F.E.A.R. & the first expansion - Extraction Point are an excellent demonstration of the right combination of gameplay level design, effective, believable AI encounters and visceral combat presentation. Extraction point caps this off with extra attention to environment variation and lighting, cranking encounters up even further to 12/10 and improving the "horror" moments while also exploring a more ominous sense of isolation. Absolutely worth the blast through. Multiplayer was rereleased as a standalone free game, FEAR Combat, which continues to have active community servers during Dec. 2024 - and there are also SDK tools available to create both custom multiplayer and singleplayer content. The SecuROM issues mentioned in other reviews are no longer present, however you will still want to check PCGamingWiki for the dinput.dll fix that alleviates an issue that drops the game framerate to single digits after a few minutes of play (this fix will work for any and all machines). Also worth getting if playing on newer machines is a replacement for hardware sound mixing. If you don't have an EAX native card, two options are available, each with their own advantages. - Creative ALchemy simulates enhanced audio effects originally exclusive to specific audio cards. - OpenALsoft doesn't have the above, but adds HRTF and accurate 3D positioning for headphone/surround sound setups. If you enjoy the base game / Extraction Point, Perseus Mandate (originally released as a standalone expansion) offers more encounters and equipment to play with, though the PC version of Perseus Mandate is missing firing audio for one of the new weapons. If you're an emulation wizard, the Xbox 360 version of F.E.A.R. & F.E.A.R. Files (a standalone release of both expansion packs) include bonus time attack missions + an exclusive weapon. Xenia can run it at an uncapped framerate and is worth checking out after finishing the main campaigns on PC for an extra challenge.
