Lets start off by saying that I love the FEAR games, but I will try and be as objective as possible. Now I remember playing FEAR for the first time on my 360 because my PC was not up to gaming standards ( it is now) so I was excited to finally play these games I have read about and drooled over the video and screenshots. However, this review isn’t about FEAR; it’s about FEAR Files. I do give the first FEAR a 9.4 score.
Campaign: FEAR Files somewhat reminds me of The Orange Box with content that is packed to the brim in this $50 game. You get two fairly lengthy expansion packs which each are longer than most single player campaigns that come in $60 games. You get Extraction Point which leaves off where the last FEAR ended and Perseus Mandate which is a completely different story with all new characters. You also get 8 instant action games similar to the teasers in the first FEAR. The instant action levels are very challenging and will take most gamers many times over to complete. One of the features for which FEAR is known, other than the fun gamplay, is its horror and they give you plenty here. The first FEAR would have you trudging down hallway after hallway with nothing to do and then scare the crap out of you. While FEAR Files has less redundant hallway searching, it gives you much more heart stopping fear, followed by action or even horrific fear while in action.
Graphics: The graphics in FEAR Files are little changed from FEAR. They are not bad to look at for a game that runs on an engine made in 2005 and can contend with many games released on engines that are new in 08. The framerate never drops to a very noticeable level, and particle effects are fantastic which explode like fireworks on the screen. The textures do tend to get reused a bit throughout this game, so you will see items and cars that seem to be a little copy and paste. The character models are still top notch and even look better than many games still coming out. Some textures and lighting seem to have been upgraded though, and the hardcore FEAR fans should be able to spot them fairly easy. You also get more destructible environments in the game, i.e, when you shoot at a pillar or throw a grenade, the cover will be blown apart.
Gameplay: the gameplay is still FEAR and still fun. The AI are brilliant, and when you enter a new room the outcome will always be different even if you replay the game mutiple times.. The AI will take cover, flank you, work as a team, shout commands, and even throw a grenade to get you to move from your cover. Perseus Mandate, however, shines here because they give you some new bad guys to fight, and that is what many FEAR fans have been waiting for. You still get your fun slo-mo and your melee beatdowns, but they also give you a nice little arsenal of weapons such as a mini gun, laser carbine, assault carbine, lighting gun, grenade launcher, and deployable torrents.
Multiplayer: MP is still fun and is just what they give you in the first FEAR game with the exception of a couple of maps and minus some of the downloadable content perks. It’s a bit laggy for my taste. In fact, FEAR Files is more of a lag-fest than FEAR, and hopfuly they will fix this with a patch. I'm not saying it's bad, and even the first FEAR had it’s share of lag before they updated it with a patch.
Overall: I found the Perseus Mandate campaign to be boring at first, but then it picked up rather nicely to end up being better then Extraction Point. With the content this game gives and over all entertainment for it’ $50 value, I give this game a 9.1 Yes I know it’s lower than FEAR, and I just can't ignore the shear amount of game they pack into this DVD, but it’s the broken, laggy multiplayer that brings the score down. If they were going to pack in what is essentially the same multiplayer game as FEAR, then there are no excuses for the lag and why downloadable content should not be compatible. My score for FEAR fans is a 9.1
Ve3tro: "In a recent interview with the developers behind the upcoming sequel F.E.A.R.2. The team said the Playstation 3 has certain challenges that are unique, but so does the Xbox 360 and the PC."
Head over for the full interview.
After seeing games such as Killzone 2, Uncharted, Resistance 2, MGS4, and so forth, the only "challenge" I see is picking between a primo AAA first-party title on the PS3 or a half-a$$ed 3rd-party title that probably won't even get DLC support, and that's not much of a challenging choice for me...
F.E.A.R Files offers FPS fans a quick burst of activity before the next triple A title arrives and if you've played the original you'll certainly like this.
it just looks exactly the same as the 1st game, which looks very dated by todays standards.
i won't be buying this.
Why? Well I loved the first one, if you can look past the rather bland visuals and look at the physics and how things blow up and how many things can be destroyed i.e. pillars, some walls etc and look at the superb weapons you get like the amazing mini gun and lazer and want to continue with the story from the first then buy it.
However shelling out £40 for this is not worth it, however if you buy it from Gamestation then you can take it back in 10 days (as long as it doesnt have scratches on it) and swap it for something else, thats what I am doing.
CVG Complains:
"One of the commonest questions we get asked is: "What makes Halo 3 so much better than all those other FPS', anyway?" It's a question that we'd struggle to answer if you accosted us in the chocolate éclair aisle of Morrisons. But if you caught us while we were struggling through an inferior FPS that doesn't do the basic fundamentals that Halo nails so well, we could rattle off reasons all day long. Let's look at exhibit A: F.E.A.R. Files."
The game is complete trash and finally a review points that out. I knew that ever since I played the game on xbox 360 when if first came to the console.
The PC version on a High-end PC was amazing and on 360 and PS3 the game was complete trash so this review does not surprise me as I expected whatever they did with the game to suck.
If you can mess up a Port of the game from PC to the console that bad, then of course you would mess up whatever you did with the franchise.
As far as I'm concerned F.E.A.R is dead to me, and good rid-dins. I guess when the little girl gets on the copper in the end of the PC version is where the story ended for me. So thanks Monolith (or who ever is making these stupid expansions) for nothing!
first off ,it's not full price like the writer states,so his " no value" argument doesn't fly.
I admit the graphics are sub par but the rest of the game is very enjoyable.There are far more scares than the first one and the game play is carried over .So if you like the first one as much as i did,then this is a worth while buy.Not to be bought before halo,orange box,simpsons or any other AAA title if you're poor,but if you are out of games to buy this one will grace you with a fair amount of enjoyment.
And to No.1 While I understand that this is a very old game and most people who want to play it already have, giving away a ending to any game in forums is a low thing to do, IMO.
