You would think that Monolith and Sierra were in trouble when id announced that Quake 4 would release on October 18 - the same day as F.E.A.R. was scheduled. Call of Duty 2 was pushed back a week to avoid direct conflict with the launch of these biggies. So who won? If you go by the reviews, then F.E.A.R. has won the battle of the FPSes, scoring higher than the other two. On a whim, I pre-ordered F.E.A.R. after enjoying the demo. When id announced Q4 on the same day, I was wondering if it was a wise decision to go with F.E.A.R. over Quake 4. Now, I haven’t played Quake 4 yet, so I can’t compare the two games. But I am almost done with F.E.A.R. so here goes my review.

Gameplay & Presentation:

The game has been advertized as being a hyper-stylized FPS with cinematic quality action. And if you play the game, you will realize that they were not lying. The storyline is strong and keeps the player engrossed. Gameplay is also of a high standard with superb action and amazing firefights. You get to carry 3 weapons and 5 each of 3 types of grenades with you. You can switch to a different weapon if you desire - but of course at the price of one of your 3 weapons. Hence, it is essential that you have a good balance. Usually, the shotgun and the Assault Rifle are good weapons to keep all the time; you can keep switching the third one as per your needs. Now you may ask where does the hyper-stylized combat come in? Well, you have incredibly smart AI, ricocheting bullets, greande explosions, SloMo, kicks and punches, and what have you. Also, the element of mystery is very strong in the game. There is more than one mystery that you will want to unravel; although the two are inter-related. Like I mentioned earlier, the AI is very impressive. The clone soldiers will take cover behind objects, peek around the wall and fire, lob grenades, and co-ordinate attacks. They will even kick or punch you if they get too close. Thankfully, the shotgun is more than capable of blowing them to smithereens within close range. What’s cool is the ability to zoom with any weapon - it slows you down but makes your aim more accurate. Some weapons such as the Particle weapon and the ASP Rifle have dedicated zoom too. Another nice touch is that when carrying heavy weapons such as the Rocket Lacuncher, you slow down a bit. Fighting the same clones over and over again does tend to get a little boring - but enemy variations every now and then keep the game fresh. There are the heavy armor guys - heavily armored (DUH!) and armed with Penetrator (sounds a little gay, I know) guns that need shotgun blasts along with grenades to kill. Another one is a robot that fire rockets straight at you - Takes a lot of hits to kill. The health system in the game is fairly unique and works well. You can carry upto 10 medkits with you, and you can use them by pressing the Z button. Also, you get health and reflex boosters that boost your health and SloMo time. Armor is rare but protects well against enemy fire. The environments though, don’t vary much. Although it is hard to see how they could be different - it would have been nice if there were different maps posing different challenges. The Save system is excellent in this game. Not only can you save the game at any point, you also get checkpoints and autosaves to help you out in case you forget to save.

Graphics & Sound:

Graphics in this game are top notch as expected. The F.E.A.R. engine churns out amazing visuals rivaling those produced by DOOM 3 and Half Life 2. The game is very heavy on system requirements - I run it at 800×600x32 with everything on medium and get about 30fps average. The game actually includes a test you can run from the menu which will playback a sequence from the game and then list the framerates - much better than having to use console commands to calculate the fps. The walls and flooring show damage when they take bullets. The lighting effects are excellent too - they match those of Doom 3 and add to the mood of the game. The game also supports EAX effects which enhance the sound output. Sound is a key element of this game as you need to pay attention to enemy radio chatter and footsteps. You will also hear voices saying weird things - sentences that plunge you deeper into the mystery.

Replay value & Multiplayer:

The game seems to be fairly short and multiplayer is limited. Hopefully, the mod community will come out with a bunch of new maps for this game as that will keep interest alive in the game. I have not yet tried out the multiplayer mode and will update this review once I have tried my luck in online match-ups. Most levels in the game do not have much replay value. You could play the game again with higher difficulty settings but other than that, there is really not much motivation to go through the game all over again. The first time round, you are eager to solve the mystery and get all your questions answered - second time on, you already know what is going to happen. Those who love the firefights in the game, though, might want to go back and replay some of them. The strong AI makes the game challenging even at the default difficulty.

Conclusion:
The game is certainly one of the best shooters out there right now. And with Quake 4 getting average reviews, if are stuck in limbo, go with F.E.A.R. Superb graphics, smart AI, great gameplay, etc. etc. make this a fantastic game. This game comes highly recommended for all FPS fans that can run the game as decent settings. I promise, the experience will be mind-blowing.

Score: 9.5/10

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