F.E.A.R. 3

How long can little girls with asymmetrical haircuts scare someone? Let's say they get a man for a few times when they first meet. Let's say that the scare attempts are well hidden behind mech action and some very solid shooting mechanics the second time around. Can the same horror clichés work a third time?

F.E.A.R. 3 is built around this question and the answer is a clear no. The scary bits fail, the story bits seem uninteresting, the game is as close as it can be to being a failure. The one redeeming element is the shooting, the gunplay, the battles, which are fun, exciting, challenging and can be done as two different characters, each with their own play styles. As long as one ignores everything around it, the gunplay can make for a very good game.

Story

Towards the end of F.E.A.R. 2, the main character has one of the most disturbing “love making” in the history of gaming with psychic terror Alma, so in this third game The Point Man that starred in the first game of the series needs to stop the product of their love from actually being born and presumably being somehow used for evil by Armachan, the resident evil corporation.

Shooting space

Inside link

This is the setup of F.E.A.R. 3 in a nutshell and it's unlikely that anyone but the most hardcore games of the series will be interested in actually learning more.

John Carpenter was brought into F.E.A.R. 3 specifically to up the horror quotient of the game, but I am sad to report that the game failed to draw any reaction out of me other than laughter at some of the most obvious scares.

There's almost no actual “fear” in F.E.A.R. 3 and, to make things worse, the sequences featuring Alma and supernatural elements do not actually serve any real purpose within the story and they fail to teach the gamer new things about his character or about the universe.

When it comes to story, I can only hope that the next F.E.A.R. game is a reboot that takes the concepts of the series and rebuilds its entire foundation with the overall aim of making sense.

Gameplay

The firefights in F.E.A.R. 3 are the best part of the game and those who enjoy taking on some pretty smart enemies in some well-designed spaces have a lot to find in the levels developed by Day 1 Studios.

There's really no reason for the layout for the levels in the game other than to provide interesting tactical challenges. There are corridors that have chest-high lockers just so that the player has a cover spot. There are huge open spaces with a lot of columns and at least two levels, allowing players to flank and be flanked and adopt a variety of play styles while killing their enemies. The designers even thought about adding small, easily defensible spaces where a player who is deep in the red health wise can stay put for a few moments before getting back into the fight.

I quite liked the level design, even if the locations are not organically integrated into the story of the game, and appreciated the resulting firefights. The weapons feel hefty (shotguns seem to be overpowered, especially when coupled with slowed-down time), the cover and pop up system works well and the slow motion makes some pretty hairy situations easy to navigate.

Playing as Paxton is also interesting, as his abilities make him less of a close combat juggernaut and more of a long range trickster, although the game never delivers a good reason for why as a ghost he can be shot with normal, lead and steel based weapons.

At times, combat in F.E.A.R. 3 feels like a deadly ballet where interactions don't happen via holds and hands but via weapons and thrown grenades, and the game is best enjoyed by leaving any story and background out of mind and focusing on enemy placements, available weapons and the possibilities linked to them.

Slum assault

Brother power

The addition of the wrap-up sections to F.E.A.R. 3 show gamers how well they have performed during the level. Information offered includes time spent playing it, moves performed and internal Achievements gained. It feels a little forced when taking into account the themes of the game and does not add little to the experience apart from opening up new moves and skills that can be then used in multiplayer.

Still, the list of problems that F.E.A.R. 3 suffers from cannot detract form the beauty and quality of the firefights and their overall design.

Graphics and audio

F.E.A.R. 3 is a good-looking game, but there's nothing impressive about the spaces it chooses to create and about the characters. The first game was interesting because of the way Alma was portrayed and of the way the environments got warped in order to suit the horror moments; but in this third installment, there's nothing really new in seeing a blurry girl with horror looks moving around a level. There are no obvious glitches or any issues with the look of F.E.A.R. 3, but there's nothing here that can elevate the game above the baseline of the first-person shooter genre.

The sound design also adheres closely to the ideas of horror cinema with the sound of movement and battle interrupted at certain points by little tidbits of sound that allude to the creepiness that exists all around the player.

The entire effort achieves better result than the visuals of the game, yet the other important part of the game audio, the voice acting, goes from wooden to over-the-top without stopping in the believable position.

Multiplayer

F.E.A.R. 3 follows the now-almost-standard concept of putting cooperative in all first-person shooters and allows anyone to bring in a friend and get a tag team of The Point Man and Paxton Fettel going. As in the single player portion, the game tracks the scores for both players and shows them how they can be cooperate on taking out the enemies while also screwing each other over in the quest for the biggest score. The overall score for the two characters determines something cool for those who are good enough players and good enough buddies to get through the entire campaign together.

The competitive multiplayer in F.E.A.R. 3 is innovative in both the way the four game modes are set up and in that they only accommodate four players at one time.

The most interesting one of them is “F**king Run,” which tasks the players from running away from an unstoppable wall of death while also dealing with enemies and the intricacies of the level.

Soul Survivor is a competitive mode where one player is a ghost and, within a time limit, needs to possess and then turn the other three gamers into members of the undead.

Contractions is basically a horde-like mode with waves of enemies coming at once as gamers work together to protect a location while Soul King grants all the players the possession ability of Paxton Fettel and tasks them with getting the most souls before the time limit runs out.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion