F.E.A.R. Platinum

Don't get me wrong; the first three to six hours of F.E.A.R. are a joy to play. The shooting mechanics are on point, there is a variety of enemies to deal with (from generic shooting dudes to heavily armored dudes, to spooky melee jumpy dudes). Bullet time gives you the much needed downtime for dealing with overwhelming numbers of enemies. The arsenal at your disposal is minimalistic, but it does its job -- the nail gun is particularly satisfying when dealing with tougher enemies. The levels are mostly linear, but have that engrossing Duke Nukem vibe to them where you are always on the lookout for extra ammo and medkits. The only issue is... that's about it. There's nothing really besides it and it turns the game into a crawl after several missions. The story, although not devoid of its strong moments, is sadly predictable and will likely not be enough for you to continue playing if you're not particularly savvy on first person shooters. The graphics are serviceable for its time, but the aesthetic department is a complete failure. Get used to this depressingly post-modernistic grayish-whatever palette prevalent in every level and terribly forgettable enemy and NPC design. No creative use of color like in Mirror's Edge, no interesting change of scenery like in the first Call of Duty -- just the same dull, uninteresting series of corridors, courtyards and offices, like you are were doing circles in The Stanley Parable over and over again. If you consider yourself an FPS savvy, give F.E.A.R. a shot when it's on sale. I'm certainly in the minority when it comes to disliking it and if you can somehow stomach its repetitive nature, you might get some enjoyment out of it. Maybe it's dumb to expect something more out of a first-person shooter, but there is ultimately nothing captivating about F.E.A.R. Somehow a game like Medal of Honor from 1999 made me feel way more immersed than this travesty ever did.

This game's still tense and feels great to play, shooting is fantastic. Simply timeless, iconic FPS.

It's not without technical problems but still held my attention long enough for me to complete both it and both the DLC and the additional missions. Yes I needed the FPS fix executable and yes I had to the play the DLC in a lower resolution then I'm used to but It's an old game and I recognise that things may not be perfect. Was it fun? Well it held my attention until the end. Was it worth the money? Absolutely and am I thankful that it's over so I can move on? Yes, the story did get a little boring and I was beginning to get fed up shooting the same old bad guys again and again...... Would I recommend? Well actually if you like FPS games and you're not to proud to revisit history then yes I do.

Important fixes for modern computers: - FPS Fix; - Small subtitles fix. Google them before playing or it's probably unplayable. The good: - The combat is awesome and addictive. - The AI of the enemies is impressive even for today's standards... most of the time. These are certainly the elements that got the game a lot of critical praise when it released. The bad: - Could have been more polished. There are plenty of small bugs in the game, one of the common ones being getting stuck in a door if you go through the doorway as soon as you open it, so you will have to load the last quicksave to continue. It happened to me around 4-5 times during my playthrough. Subtitles also don't match the voice acting in quite a few instances, like the writers weren't even decided on the story yet when they released the game. - The story is unplausible, especially if you take into account the entire series. No matter how much you try to suspend your disbelief, a few elements just make absolutely no sense, such as how a baby super-soldier was left to live a normal life by a corporation that has no problem forcefully impregnating little girls, never thinking this would come back to bite them in the ass, or minimum wage security guards committing murder and fighting special forces for their employer. I can't give worse examples than these without spoiling it, but there are much worse ones. If you play this game, play it for the combat. Overall, I was expecting a bit more considering how much praise this game gets, but it's still a solid purchase for the combat alone.

It's good. It's not perfect, but it's good. For 2 bucks, this was a great deal in my opinion. It was a very enjoyable experience throughout the 15 hours. At times, it felt like it was dragging a bit too much, but overall the experience was surprisingly good. The story is... bland? I like the storyline with Alma, but mostly it's just "point A to point B". It's very cheesy at times, but I mean, it's influenced by Japanese horror, of course it's cheesy. The characters are pretty good, mostly. I like Alma, I like Paxton and I especially like Rowdy the coordinator... but there're still characters that are somewhat bad. For example Norton, who isn't awful, is just your typical comedic relief character, which just takes me away from the game. Alice and Harlan aren't awful characters either, but they're not interesting or memorable enough to even call them good or ok characters. The level design honestly is really good. It's nowhere near the same quality as Bioshock's levels, but they're honestly really good. Levels are explorative and interesting, and they're really detailed. The soundtrack is awesome. At times the tracks don't fit with what's going on, but most of the time the tracks suck you into the game. The atmosphere is the best part of the game, easily. Most of the time, you can't expect what's in the darkness. Sound design makes the atmosphere even scarier, making the game actually pretty scary, especially when the battery runs out of the flashlight. Gunplay and the enemies are also great. The guns don't have much personality or upgradability in them, making the play a bit repetitive, which is saved by the grenades, which create more opportunities to take on enemies. And while we're talking about enemies, REV6 and Heavy Armor kinda suck. They take tons of damage, but they aren't that interesting, unlike replicas and assassins, with the latter one still haunting my mind. . Overall, it's a really good game. It's not perfect, but it's good at what it is.