F.E.A.R. Platinum

game. I concur with fossilfern's review. I found this game magical back in the days, quicksaving every few steps because I was so scared. I recently played it again and while most of the horror moments are gone, the gunfights and AI are as fantastic as ever. Now, I suggest you play the demo first if you can still find it. It will vastly increase the creepiness because you'll recognize the rooms you'll be going through, they just aren't connected the way you remember them. I'm not sure if this was done intentionally by the developers, but I found that very, very uncanny.

F.E.A.R. is one of the best FPS games I've played recently. Rather than being a bland military shooter, F.E.A.R. mixes military-grade combat and weaponry with Matrix/John Woo style gameplay and visual effects, and a paranormal, slightly sci-fi story. While F.E.A.R. may look dated now, it doesn't *feel* dated at all. What sets it apart is the inclusion of slowmo, top-of-the-line graphic effects (at the time), brutal gore, and a shotgun which causes most of the aforementioned gore. The shotgun is your workhorse weapon, and while it's not the only weapon you'll need, it's a devastating one. Get up close to an enemy and watch him turn into a bloody mist, or have a limb blown off, or a head, or half his body. Honorable mentions include the 10mm HV Penetrator and the dual pistols, both of which I kept in my weapon slots for most of the game. As for the story, it's sort-of straightforward. You play as Point Man in a US taskforce called First Encounter Assault Recon (F.E.A.R.) whose goal is to deal with paranormal threats, and you're assigned to go deal with a paranormal threat. As you progress through the game, you'll encounter hallucinations, voice messages and laptops which give clues and information to what exactly is going on and why. Make sure to find all the phones with red blinking lights and laptops you can find for the fullest understanding. They will help you understand your situation and shed light on who you are as Point Man. And if you do decide to play F.E.A.R. and get the Platinum Collection here on GOG, make sure you check out the PCGamingWiki page for the game for all the fixes you'll need. And look around for a way to get EAX working (the DSOAL fix is what I used and it worked perfectly). I hope you enjoy playing F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R. is the only game in the series worth playing; it has the best gameplay, and despite most people calling it a cliffhanger, it has a thematically perfect and definitive ending. This game did not need a sequel; even the expansion packs were unnecessary. I can't really say more without spoilers, so please give it a try.

This is possibly the best shooter that I've ever played. The weapons all feel good to use, and enemies actually respond to being shot in a way that feels fair to the player without making it too easy. The enemy pathfinding and AI are also really good. F.E.A.R. really took the idea of fighting squads of 5-10 enemies in an FPS game and refined it to the point that I don't think you can find other games quite like this. The presentation is also top notch. The graphics are looking pretty dated at this point, but it's aged well considering when this was released. It's not perfect by any means, but it's really good. For the prices that this usually sells for, it's definitely worth it if this looks like something interesting.

Good game with the best AI ever, the expansion packs are incredible, Perseus Mandate is quite different from the first one and the original game, a lot of action and a lot of horror too.