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LTTP: F.E.A.R
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Silly GooseRegistered User regular
Silly GooseRegistered User regular
Yes, that would First Encounter Assault Recon.
Picked this up today on a whim. I was in the mood for something a bit different, and FEAR looked like it fit the bill. I've got the 360 version.
My first impression of the game were that the graphics seemed last-gen, which made sense. My second impression was "Oh hey! Look at those shadows!" and I immediately wasted 15 or 20 minutes moving around various light sources and playing with my flashlight.
The gameplay itself seems very well done. My first "horror" scene, while surprising, merely made me curious, and much more cautious. Despite the fact that I haven't gotten very far into the game yet, this seems to be the usual effect they have on me.
The dev team did a wonderful job pulling me into the game though. I hate not knowing what's going on, and of course the only way to learn is to keep pushing forward. To have the music build up toward a climatic/spooky crescendo as I approach and open a door after having glimpsed that weird little girl or Paxton guy, only to have nothing happen and the sound to cut out completely is a new experience, and when something did happen, it was effective. Rather than being able to just go through the motions of killing the enemy in my usual detached way, I'm engrossed in the atmosphere. I'm cautious, curious, and maybe even a little creeped out. I'm definitely more than a little twitchy and jumpy at points. Damn that little girl!
Now for the embarrassing part. Since I'm playing on a 13 inch TV, I'm usually crouched or sitting on the floor, rather close to it. At one point I happened to be crouching (like a baseball catcher) as a hallucination (?) scene began. There came a point in the scene where I was noticeably startled: to the point I jumped and fell back, dropping my control and letting out an audible "AH!" which I noticed was mirrored by my character on screen as he came out of the hallucination.
I can't remember the last time I was so engrossed in a game that it had that effect on me (if ever at all). It's what drove me to immediately save and come post this thread.
And now you all may commence making fun of me.
Picked this up today on a whim. I was in the mood for something a bit different, and FEAR looked like it fit the bill. I've got the 360 version.
My first impression of the game were that the graphics seemed last-gen, which made sense. My second impression was "Oh hey! Look at those shadows!" and I immediately wasted 15 or 20 minutes moving around various light sources and playing with my flashlight.
The gameplay itself seems very well done. My first "horror" scene, while surprising, merely made me curious, and much more cautious. Despite the fact that I haven't gotten very far into the game yet, this seems to be the usual effect they have on me.
The dev team did a wonderful job pulling me into the game though. I hate not knowing what's going on, and of course the only way to learn is to keep pushing forward. To have the music build up toward a climatic/spooky crescendo as I approach and open a door after having glimpsed that weird little girl or Paxton guy, only to have nothing happen and the sound to cut out completely is a new experience, and when something did happen, it was effective. Rather than being able to just go through the motions of killing the enemy in my usual detached way, I'm engrossed in the atmosphere. I'm cautious, curious, and maybe even a little creeped out. I'm definitely more than a little twitchy and jumpy at points. Damn that little girl!
Now for the embarrassing part. Since I'm playing on a 13 inch TV, I'm usually crouched or sitting on the floor, rather close to it. At one point I happened to be crouching (like a baseball catcher) as a hallucination (?) scene began. There came a point in the scene where I was noticeably startled: to the point I jumped and fell back, dropping my control and letting out an audible "AH!" which I noticed was mirrored by my character on screen as he came out of the hallucination.
I can't remember the last time I was so engrossed in a game that it had that effect on me (if ever at all). It's what drove me to immediately save and come post this thread.
And now you all may commence making fun of me.
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I think you've got it dead on there. This is my first real venture into anything with a survival horror theme (I guess that Area-51 PC game with David Duchovney might count, maybe, not really...) and I am super paranoid.
I'm going to assume Alma is the little girl. I don't think I've learned anything about her other than
Like I said, I haven't gone too far in the game yet. I'm still in a waste water treatment plant. The point where I've stopped for the night (curses to starting the road trip tomorrow!) is
The music, the weird sounds, the whispers, the random hallucinations. All the way up to the end and its final revelation, which I wont spoil for you here.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
The worst scare, the only one that still got a HOLY CHRIST I'M SO AFRAID out of me when I played through a second time, was
To me it was just a fancy FPS with bullet time and kicking.
Though it did those well, the "creepy" aspects were retarded. level design got boring after a while, too
Not very likely at this point. Shame, because it was a lot, lot scarier than the first.
Heh, I was about to post about how the only problem with the 360 version was no Extraction Point. EP is fucking amazing, a worthy and satisfying follow-up to F.E.A.R.
EDIT: Beat, but yeah, it was also a lot scarier than the first game.
You're correct sir. The whole game made me paranoid that that asshole was going to show up again.
Man, I might do another run through that game again sometime.
"THREE DOWN, MOVE UP!"
"FUCK YOU!!"
I'm about four chapters in. Much tougher, mostly because there's more
And the AI is nice and adept, too.
edit: and yes, there are some attempts at scares and jumps (which caught me out, i'm a wuss), but what worked better for me, as someone said earlier, was paranoia and tension. There are a number of places they'll give you a series of 'arenas' (you know, open rooms where you're expecting a fight to kick off), and nothing happens. Every time you walk in, you're trying to spot where the fight's coming from, sticking to the walls and shadows, trying to stay alert.. and nothing. Then the next one, gotta happen here.... nothing. DAMN YOU GUYS!
I found there were a few times i was almost at a breaking point from all the expected firefights.
And i absolutely love the last few levels of the game. I'm not gonna bring in spoilers, but yeah, it had some of the coolest things i've seen in a game.
And yes, the ninjas. Oh the ninjas... I actually jumped the first time I saw one.
Anyone notice the writing on the omnipresent 'control panel' things- you know the ones you see all over the place with a bunch of buttons you can't press? I looked at one, and since I haven't played since I upgraded my videocard (i turned all the settings all the way up) I never saw that the numerical displays on the upright section have labels like 'Lives Left', 'Enemies Killed', and so on. That made me laugh.
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.
Seconding everything in this post. Without question, FEAR had some of the most intense and visceral action I've seen in a shooter. Enemies actually showed some degree of intelligence, and at the very least didn't go down without a fight; even with slomo I was encouraged to seek cover and trade shots at a distance, to use grenades and set traps of my own. And some of the best parts of the game just had you wandering for minutes in darkened, spooky-looking corridors and never encountering anything - but constantly thinking that something's going to happen.
It has its flaws, sure; the level design gets a bit stale around the middle and the action centers around objectives you never really achieve, save for one. But FEAR is most definitely a keeper, and if there is any justice in the world the gunplay will be featured in more games to come.
I still hold out for an apology for Extraction Point, however. Of all the people to live through it,
Edit: Clarification. EP was fine in the gameplay sense, and had more of the same in terms of action, which is never a bad thing. But it took everything good about FEAR's story and chucked it right out the window.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
Yeah, it was really fun when you got some lucky hits off early and they'd be like "SHIT!"
worst scare for me :
Oh, how i would love abusing that afterwards.
round corner, pitch grenade, slow-motion, waaaaaaaaait... bangBOOM
God damn the office level just seemed to go on as long as Uma Thurmans legs.
1) I've recently learned the joy of playing through games on hard (thanks in large part to SWAT 4) usually when the game doesn't resort to cheesy "throw more enemies with more health at you" method of ramping the difficulty (or at least doesn't use that as a crutch. So I was wondering whether F.E.A.R. is more fun playing through on a harder difficulty. I might just end up starting on hard if it is, assuming it doesn't thoroughly beat me into the curb after my first 5 seconds of play over and over again.
2) Related to 1, are the checkpoints / autosaves spaced out well (generally before / after major firefights), so that I can feasibly play through the game without having to save manually. Again, I've learned that games are more fun when I don't resort to quicksave / quickload after every 5 seconds. It adds so much more to the intensity of FPS's (again, this was pretty much beaten into me by SWAT 4).
I will do my best to answer!
1) The harder difficulties in FEAR increase the accuracy of the AI, and decrease the effectiveness of your armor. Because the game relies so heavily on its environment and encounters for suspense, they can't just dump a ton of enemies in there. So yeah, it's a pretty fair way of doing things. The AI is pretty aggressive though, so it will provide quite the challenge (in my opinion).
2) The game has autosave checkpoints after each major encounter, so this too shouldn't be a problem.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
1. Playing the game on the hardest setting is one of the most satisfying experiences in a first person shooter, ever. The AI is unquestionably the smartest I've seen in any game. The game manages to become much harder without throwing in that cheesy method of adding difficulty. Though, it would be best to do it after you've beaten the game first, cause it was still pretty tough just on normal difficulty.
2. The saves and checkpoints are spaced out fairly well. I am more of a quicksave type of guy though.
Don't know about 1 yet, but on 2, there's usually a checkpoint near major events, or so I've noticed. I don't know if you can save manually on the 360.
Also, just in case you're paying attention to when the game saves, some checkpoints have absolutely nothing before or after them, adding to the paranoia. I wonder if that was intentional.
That may be true. Needless to say the AI in this game is fantastic. I tried hiding in a corner and waiting for the soldiers to come down the walkway during the first level. It's a tried-and-true FPS trick.
I then saw a little green thing flash before my eyes and the dreadful *tink* of a grenade.
With it on, every time you encounter an enemy the game just turns into bullet-time, headshot, repeat.
Am I ever so glad. I have plans to play this tonight in the dark. I can't wait.
Still, the base game's just as good, but EP should get more love(and they really screwed the console version out of it).
Aye, that's what they did. That's why I mentioned that only their accuracy and the damage ratings are changed. The actual behavior of the AI is just as brutal and awesome no matter what the difficulty. They'll take cover, flank, and communicate with each other. I wish they would outsource the AI to other shooter developers. Too often these days, opponent AI in shooters is pretty basic. There are exceptions of course, but Monolith was able to do this two years ago!
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
I have loads of stores, but my all time favorite is throwing a grenade at a soldior who was hiding behind an upturned desk in an office and having him look up, scream "OH SHIT!" and put his arms over his head. He KNEW he couldn't possibly get away in time and just accepted it. It was hilarious/awesome.
if i'd been there, they'd have killed me easily. I'd have been the guy rolling on the floor in hysterics.