F.E.A.R. Platinum

Trashy gunplay, weapons with bad feedback, bullet-spongy enemies, bullet-magnet player to force the bullet time mechanic; all of it to experience a subpar horror story about a little girl. There is a retro charm to it, it shows its age in a good way, both in terms of story and visuals, but don't expect to find a "true classic" shooter or a particularly effective horror experience. Three stars for excellent presentation and the solid level design, the likes of which we haven't seen since the Half-Life 2 era.

FEAR 1 is excellent. Tense atmosphere, some jumpscares, great gunplay, nice physics, great AI, great sound. The expansions are boring filler, though.

If I had to describe this game. It would be like John Woo's Hard Boiled + Max Payne + Matrix and some Asian horror film had a baby 😂. The atmosphere, the gunfights, the graphics, that intense music, the immersion. I mean what can I say more! One of the best SP experiences I had!

One of my old favourites. Just like Quake 2 RTX, it shows how lighting is what really makes or breaks the atmosphere of a game. The story is alright but it never really grabbed me like the shooty bits did. The AI aren't Deep Blue but they are great fun to fight. The difficulty on the highest two settings feels just right. If you get into the flow during combat, you feel unstoppable but if you make a boo-boo then you are quickly directed to the afterlife. The graphics aren't anything spectacular but the particle effects, lighting, sound design and AI keep it youthful.

After having only played Fear 3, or F3AR, as my first experience with the series, i pegged Fear as just another one of those cookie cutter fps franchises that coasts by on the genres broad and uncritical audience. However Fear is an absolute darling of an fps. Smooth gameplay and reactive AI that could easily match or surpass the quality of many recent action games; combined with graphics that, while showing its age, is still pleasant to look at. Certainly worth paying full price for, and if you're lucky enough to catch it on a sale, its a steal. Even if its not the kind of game you'd typically be interested in, it's a nice addition to your library. A special thanks to youtuber SsethTzeentach for renewing my interest in Fear.