F.E.A.R. Gameplay

The game is not very long, but shooting the same soldiers that look identical through eleven chapters is a bit too much. Ok, these soldiers are clones, but some other characters could have made the gameplay much more interesting. Through the chapters you will encounter also other soldiers who are invisible or heavy armoured or even somekind of robot,

and policemen, but after you end the game you will remember only those soldiers present in every chapter of the game. Is like playing some kind of Counter Strike single player mod with bots.

Learning curve and Weapons

The learning curve of the game is steep. While the beginning of the game is really difficult, especially for newcomers, from the middle to the end you can easily control the dynamic of the game. That's because of the weapons which you will find along the way that are more powerful than the pistol or the sub machine gun from the beginning of the game. Despite other shooters, F.E.A.R. has a balanced arsenal which consists in copies from real weapons (Rakov pistols, the combat shotgun, the submachine-gun, the assault-riffle, the ASP riffle) in combination with futuristic ones (the HV Penetrator, the repeating cannon, the particle weapon, the multi rocket launcher) and grenades (fragmentation grenades, proximity mines, remote bombs). More than this, you can carry only three weapons at a time. You will not be as 'Serious Sam' carrying the whole arsenal with you. Anyway this will help you in trying all the arsenal and choosing the one that suits you. The ammunition becomes more and more hard to find along the game. This will make you use also the grenades and even the martial arts movements that you character can make. Anyway, these are rare moments and in general you will use weapons. Along the whole arsenal you have also the ability of controlling the time. This means bullet-time effect.

Again present in a game, this effect is still contemporary and gives a new dimension to the game. Imagine a multiplayer game where every player has this ability!

Dynamics

Ok, so what is still valuable in this game? The dynamics of the gameplay. These are influenced by three factors:

1) Enemy A.I.

This is far from being a real A.I. by all its meanings, but is very well done. The enemy knows how to use the environment, knows when they lost a man and knows how to search your location. A patrol can begin their search immediately they hear you or one of them sees you. They don't do the same movements and next time you quickload the game they are not in the same place. On wide locations they can even ambush you from all sides.

2) The physics engine

Amazing physics engine and ragdoll effect. Try to view an explosion in slow motion. Everything is flying in the air including objects from around the explosion, showers of sparks, clouds of smoke. Also the bullets do visual damage to walls and floors and blood of the victims is everywhere. The space around the explosion is distorted giving you the feeling of an explosion blast. Using the HV Penetrator, which uses some kind of nails in place of bullets, you can actually thrust the enemy into the wall.

The particle weapon disintegrates the body of the enemy, letting only his bones lying on the floor. This effects are not so explicit like the ones from "Soldier of Fortune", but are somehow more realistic creating a darker atmosphere.

3) The graphics

A combination of Doom 3 and Halflife 2 engine, the graphic in F.E.A.R. is a high fidelity one. The characters faces are even more realistic represented, comparing with "Far Cry" and every object is rendered using the latest technology. This is a true DirectX 9 game, because it's using all the effects that a high-end video card can support.

The backside of the graphical engine

Unfortunately, the graphic engine is not used in the correct environment. From the beginning until the end, you run through industrial and office corridors, as well as in some internal yards. Only the dynamical gameplay keeps you continuing the game. The environment objects, like crates, barrels, bottles, shelves, desks, chairs, etc, are plenty. Everything can be moved. The enemy even overthrows shelves in front of you when taking cover. The design level, gives you the impression of an environment created only for testing the physics engine. Comparing to "Penumbra", which is a physics engine experiment, F.E.A.R. looks much emptier. Moreover, F.E.A.R. is a standalone game.