Review: F.E.A.R. 3 (Campaign)

Fear is a powerful emotion. It can bring even the strongest men to their knees. It is an emotion that game designers have strived to exploit since the medium began, yet only few have captured it's magic. When the original F.E.A.R. hit PCs in 2005, it was immediately apparent that Monolith was taking a large gamble. If the game failed to deliver on the name's promise, the new IP would sink fast. Luckily, Monolith not only succeeded in scaring the audience, they also happened to have created one of this generations most impressive shooters thanks to some amazing AI, diabolical weaponry, and brooding atmosphere. After one successful sequel and several satisfactory expansions, FEAR has landed a new home at Day 1 Studios, the minds behind the MechWarrior series and the console ports of the original FEAR. Has Day 1 carried on the legacy of one of these generation’s most frightening franchises or has FEAR finally lost its shine?

F.E.A.R. 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Developer: Day 1 Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros.
Release date: June 21, 2011 (North America)

FEAR 3 continues twisted story of the vengeful psychic, Alma Wade, who is now pregnant after raping the hero of FEAR 2 in hopes of continuing her terrifying legacy. Players will play as one of Alma's two children as they race against the clock to stop their mother from giving birth and ending the world. This concept, born from the minds of John Carpenter and Steve Niles, fits the bizarre universe like a glove but never comes together in a way that is as shocking or satisfying as either prior entry in the series. As a result, FEAR 2 ultimately ends up feeling like the high point of the franchise (from a narrative perspective anyway).

Despite the outside talent that was pulled in to write the narrative, I was shocked to find that FEAR 3 is not only not scary, but actually void of the tension that made the prior games so unique and frightening in the first place. The number of ghost appearances is shameful and the ones that do crop up rarely evoked anything more than an eye roll. While the frights may not inspire the dread that the first game did, the game does portray a healthy amount of atmosphere and mood to distinguish this game from your typical shooter.

All is not lost however because FEAR 3, despite all of it's missed opportunities, still delivers on a pure gameplay level. Fans of more complex and engaging shooters like Battlefield and Halo may be disappointed however thanks to the Call of Duty style controls and mechanics. At it's core, FEAR 3 is the definition of a B-tier shooter, akin to games like Singularity and Metro 2033, but as a fan of these styles of games, I would never classify that as a bad thing. Shooting feels solid and satisfying and when coupled with the slow-mo mechanic, firefights can be quite thrilling. A simple but effective cover mechanic also goes a long way in making the game feel modern and relevant.

Unfortunately, the things that keep the game from feeling relevant are things like enemy and weapon design. As a general rule, enemies that spawn smaller enemies are frowned upon and things are no different here. Some of the most frustrating parts of this game stem from segments where the player is forced to deal with these ridiculous enemies. It is also a shock that so many of the enemies in the game are soldiers and almost no effort was made to create frightening enemy types. Furthermore, the weapon selection is a bit lacking, even if the guns provided do feel visceral and satisfying at the end of the day. Even the mech sequences are mundane at best. Like the Turok series, FEAR is yet another franchise that slowly lost sight of its focus on the things that launched its initial success.

It is easy to assume by now that I hated FEAR 3 after reading the number of complaints I have with the game. Surprisingly however, I actually enjoyed my time with the game quite a bit. While some of the design choices can be called into question, I am always in support of trying something a little bit different. Structurally, FEAR 3 unfolds in clearly distinguished levels that can be replayed after completion in an attempt to rack up higher scores or beat previous time records. That's right, Day 1 took a fresh approach to the games structure by incorporating a point system that constantly monitors your play style and encourages variety through challenges. Like this year's Bulletstorm, players will constantly be contributing points to their score by performing a multitude of different attacks and combos. Using a variety of weaponry and making use of slow-mo in clever ways will achieve much higher scores at the end of each level, a feature that I’ve heard adds a certain addictiveness to the co-op play. This addition to the game is a welcome change that demonstrates a certain amount of design credibility on the developer’s part even if other aspects of the game fell short.

There is no denying that FEAR 3 is an inferior game to its predecessors. I spent 9 hours with it and managed to find a lot of problems that I simply couldn't overlook but somehow, I managed to enjoy it. In the end, I think I have affection for atmospheric-shooters, a genre that was pioneered by games like Bioshock and the original FEAR. Thanks to some solid shooting mechanics, a newly designed game structure, and healthy amount of brooding, I think there is still a lot to like about FEAR 3. Not to mention some exciting multiplayer modes and the ability to play co-op with a buddy and FEAR 3 is actually an impressive package. It is too bad that the overall experience will be inevitably compared to the games that came before it, games that adhere to the winning formula much better.

70%

(70-74%: Solid; major issues)
(Inferior to its predecessors in almost every way but still delivers a moody, visceral shooter experience)