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[SapientWolf]

Got the game, I hope it's not as short as people say.

I imagine it is if you don't ever die. But I think you might die a few times on the highest difficulty setting.

 

[PooBone]

I wanna know how scary this game is. So far all I've seen is action action action. Loved the atmosphere in Fear 1. Less so in Fear 2 but it was still a fun playthrough.

 

[Totobeni]

uh..man....dude...not like this, Not like this..

*sigh*

So yeah just finished it ( yeah it was short, really short), I can't believe the amount of crap in this, what a pathetic single player, fuck this piece of shit, fuck it to oblivion, and fuck Day 1 Studio for ruining the entire Fear story.

-Awful single player, shallow and really horrible story and all over the place,boring cutscene and nothing interesting going on most of the time, they tried to copy FEAR 1/2 classic structure and failed miserably at everything.

-There was nothing new at all to Fear formula aside from the stupid sticky Killzone cover system, the cover system is pointless as this game and don't really work in fear universe since it should be all about the slo-mo and this copy of Killzone cover system is really don't work well with that and caused some problems to me.

-The gun fights are boring, oh man, really boring and they lasts too long, game throw so many enemies to you at once ( because they put co-op mode as default), and gunplay is boring,and yeah it's repetitive as hell, Corridor-gun fight-Corridor-Corridor-gun fight-gun fight-watch something-repeat..*puke*, FEAR 1 and FEAR 2 give you awesome encounters and were balanced very well so you don't get bored, but here there is nothing good at all.

-Bad weapons, and horrible levels design, pathetic enemy A.I, lack of classic pda to listen to and anything that give you backstory, you are cluless most of the time, the lack of Monolith Productions here was clear as a golden penis under the sun in this soulless ripoff of the franchise.

-Game is short, like really short, you can alone beat it start-to-finish in one sitting, sure you can replay with ugly Fettel or on harder difficulties, but the levels are so damn boring, I for one don't want to even touch the game again, there is nothing worthy to return to.

And on the Story, two bad bad things completely put me off...

-The shitty good ending

Spoiler

so that it for Alma, she "vanished" after given birth and PointMan will rise his "normal" baby sister now, and Fettel -a ghost- killed again by a bullet..again ( and yeah it was a fucking its just a cutscene you don't kill him yourself).

that was it? really? bwhahahahahhahahahaha, smh.

-

Spoiler

Killing Becket ( FEAR 2 hero) just like that? really Day Shit studio? not even making him doing anything good for fans sake at least, what the hell is wrong with you people..wow,unforgivable

It's like Day 1 Studios saying "fuck you" to Monolith Productions and Fear fans ( maybe because Monolith said F.E.A.R. Files (Extraction Point/Perseus Mandate) is not canon? I dunno, but they for sure don't care at all about FEAR universe.

Overall

4/10

I'd say, Avoid it at all costs ( or maybe rent it or buy it used for $5 ),One of the worst FPS this year.

Just like Deus Ex: Invisible War and DMC2 ,I refuse to put this shit excuse of a game as canon with Fear 1/2,what a horrible sad end for Fear series.

 

[jakonovski]

Eurogamer gave it

Spoiler

an 8

. That's enough for me to play it coop with a friend as soon as it hits the first sale (with my backlog I cannot justify full price purchases anymore).

 

[Corky]

uh..man....dude...not like this, Not like this..

*sigh* .

Feels like a divisive game. Can't wait for it to unlock tomorrow, hopefully I'll be in the "liked it" camp. Hopefully.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

uh..man....dude...not like this, Not like this..

*sigh*

I've yet to play the game (I'll wait for Boxing Day or something), but your post made me laugh (and confirm my decision to wait on a price drop).

I wonder if there will be a FE4R. Also, to be fair... Steve Niles wrote the story, was it his decision/idea for certain plot points?

FE4R should cross over with Condemned. That'd be cool.

 

[dak1dsk1]

I'd say, Avoid it at all costs

Seconded.

 

[SapientWolf]

Feels like a divisive game. Can't wait for it to unlock tomorrow, hopefully I'll be in the "liked it" camp. Hopefully.

The truth is somewhere between the extremes. There's an Onlive demo for people on the fence.

 

[Corky]

The truth is somewhere between the extremes. There's an Onlive demo for people on the fence.

As I've said before, I'm willing to put up with quite a lot of bullshit just in order to not play another modern military shooter again.

I want some weird weapons
I want some weird enemies
I want some weird psychic stuff

 

[FlyinJ]

Has anyone on the PC been able to ever find a quick match under multiplayer? Even when I set the options to "any mode, any difficulty", right after pressing quick match it says no matches found.

 

[Xander51]

uh..man....dude...not like this, Not like this..

*sigh*

I agree with you as well. The game is well-produced on the technical side, the engine still looks great and the framerate is solid. The story is total nonsense however, and a complete waste of everything that happened before.

 

[MrWhitefolks]

I 100% agree with the complaints about the plot, and I'm pretty pissed as well in regards to it (it's as if they built the story/stage design to work within the co-op game, and as such you lose any character/tension/horror the game had).

But it must be said that the mp in this title is amazingly FUN, and while not making up for the 'fuck you' the story gets (as well as the fans), it definitely adds to the package (far more so than the standard deathmatch/ctf stuff that is shoehorned into titles) and stays true to the co-op experience they were aiming at.

In all honesty I don't think we'd be as disappointed if this wasn't a FEAR title. As it stands, this is a horrible sp followup to an amazing franchise, with a great mp component tossed in.

 

[Stitch]

Steamversion just unlocked in Europe and HOLY SHIT this is one ugly motherfucker!! :O

It doesn't let me use my monitor resolution (1280x1024) so that's already one reason why it looks blurry. Another reason is, there's some weird ghosting (heh) going on. Annnddd of course the FOV sucks. Damn i want to play this but it makes me sick

 

[NullPointer]

uh..man....dude...not like this, Not like this..

*sigh*

-Bad weapons, and horrible levels design, pathetic enemy A.I, lack of classic pda to listen to and anything that give you backstory, you are cluless most of the time, the lack of Monolith Productions here was clear as a golden penis under the sun in this soulless ripoff of the franchise.

Overall

4/10

I'd say, Avoid it at all costs ( or maybe rent it or buy it used for $5 ),One of the worst FPS this year.

I figure I'm about half way through Interval 3, and woah... You are right on the money. This is a very, very mediocre shooter.

There is literally zero plot. Zero. Zilch. Nada. None that I've seen anyway.

You start a level with no weapons or with just a pistol, walk through some areas, psychically link with some bodies (which does absolutely nothing as far as I can tell), fight some bad guys, some more bad guys, even more bad guys, and then their reinforcements. Weapons feel weak and the enemies move too quickly for a lot of rewarding down-the-sights action.

You carry two weapons max and have regenerating health, so it feels like somebody trying to rip off COD, failing at it, and throwing in some parlor tricks and calling it F.E.A.R. The cover system works better compared to the first two games, mechanically. I mean, you can depend on being able to find and get into cover pretty easily. But it doesn't "work" for this style of game, and like Killzone you'll probably take pains to avoid attaching to cover most of the time so you can keep a sense of freedom of movement and aiming.

There are no scares, not even the slightest hint of mystery or tension. You're fully aware that every bit of dynamism to the game or the environments comes about through triggered mundane actions like opening doors or climbing ladders (cue random noises and flashes of light). The trigger volumes are very apparent and the gating is so much in your face so the whole time you don't get a sense of involvement in anything more than just a room full of dudes, followed by the next. It feels very gamey, especialyl with all the challenge progress bars and XP notifications popping up. You even get XP for picking up ammo - its pretty ridiculous.

So, here I am playing this guy - the prototype. Why am I here, in this place? What am I doing? What are my goals? Why are those my goals? Well, you get maybe three sentences on a level load screen, but zero context. No audio files or intel or anything else to go by, none of the environments tell a story on their own, so it ends up feeling just like a bunch of random levels thrown together.

The only thing that makes this game F.E.A.R. is the special effects and beasties that randomly do random stuff randomly. That and the every present squawk of troopers and their radios and chatter.

Graphically I think FEAR 2 kills this in every way, but that may just be a better handling of lighting in that game. Areas in this one are either washed out or pitch dark. Pray for the dark, because there's not much worth paying attention to otherwise.

I think if this game has any saving grace at all it must be co-op, because the single player campaign and "solo practice" modes just don't have anything new or even interesting to offer on their own. That and I think the level I'm currently in, named "Store" might be one of the worst shooter levels I can remember playing. Its a level where you can just park in a spot and wait for the endless train of zombie AIs to run directly into your gunfire, and it continues for so long you get bored to tears and wonder just why the hell you're wasting the time to do it.

Yeah. I don't get it. I had a great time with the first two games, but this installment is Treyarched to hell and back to use a weird analogy. Its not only outdated, but outdated compared to its own previous games.

I'd much rather be playing F.E.A.R. or F.E.A.R. 2. In fact, I think I will...

 

[Symphonic]

uh..man....dude...not like this, Not like this..

*sigh*

I agree for the most part, though I found the gunfights fairly fun. Multiplayer > Singleplayer in this game, for sure.

The scathing review wasn't necessary, though. It's not like the F.E.A.R. story was anything worth keeping to start with.

 

[NullPointer]

I agree for the most part, though I found the gunfights fairly fun. Multiplayer > Singleplayer in this game, for sure.

The scathing review wasn't necessary, though. It's not like the F.E.A.R. story was anything worth keeping to start with.

I'm not huge on story to begin with (although I appreciate backstory and attempts at storytelling), but when you ditch the story, and the context, and any character from the level design, enemies, or protagonists, what are you left with? In this case, A COD-ified FEAR with a Killzone cover system and a shitload of enemies.

That's all there is, and if that's all anyone needs, there are a ton of better games out there, including the two previous FEAR games.

But I guess if you want something FEAR-ish that has co-op and multiplayer this is your only avenue.

 

[Symphonic]

I'm not huge on story to begin with (although I appreciate backstory and attempts at storytelling), but when you ditch the story, and the context, and any character from the level design, enemies, or protagonists, what are you left with? In this case, A COD-ified FEAR with a Killzone cover system and a shitload of enemies.

That's all there is, and if that's all anyone needs, there are a ton of better games out there, including the two previous FEAR games.

But I guess if you want something FEAR-ish that has co-op and multiplayer this is your only avenue.

It was uninspired, sure, but the game wasn't designed around story. When you look at how much they put into the points system and what not, it's obvious that the game was designed to be more arcade-y.

I've always been under the opinion that you can't fault a game for doing what it was meant to do well, and I believe that F.E.A.R. 3 provides a solid arcade shooter experience, just with a coat of F.E.A.R. paint.

That's why I enjoy the multiplayer more. It feels like they're not trying to fool you into believing there's a story when you're doing ridiculous things like possessing players and running from giant walls of death.

 

[NullPointer]

I've always been under the opinion that you can't fault a game for doing what it was meant to do well, and I believe that F.E.A.R. 3 provides a solid arcade shooter experience, just with a coat of F.E.A.R. paint.

Thats a fair point.

My expectations going into this was to see more of what I liked about the previous FEAR games, only with an XP progression system and some new modes. Yeah, this is something very different.

 

[legacyzero]

Damn the haters. This game is SOOO good. If anything, Contractions and Fucking Run are worth the price of admission.

 

[eshwaaz]

I put another hour into the campaign tonight (now about 2 hours in), and it's just not very good. Weapons feel weak, enemy deaths are floaty and weightless and the level design is completely uninspired. It's not just the locations and aesthetics, it's also that the level layouts and pacing are poor - they just don't flow very well.

I really liked the first F.E.A.R. and somewhat enjoyed the second, but F.E.A.R. 3 so far is a very middling and forgettable experience. As someone who has no interest in multiplayer, I'm really regretting my purchase.

 

[legacyzero]

I dunno if this has been mentioned... But does this game feel like a spiritual successor to Condemned 2 to anybody else?? (which isn't a bad thing at all.)

 

[Gvaz]

I agree with you as well. The game is well-produced on the technical side, the engine still looks great and the framerate is solid. The story is total nonsense however, and a complete waste of everything that happened before.

This is nothing less than what I originally suspected.

 

[bubnbob]

I dunno if this has been mentioned... But does this game feel like a spiritual successor to Condemned 2 to anybody else?? (which isn't a bad thing at all.)

lol. interest in F3AR now zero. Pass. Condemned 2 was so bad.

 

[Gvaz]

Condemmed 1 was bitchin. I wish the PC got Condemmed 2.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

Ok I got the PS3 version. I'm after a long sp session.
Man, it's a disappointment.
First a major fuck up at the start. Get this. The game has option to switch shooting from R2 to R1 right? If you chose main control scheme and switch R2 to R1 the game fucks up the controls: you lose the separate grenade button and it lands on R1. You shoot and throw grenades at the same with R1! How the fuck this game shipped with such a bug?

Other then that the game isn't scary at all. It's not even eerie. It pretends to be scary but it does shit of a job at it. It's obvious that the game is designed as a co-op romp.
Some "rooms" are well designed for a flanking battle, but overall whole levels are bland and dull. Graphics are mediocre.The shooting is done quite nice, but after a 6 or 7th mission I'm just bored shitless. It's such a romp.
Enemies, again, pretend to be smart, but only thing that they get right is shit talking. "Fuck! I'm hit!"

That is the problem with this game: it "pretends" to be Fear but it's not. It doesn't even have any of it's atmosphere.

I wanna know how scary this game is. So far all I've seen is action action action. Loved the atmosphere in Fear 1. Less so in Fear 2 but it was still a fun playthrough.

It's not. At all. It's an arcade romp. Oh and I forgot: the game has so fucking loud(even on low volume) music and it's fucking bad.

 

[Fair Trial]

How's graphic in the pc version?

Considering the steam version for the achievements. : )

 

[frequency]

uh..man....dude...not like this, Not like this..

*sigh*

*snip*

Overall

4/10

I'd say, Avoid it at all costs ( or maybe rent it or buy it used for $5 ),One of the worst FPS this year.

Just like Deus Ex: Invisible War and DMC2 ,I refuse to put this shit excuse of a game as canon with Fear 1/2,what a horrible sad end for Fear series.

So not only is this particular game bad, but they ruined the series story wise?

That's too bad...
Other than Half Life, F.E.A.R. was the only FPS series I cared about.

 

[SapientWolf]

How's graphic in the pc version?

Considering the steam version for the achievements. : )

Serviceable, but not great. And there's some kind of weird frame doubling that kicks in when you move, which causes judder. I wouldn't recommend buying the PC version unless they patch it.

I really wish you could slide into cover. I also wish you could vault cover without sticking to it. It's best played as a frantic shooter on the hardest difficulty, but your character isn't very agile.

 

[Stitch]

And there's some kind of weird frame doubling that kicks in when you move, which causes judder.

Yes, this plus some weird blur. It's really not pretty and gives me a bad headache :-/

 

[plagiarize]

Since this sounds like a game I should avoid, I am left wondering what else monolith are working on other than that batman downloadable game.

 

[Nizz]

Ok I got the PS3 version. I'm after a long sp session.
Man, it's a disappointment.
First a major fuck up at the start. Get this. The game has option to switch shooting from R2 to R1 right? If you chose main control scheme and switch R2 to R1 the game fucks up the controls: you lose the separate grenade button and it lands on R1. You shoot and throw grenades at the same with R1! How the fuck this game shipped with such a bug?

Other then that the game isn't scary at all. It's not even eerie. It pretends to be scary but it does shit of a job at it. It's obvious that the game is designed as a co-op romp.
Some "rooms" are well designed for a flanking battle, but overall whole levels are bland and dull. Graphics are mediocre.The shooting is done quite nice, but after a 6 or 7th mission I'm just bored shitless. It's such a romp.
Enemies, again, pretend to be smart, but only thing that they get right is shit talking. "Fuck! I'm hit!"

That is the problem with this game: it "pretends" to be Fear but it's not. It doesn't even have any of it's atmosphere.



It's not. At all. It's an arcade romp. Oh and I forgot: the game has so fucking loud(even on low volume) music and it's fucking bad.

Thanks. I was looking for PS3 impressions. Man the game sounds awful. How in the hell do they ship a game with a control bug like that? Crazy. I love to use R1 to shoot but damn grenades are on the same button too? Hope they plan on patching that.

@ Totobeni and NullPointer: Thanks for your impressions as well. Fuck, this game sounds like such a disappointment. It's like the devs had no clue what specifically made the F.E.A.R. games unique. I only played the first F.E.A.R game but I loved it. The combination of awesome gunplay, AI, and "The Ring" type vibe throughout the game sounds completely missing in FEAR 3.

I might give it a go when it's discounted a bunch.

 

[Yurt]

Wow, something feels really off.

I want some weird weapons
I want some weird enemies
I want some weird psychic stuff

That sounds like Prey to me.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

Thanks. I was looking for PS3 impressions. Man the game sounds awful. How in the hell do they ship a game with a control bug like that? Crazy. I love to use R1 to shoot but damn grenades are on the same button too? Hope they plan on patching that.



I might give it a go when it's discounted a bunch.

It's a bug on one of 4 control schemes, but it's the one I use so I have to deal with R2 shooting. It's a pain.

 

[eshwaaz]

Other then that the game isn't scary at all. It's not even eerie. It pretends to be scary but it does shit of a job at it. It's obvious that the game is designed as a co-op romp.

My feelings as well, which likely explains why the level layouts feel so bad in single player.

That is the problem with this game: it "pretends" to be Fear but it's not. It doesn't even have any of it's atmosphere.

Agreed. Day 1 really missed the mark.

Oh and I forgot: the game has so fucking loud(even on low volume) music and it's fucking bad.

YES - I keep turning down the music volume, but it still overwhelms.

 

[luka]

uh..man....dude...not like this, Not like this..

*sigh*

Sad, but basically exactly what I expected. Time to replay the first two and disregard this slagheap. Where art thou Monolith.

 

[SapientWolf]

Sad, but basically exactly what I expected. Time to replay the first two and disregard this slagheap. Where art thou Monolith.

I don't think FEAR 2 is in the same echelon as FEAR 1. Fear 2 and Fear 3 reviewed about the same.

 

[luka]

I don't think FEAR 2 is in the same echelon as FEAR 1. Fear 2 and Fear 3 reviewed about the same.

I agree! But if nothing else 2 had some decent level design and that glorious mindfuck of an ending.

 

[Grisby]

So hardly any story or scary bits?

 

[delta25]

So let me get this straight, Fear 2 is now considered a good game?

SMH


Granted I liked Fear 2 a lot but the majority of gamers when Fear 2 was released (especially PC gamers) didn't like it one bit. As far as Fear 3 is concerned, I'm liking the game quite a bit.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

I agree! But if nothing else 2 had some decent level design and that glorious mindfuck of an ending.

Yeah Fear 3 makes me appreciate Fear 2 a hell of lot more. Thinking about reinstalling it.

 

[NullPointer]

The last thing FEAR needs is regenerating health, a two weapon limit and a Killzone "attach to cover" system.

You can see such a stark difference between Fear 1 and the later games, especially Fear 3. In Fear 1 scenarios were designed and balanced for that health and armor bar, and didn't even require the slow time ability to progress. But once you throw in regenerating health any sense of *design* to engagements or any sense of balance goes right out the window. You can throw an unlimited swarm of bad guys from any and all directions and just leave it to the player to work out since they can always hide and regenerate. Its lazy, and a crutch, and no its not just a FEAR 3 problem, but it stands out so much more when you play FEAR 3.

That and I honestly don't understand the desire for an attached cover system in a game with time slowing. Cover based combat slows things down as it is and attaching to cover kills your mobility, limits your firing angles, and turns frenetic engagements into stop and pop where you're aiming at extremities peaking out of cover instead of center of mass or headshots. FEAR has always had a very light cover system but it was never necessary.

Finally, Monolith understood how to use their parlor tricks and level design to create a certain atmosphere of dread, even if the game wasn't scary in itself. When they played with the lights and sounds in FEAR 1 and 2 it felt more organic than the mechanistically triggered sequences in FEAR 3.

I just have to toss this in the pile with Killzone 3, Fable 3, and Resistance 2 as sequels that actually devolved. At least I got a $20 Amazon credit out of this.

 

[plagiarize]

Yeah Fear 3 makes me appreciate Fear 2 a hell of lot more. Thinking about reinstalling it.

Fear 2 was okay to good for me. The DLC they made was good, but short. If you haven't played that, you should give it a go.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

Fear 2 was okay to good for me. The DLC they made was good, but short. If you haven't played that, you should give it a go.

I did with the dlc. I had the same opinion, but compared to F3, now F2 is great!

 

[SapientWolf]

The last thing FEAR needs is regenerating health, a two weapon limit and a Killzone "attach to cover" system.

You can see such a stark difference between Fear 1 and the later games, especially Fear 3. In Fear 1 scenarios were designed and balanced for that health and armor bar, and didn't even require the slow time ability to progress. But once you throw in regenerating health any sense of *design* to engagements or any sense of balance goes right out the window. You can throw an unlimited swarm of bad guys from any and all directions and just leave it to the player to work out since they can always hide and regenerate. Its lazy, and a crutch, and no its not just a FEAR 3 problem, but it stands out so much more when you play FEAR 3.

That and I honestly don't understand the desire for an attached cover system in a game with time slowing. Cover based combat slows things down as it is and attaching to cover kills your mobility, limits your firing angles, and turns frenetic engagements into stop and pop where you're aiming at extremities peaking out of cover instead of center of mass or headshots. FEAR has always had a very light cover system but it was never necessary.

Stop and pop doesn't work in most cases because the enemies will flank or toss grenades. They will also shoot right through the cover. So in practice it's a slightly more tactical run and gun shooter.

The cover system is faster and more fluid than manually ducking and leaning, but the game doesn't force you to use it if you don't want to. It's just one more tool in your arsenal. It's one that most players are going to want to use, because the enemies are very accurate and the point man isn't very bullet resistant.

 

[samus4ever]

I really like this game. Playing through as Fettel is even better.

 

[Zeliard]

The last thing FEAR needs is regenerating health, a two weapon limit and a Killzone "attach to cover" system.

You can see such a stark difference between Fear 1 and the later games, especially Fear 3. In Fear 1 scenarios were designed and balanced for that health and armor bar, and didn't even require the slow time ability to progress.

This is exactly the thing so many people unfairly target FEAR for. It's seen as one of those "slow-mo" mechanic games when that feature was actually completely unnecessary.

Playing FEAR 1 on Hard difficulty WITHOUT using the slow-mo is the most intense, kinetic experience you can have in shooters. It's unrivaled both in how it looks and how it feels. Battles are very quick and bloody, over in the blink of an eye and completely exhilarating.

 

[NullPointer]

This is exactly the thing so many people unfairly target FEAR for. It's seen as one of those "slow-mo" mechanic games when that feature was actually completely unnecessary.

Playing FEAR 1 on Hard difficulty WITHOUT using the slow-mo is the most intense, kinetic experience you can have in shooters. It's unrivaled both in how it looks and how it feels. Battles are very quick and bloody, over in the blink of an eye and completely exhilarating.

Couldn't agree more. Been looking and hoping for more of that kind of magic ever since.

 

[Appollowexx]

Played through the first interval. PC version.

Initial thoughts -

Intro / credits were pretty slick.

Controls and gunplay feel different. I've noticed this with each FEAR game released, they all handle slightly differently.

The guns feel clunky, shotgun is pretty awesome but not on the same level as the shotgun from the first game. Other weapons feel weak.

I really like the colour pallette, bright explosions and lights contrast grimy greens and browns - it really excentuates the gunfire and effects, which looks briliant during combat.

The game doesn't seem as atmospheric and scary as the last two. The cutscenes - not being all in game and from a FPS view breaks you from the experience a little. Wish they'd gone with the traditional style of the series, by doing everything ingame.

Enemy A.I seems decent, enemies flank, take cover and generally seem to work together as a team. Not as good as the first game but seems better than it did in the second.

Graphics are pretty good, nothing amazing, but they run very smoothly on high settings. FOV isn't something that has distracted me. The ghosting when you turn is, however, very noticable, and took a while to get used to.

Finally - the game is hard. For my money it is by far the hardest entry in the series, so far.

I'll post my impressions again, after I've beaten the campaign in full, but so far I'm enjoying it and think it seems like a decent attempt at creating a FEAR experience, by a different studio.

 

[SapientWolf]

The pistol is the odd exception to the 'weak feeling weapons' complaint. Could be the most OP pistol since Halo.

 

[Appollowexx]

Yeah the pistol does have quite a nice 'kick' to it.