F.E.A.R. Platinum

Thought it was time to revisit this ghem now that Monolith got cruely axed by WB. An amazing game dripping with atmosphere that came out during that sweetsport of FPS experimentation just before military shooters took off. A blend of japanese horror, conspiracy and FPS action F.E.A.R is an unusable mix of stuff that shouldn't work together but somehow ended up as gold. A fantastic game from an amazing studio. They will be missed.

One of the best first person shooters ever that doesn't need facelift or remake. The gog outdid themselves with this one! The mixture of Horror and FPS is incredibly strong in this one and together with another classic Condemned: Criminal Origins they crowned Monolith Productions kings of new wave of first person horror. That promised kingdom has been long gone but nevertheless it has been more than terrific to see how well this has stood the test of time in tensive and horrifying atmosphere and smooth combat. Usually games as old as this turn minorily dissappointing for memories grow sweeter with time, but this one has exceededs all the exceptions and more, making it a triumph and a game that everyone should play through once in their lifetime!

F.E.A.R is for me one of these games you always can come back to, theres something special about the game, and its atmosphere. It is suppose to be a scary and a fearfull experience, but it have aged and is not really scary anymore, but the gameplay is still superb in almost everyway. I would recommend it to any who loves a good FPS shooter, and wanna go Ol'School again.

It's hard to imagine that this game was released back in 2005. It has aged very well and it still looks and plays great. The level design here is quite flat but this game shines when it comes to combat! The enemy AI is some of the best you'll ever see and frankly I don't know of any other game that has since surpassed this. The guns feel excellent and the audio and atmosphere add a lot to make the game very creepy. If you've never played it but love first person shooters and horror games, get this, you'll love it.

The combat is still really great. All the weapons feel and sound impactful, chunks get blown out of walls from gunfire, there's a slowmo ability and a jump kick ability, so it's pure John Woo action. The AI is still unmatched 13 years later. Enemies seem to have a sense of self-preservation and approach combat intelligently. They retreat and regroup, flank you, and communicate with each other. They seem to remain calm when they're beating you, and react with their own fear when you're outmatching them. Sometimes they'll do something completely unexpected that will go against everything shooters have subconsciously taught you over the years, but makes complete sense in the moment. The fact that later shooters seem to have been learned nothing from F.E.A.R is a crying shame. There's a certain pacing to the game where you'll go through an action-packed sequence followed by an intense scary sequence, rinse and repeat. This is quite satisfying and "comfortable" because it's easy to predict, so the player always has moments of relief to look forward to where you know you'll get a break from the horror to just shoot some bad guys; and these contrasting moments mix together really well in my opinion. It's especially good for scaredy-cats like me who want to dip their feet in horror but can't handle a whole game of it. However, this kind of predictability in a horror game won't work for those who get more thrills from surprises. F.E.A.R. doesn't really do anything surprising in the horror department, and in general it just follows the same horror tropes we've seen in films a thousand times before, but the atmosphere is excellent and always intense in spite of that. It does a great job of keeping things subtle, and there are more times the game tries to mess with your mind and your perception of the world rather than constantly jump-scaring you. It's a very creepy game. The story is cheesy nonsense though.