 |
(J.P. Dozier) |
With the release of F.E.A.R. 3 coming June 21st, I thought it would be great to do a review on the series. Since the release of F.E.A.R. in 2005 by Monolith Productions, the games have what true gamers love: 1. The games actually correlate with one another. Not just creating games that do not follow the storyline to the other ones (I hate when they do that). 2. There is lots of violence, blood, more violence, scenes that scare the piss out of you when you play and being able to ride around in a kick ass robot that you blow stuff up with.
 |
| Riding in the robot was one of my favorite parts of the game. |
When you have all of those great features of a game, how could you not go wrong? I am thinking poor advertising. Or they have been making most of their sales on the PC. From what I have been reading about it, more people prefer it on PC than the consoles. These games have been getting scores of 8/10 or higher by many reviews but have sold under a million copies for since their release. Remember, this is for Xbox 360 and PS3, not the PC. I dunno the figures they have in sales. F.E.A.R. has sold only 930,000 since 2006 and F.E.A.R. 2 with only 810,000 since 2009.
So lets go into what the games are about now.
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. They are the squad of soldiers that get sent into missions involving paranormal threats first before anyone else gets involved. Very secretive stuff you know. You are playing as one of the squad members, you have no name, who have been sent to investigate a facility that has been taken over by a cannibal that's psychically controlling thousands of slave clone soldiers and causing a small-scale war to break out in a large American city. Now, for some reason, you are the only soldier of F.E.A.R. that can get anywhere near the combat without losing you mind or melting into a nasty glop of flesh, so it is up to you to eliminate the psychic commander, Paxton Fettel, in order to stop his control over the clones.
Now, throughout the game, you get to encounter a young girl named Alma. She is a little creeper. To be honest, nothing scares me more than little creepy children... Oh man, she freaks me out. Anyway, she has been kept in a facility because she is a "special" child. By special, I mean she has these paranormal powers and can mess you up in an instant if she wanted to... yup...
 |
| Meet Alma... Yeah, she creeps me out too. |
Enough of that creepy girl, you get to see plenty of here in the series. Anyway, let's move on shall we.
Game play and Graphics
When it comes to the graphics, I have to admit that they were pretty good for its time. Even though its time was only six years ago. The way everything worked together was awesome. The gun details, the way characters were wounded and killed, great stuff. The game play is a lot of fun. A definite break from playing the same games over and over again. Mainly for me, Black Ops. I love the game but man, I need a break from it. The game was fun to just go around and shoot everyone in sight and get freaked out by a nine-year-old child... good times.
 |
| The violence, the chaos, the kick ass weapons... |
Final Score: 4/5
All-in-all the story was great and so was the game play. Because the graphics of today's games are so good, this game might not look the best but they are still good.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Well, it is time for the second game of the series. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origins is a continuation from the first F.E.A.R. You play the role of Sgt. Michael Becket. You and your team get deployed just minutes before a huge explosion set by the first F.E.A.R. goes off. What started off as a routine mission has now turned into a fight for survival. Not only has Alma returned and grown up, but you also have to deal with Colonel Vanek, leader of the ATC (Armacham Technology Corporation) clean-up crew. With Alma's powers growing stronger, you and your team must find a way to destroy her and to make it out of the apocalyptic landscape alive.
 |
| Say hello to Alma... If she didn't freak you out in the first one... |
The graphics have definitely improved since the first F.E.A.R. and so have the weapons. My favorite was the Hammerhead. The Hammerhead is a very powerful nail gun that can nail your enemies to anything. To see its awesomeness you have to play the game, but here is a picture of what she looks like...
 |
| This is my baby... Oh she is purty... |
As you are playing the game, you are losing your sense of reality. Alma is getting into your head, as if she is trying to show you something. Most likely to mess with your head but who knows. In this game, you have to fight off soldiers and replica soldiers and ghosts, oh my... Alma has the ability now to raise the spirit of a fallen soldier and do her bidding.
 |
| Yup. Now you can ask Ted for the money he owes you... |
 |
| These are replica soldiers.... Pretty much, failed Government experiments. |
These creatures will pop out of nowhere just to get a piece of you, and Alma, from time-to-time, will try to get her hands on you as well... Good times. You have been given the ability to slow time down, which can be at your advantage at times and for other might be the only way to survive. You are also able to jump over tables and kick them over for cover when needed. To be honest, sometime I would knock tables over just for fun.
As you play, freakier things start to occur and it is harder for you to obtain your sense of reality. There are a lot of weapons to go through and enough enemies to try them out on. You must find a way to finally finish Alma and end her reign of terror.
Final Score: 4.5/5
One thing I didn't like about it was there was something about the movement I didn't enjoy but I think that it is because I have been so used to Call of Duty, that it just throws me off a bit. But that is just me.
F.E.A.R. 3 or F.3.A.R. as the logo has placed it.
Nine months ago, the F.E.A.R. Point Man and his squad were tapped to stop an unknown man who had commandeered a battalion of Replica supersoliders at the Armacham research facility in the Northwestern US city of Fairport. During the mission, the Point Man learned that the man was not working alone - in fact, the very people the Point Man was ordered to subdue were his telepathic, cannibalistic brother, Paxton Fettel, and his tortured and psychically powerful mother, Alma Wade — products of Armacham Technology Corporation's perverse paranormal experiments. Despite this revelation, the Point Man moved forward with standing F.E.A.R. team orders to stop the targets at any cost. In a last-ditch attempt to end the pair’s homicidal rampage, the F.E.A.R. team set in motion an explosive series of events that seemingly accomplished their goal, but at the cost of ravaging the city, its inhabitants and almost all of the Point Man’s squad mates.
For months following the blast, events in Fairport have made it clear that Alma’s psychic influence survived — and worse, her paranormal power is growing and spilling into reality. Now her supernatural agony repeatedly rocks the city as she attempts to secure the survival of her bloodline and reunite her family. Armacham’s security force remains violently focused on eliminating all evidence of the events in the city, and the remaining F.E.A.R squad carries on the mission to stop Alma.
You have to decided which side you belong to: Your Brother, Your Mother, or with the F.E.A.R squad. This sounds like there are multiple ways to play this game. I love it when games have replay value.
I am pretty excited for the release of this game on the 21st. There are new features to this game, such as co-op. If you want to play split-screen, you have to beat a level as Point Man. There are also four game modes that are going to be included in F.E.A.R. 3 multiplayer. The four game modes are "Fucking Run" "Contractions" "Soul Survivor" and "Soul King". "Fucking Run" features 4 players running through waves of enemies, all the while running from Alma's massive "Wall of Death." The players start off in a safe room and proceed through levels, killing enemies within a certain amount of time. There are several safe rooms throughout the mode, and if a player is downed, one of the co-op players can revive them. If one player is killed the game is over. "Contractions" is a survival round-based game mode where you must barricade and stock up weapons against 20 waves of enemies from the F.E.A.R. 3 single player, similar to Call of Duty's "Nazi Zombies," although the farther you increase through the waves the tougher it gets by adding a fog effect that creeps closer and closer making the map much more dangerous. "Soul Survivor" has four players pinned against each other with one player playing as a "Spectre" in which he or she has to possess enemies to kill the other three players and turn them into Spectres before the time runs out. "Soul King" is similar to Soul Survivor but with the exception that all the players play as Spectres and must possess enemies to kill each other and collect dropped souls. Teamwork and cooperation is needed for players to win in the game modes.
This game has given me some High Hopes, so it better not fail me. I will return to this blog with a final review on F.E.A.R. 3 To give it my final score. Hopefully it will be as amazing as it seems, or will it fail miserably. It better not fail. I leave you with an awesome story trailer on F.E.A.R. 3. Enjoy.
Review
I have to just start with, this game has been my favorite out of all the F.E.A.R. games. You have two characters to play. Initially you play as Pointman, Alma's youngest son. In order to play as Paxton Fettel, the eldest son, you either have to beat the game as Pointman or join someone in Co-Op campaign. When playing the Co-Op campaign, you are able to work together with whomever you paired up with or compete against one another for the title of "Favorite Son".
 |
| Brothers working together to kill... How sweet. |
In the game, there are challenges you can try to achieve to rank up. Unlike the older F.E.A.R. games, in order to increase your special abilities, you have to find items. Ranking up allows you to increase health/regain, special meter, and even learn more melee moves. You can gain experience from playing the multiplayer as well. Each mini achievement is based on 4 challenges; Aggression, Tactics, Psychic, and Aptitude. Aggression challenges range from killing a certain number of enemies with different weapons. Tactic challenges range from taking cover for a certain amount of time to killing enemies from cover. Psychic challenges range from obtaining psychic links to random dead enemies to finding Alma's doll someone per level. Aptitude challenges are based on your special abilities, slowing time down (Pointman) or possessing some for a certain amount of time (Fettel).
There are two different endings to the campaign and they are based on which character (Pointman or Fettel) had completed more of the challenges.
 |
| Not everyone can be the favorite. |
When it comes down to the plot of the campaign, it is pretty much a continuation from F.E.A.R. 2. The background about the brother, you learn from flashbacks during the game. But that is only when they were children, nothing much of from then to now except you (Pointman) were ordered to kill your own brother and for some reason you and your dead brother must go to Alma for the birthing of your new brother. Not well detailed plot wise but if you don't mind the missing information, the campaign is still a lot of fun.
For the campaign and multiplayer, they did bring back the power suits. I was happy that they did. There are two different models. There is the original power suit, large and slow with missiles and shields. The newer one is smaller and faster, having a sprint option, shooting lazers and explosive rounds. In the multiplayer, one of the levels (that I have seen so far) you get to use the newer one but have to battle the larger ones. In campaign, Pointman and Fettel can operate but Fettel can only use it if he is possessing someone.
 |
| Oh the Power suits. Majestic. |
When it comes down to the enemies, there are some old and new enemies to kill. You are still having to deal with Armacham soldiers. However, some of them, mainly the leaders of the squads, have the ability to teleport more grunts into battle or teleport through walls. They are heavily armored and if your Pointman, have fun. If you are Fettel, you can lift them up to slow them down from their attacks and even possess them, you have to weaken them first and you don't have their abilities. You do get to have their armor though.
 |
| They can be a real pain at times. |
The Scavengers are dog-like creatures that are manifested from the traumatic experiences Alma faced while being experimented on. These creatures always hunt in packs so be careful. The Creep. Its origins is unknown and will pop out of nowhere at times. What can be said about it is it even frightens Alma. That cannot be good. Finally you have the Cultists. These people have a zombie-like appearance. They are not zombies. These group of people have had the unfortunate experience to have been exposed to Alma's psychic energy. Their brains have been linked to hers and have gone completely insane worshiping Alma.
 |
| Here puppy? |
The online multiplayer is a lot of fun when playing with friends or even random people. As previously stated before, here are details of the game modes. The four game modes are "F***ing Run" "Contractions" "Soul Survivor" and "Soul King". "Fucking Run" features 4 players running through waves of enemies, all the while running from Alma's massive "Wall of Death." The players start off in a safe room and proceed through levels, killing enemies within a certain amount of time. There are several safe rooms throughout the mode, and if a player is downed, one of the co-op players can revive them. If one player is killed the game is over. "Contractions" is a survival round-based game mode where you must barricade and stock up weapons against 20 waves of enemies from the F.E.A.R. 3 single player, similar to Call of Duty's "Nazi Zombies," although the farther you increase through the waves the tougher it gets by adding a fog effect that creeps closer and closer making the map much more dangerous. "Soul Survivor" has four players pinned against each other with one player playing as a "Spectre" in which he or she has to possess enemies to kill the other three players and turn them into Spectres before the time runs out. "Soul King" is similar to Soul Survivor but with the exception that all the players play as Spectres and must possess enemies to kill each other and collect dropped souls. Teamwork and cooperation is needed for players to win in the game mode. They all are fun to play but if I had to pick a favorite, I would have to pick "Contractions". You are able to build barricades, go out an scavenge and it has a twist. Alma will wonder around the stage, if you happen to look directly at her, bad things happen to you. You might be teleported somewhere, lose ammo, health, or just be blinded. Who knows.
 |
| Be careful not to become corrupted. |
Here is a video of someone playing F***ing Run. The wall of smoke is what you need to stay clear of.
FINAL SCORE: 4.5/5
F.E.A.R. 3 is an awesome game to play by yourself or with friends. All the multiplayer games are a lot of fun and awesome to kinda goof around with. The thing I didn't like is how the plot left out a lot of information on the characters. That is pretty much it for me. I love everything about this game other than that. So go out and get the game if you haven't already and enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment