type-7 particle weapon – a name I had to google because I’ve always just called it ‘the skeleton gun’ – turns people into skeletons and that never gets old. Oh, and how can I forget about the Penetrator that lets you nail enemies onto walls?

And the environment is so reactive to these weapons – concrete and dust fly out from bullet impacts, computers explode, glass shatters and overhead lights swing wildly from the concussive blast of a grenade. Every shot from both you and your foes feels like it has a substantial impact, real weight, and an immediate and devastating effect on the environment around you. It makes shoot outs in F.E.A.R. all the more intense.

And then you add ‘reflex’ time into the mix – the ability to temporarily slow everything around you. It’s almost majestic to watch as you see each round fly towards its target. You can observe a grenade arc in the air as it heads towards your enemies – they’re already dead, they just don’t know it yet. Or, better yet, hitting reflex in a small room full of enemies and blasting each one point blank with a shotgun. First person shooters are rarely this fun – which I guess is why F.E.A.R. is still held in such high regard, even today.

And the enemy AI also holds up as they take cover and try to flank you as a team. They know how to use grenades properly too. What really sells the AI though is the audio as you hear their radio chatter reacting to your actions. The enemy variety, like the weapon variety, also isn’t great. You’re mostly fighting the same standard soldiers from beginning to end. There are a few ‘heavy’ type variations and some really f**king annoying (and I wish weren’t in the game) drones, but that’s about it.

In terms of story, F.E.A.R. does a decent job of leading you through the twists and turns of its narrative. There’s not really any cut-scenes interrupting your play, nearly everything is handled through radio dialogue or information you uncover as you progress. It’s a story I like but the horror aspects certainly aren’t as effective now as they were in 2005. It’s actually kind of amazing how many of the jump scares I remembered just before they occurred. F.E.A.R. is one of the those games that you almost wish you could erase your memory of playing just so you can experience it for the first time all over again.

All that said, F.E.A.R. does feel quite dated when it comes to level design and progression. There’s a lot of copy / paste corridors and office spaces. There’s a lot of crawling through vents. There’s a lot of completely nonsensical building layouts that only make sense if you remember you’re playing a video game. I hate to say it, but the actual levels you play through in F.E.A.R. really aren’t that good.

You can wrap the game up in about 6 hours, and a lot of that 6 hours will be pretty repetitive shoot outs in repetitive locations. Thankfully, the shoot outs are always fun as f**k, so you don’t really mind, but the moments in between when you’re crawling through yet another series of vents does get a little tedious.

Overall, F.E.A.R. holds up pretty solidly today at least in terms of the action. Everything else may be a little dated, but the core gun play is still as enjoyable now as it was back then and that’s what makes F.E.A.R. still worth checking out. I did play F.E.A.R. 2 at release but I can’t recall much about it aside from the ending which . . . goes places. I never played F.E.A.R. 3. Maybe I’ll have to give 2 another spin in the future and maybe even pick up 3 when it next goes on sale.

7/10