F.E.A.R. Platinum

The perfect shooter. Now you may not like that statement, but it's only because you F.E.A.R. the truth.

A short opening cutscene with kickass music, a brief tutorial, and then the gloves are off. Tight gunplay against intelligent enemies that ambush, double-back, and flank. Level design that enables basic exploration and enables the enemy to enter organically and take new offensive directions. Generous bullet time that makes lining up shots easier, and lets you appreciate the physics and lighting engine as bullets tear apart flesh and explosions send dust flying. The plot is functional and largely inoffensive, which is all you can ask for. Gameplay is limited to gunplay/melee with little movement variety, but the game provides just enough variation to gunfight scenarios to shake things up. And the atmosphere, while not always scary, is immersive and unbroken. Not the biggest fan of the late game enemies, but otherwise, you're looking at an excellent shooter.

Great game !!!

Till today, this is my base line for AI in shooters. Sadly, I have not encountered any that manage to top it. It is a game that challenges more with the behaviour of the enemies, than with high damage or soaking bullets. You try to stand still, the enemy will try to flank you, while providing cover fire. Enemy has metal plates? Well, better don't shoot at those, won't go through. Precision and fast decision is, what will win this game. The other part of the game well done: It frightens you more than it scares you. That is probably depending on the person playing it, but I personally can't stand those horror shooters that at every corner fling something unexpected at you, just so you flinch. (Like Monsters dropping from ceilings, breaking through walls, etc.) A bit of nostalgia is probably mixed in this.

To say F.E.A.R. holds up over a decade later would be doing it a disservice. Monolith have always crafted great shooters (just look at No One Lives Forever, Tron 2.0, or Shogo: Mobile Armor Division), and F.E.A.R. is a perfect example of their talent. Atmospheric presentation that still uses dynamic lighting like almost no other, satisfying shooting and weapons (the VK12 alone makes this memorable), fantastic AI that feels dynamic and responsive to the player's actions, and horror elements that work really well with the environments that Monolith created make F.E.A.R. feel like a game that could have been released recently. This even extends into the expansion packs, even if it is to a much lesser extent with Perseus Mandate. While the sequels went in an arguably generic direction (F.E.A.R. 2 is alright, and F.E.A.R. 3 is forgettable outside the cooperative and versus multiplayer modes), the original is still a highly original classic, and having it complete DRM free makes this more than worth the $10 price tag.