FEAR (First Encounter Assault Recon) Review

I finally got my hands on the full version of this game, and gave it a spin last night. Despite having a decent machine (Athlon 2500 o/c'd to 3200, 1 gig memory, Radeon 9600XT), the game auto-configured to minimum detail for almost every possible graphics option. Guess you need a really hefty machine to run this with full detail -- but it still looks great anyway. It reminds me a lot of Half-life (the first one, I haven't played the second one), but with better graphics, worse physics, and a supernatural theme instead of a demon theme.

The enemy AI is really quite good -- the soldiers hide behind boxes and pillars and try to flank you if you give them enough time. They pop out to shoot you, and if you fire back, they duck back under cover. But the thing that really sets this game apart from any other FPS I've played is the mood. The game is flat out creepy. When I enter a new section of a level, and the lights start flickering, and the music gets ominous, and my heads up display (HUD) starts crackling with static and writes "Incoming: unknown", it gives me the willies every time. I just know something is going to pop out from around a corner, the door is going to slam in my face, or I'm going to be taunted by some creepy supernatural entity. The great thing is that half the time, nothing happens, which leaves you feeling very unsure of whether you need to be worried, and keeps you off guard so that when something eerie does happen, it really has an impact. I can't tell you how many times I've pumped bullets into a dark shape in the distance, only to discover it was just a bag of trash. I'm only on level 3 or 4, but there's been at least one unexpected surprise that's made me jump on each level.

So what kind of supernatural things do happen? I don't want to spoil the fun, but just to give you an idea of one particular sequence: you're walking down a long, straight hallway. It's DARK, and even your headlamp doesn't illuminate all that much. The sound effects are vague and creepy. Your HUD starts crackling with static, and the music gets louder and you just know something bad is going to happen. You crawl down the hallway ready for anything, when something suddenly materializes and starts moving towards you FAST. What the F is that?!? You try to aim but it's on top of you before you can react. Just as it reaches you, you realize it's only a pack of rats. Whew!! Relieved that it was nothing, you head more quickly down the darkened hallway towards a semi-lit room -- when a short, shadowed, childlike figure suddenly walks across the hallway at the edge of the room, accompanied by the sound of a child laughing. Are you hallucinating? Was it real? You race to the end of the hallway and look around the corner... but there's nothing there. Your character starts breathing heavily as the panic wells up inside you, and it's hard to resist the urge to tear out of there as fast as possible before something else materializes.

Basically, if I had to summarize this game, it's Half-Life meets "The Ring" (the movie), complete with all of The Ring's hazy creepiness that's occasionally punctuated with something gory or flat our strange. Everything that made The Ring good makes this game similarily good. Creepiest of all is the childlike figure that taunts you here and there, who happens to bear a strikingly similar resemblance to Samara:


All said, this game is fantastic so far and is the creepiest computer game I have ever played. I highly recommend picking it up, and playing it in a darkened room with headphones on. If you let yourself be drawn in, I guarantee you'll have trouble sleeping.

You can download the demo here. It's 662 megs (for about 15 minutes worth of gameplay), but it's worth it.