Lords of Death Forums Lords of Death Forums LoD FPS/RTS/MMO/Console - Public F.E.A.R - Only thing scary is how shitty it is

wanna throw away 50 bucks? Here is the perfect way to do it... my friend bought me this game recently becuase she saw I was somewhat interested in it when I saw it in an game store.
Well... since it was gift, figured I would give it a quick test run for 30 min, and I cant begin to say how fucking dissappointed I am with this POS.
Now... Im one of those people that can enjoy a block on a screen blipping away, if the story is phenomenal. Thats because my imagination is much more powerful than any world a game engine can create. Sometimes the story can be a little lackluster, and I can still follow along if the game engine makes up for certain inconsistencies... but at this point, this game FUBAR's it all.
Im not even sure if the story is good or not, because it doenst make any fucking sense.
Its a regurgitated resident evil knock off, borrowing heavily from doom, and taking a cool concept from Max Payne. Basically, you are a soldier sent in somewhere to do something because some other people cant do the same thing youre sent in to do. Dont like how I explained it? Well the fucking game doenst do a good job of building up the story either, so be thankful I gave you that much ( I actually dont understand the story because its so shitty).
The game box actually tries to explain it, but its about some freaky military force that takes over a factory, and for some reason it has a ghostly twist to it because they issue no demands, and some dead little girl is involved. doesnt make sense? Are you confused? WELL, me too.
gfx/ game play
The graphics are good, and I really have no complaints. They instittued some slow-motion capabilities (Can you say Max Payne rip off?) so that you can fight multiple enemies at once. The bullet tracers and shit emulate Matrix style bullets, and the death scenes are fantastically gory. I love hearing the guys yell "FUCK HES RIGHT THERE!" etc. as they get blasted away ( Yes, they really yell "Fuck" and "Shit" in game). That was cool. Way cool.... the first 20 times. Then another 20 was alright... and another 10... well, it got gay...and then, so fucking gay that I got bored with it and couldnt stand it anymore.
The levels are so painfully linear that there is nothing left to the imagination. Its like somoene built the whole fuckin map with tetris blocks with the skins of cargo boxes grafted on... Furthermore, it gets so dark at times ( literally cant see kinda dark, not the demented dark) i wish i had a flash light like doom. oh wait, I did mention its a doom rip off too right?,... i have a flash light too! i wasnt too fond of the flash light idea in doom 3, and it got really fuckin old for me when i played that game, and i hoped that it woudlnt be implemented in any other game. guess I wasnt so lucky.
The game tries to infuse some demonic shit into the mix by showing you quick images of dying people or zombie faces ( you know, kinda like those stupid flash animations that make you get up close to the screen and then blast you with noises and gory pictures) but since my immersion in the story is as good as my ability to fly irl, i dont really give a flying fuck.

Conclusion: Dont buy this game. Friends dont let other friends buy this game for them. Play it for 10 min on somoene elses computer, and then be thankful you dont need to deal with this shit.
My final verdict?
6 stars out of 10 for the first ten minutes, then 3 stars on the eleventh minute and thereafter. Continual decline of stars being of high probability.
edit: oh yeah, this thing won the award of "Best of E3" WHAT THE FUCK?!? I think what they meant was, the developers publishing this shit gave the Best BJ's to the people who were deciding this award, because if I were playing it, there would be no fucking way in the world it would get such high marks.... well, unless they swallowed - that is...

it also gets 9s across the board on almost every game rating mag./site on the planet.
I couldn't disagree with you more on almost all points..except the story. Indeed the story has various loose ends and has a difficult time tying in with the plot/story as a whole.
Your 'rip-off' idea is kinda bogus I think. Is every game that uses the "First person" perspective a rip-off of the original first person perspective game? The logic there is kind of confusing. I feel that F.E.A.R. not only adopts gameplay features of games like Max Payne and Doom, but it also perfects and expands on them. F.E.A.R.'s almost perfect graphics and flawless sound make the slow motion and -scary- moments 10x those of Max Payne and Doom3(which was a fucking god awful game btw and it's poor marks are the reflection of that) Slow Motion = future technology, we'll be seeing a lot of it.
You're pissed because you get a flashlight? wtf? To claim that DOOM3 was the first game to use flashlights is absurd. Why the hell would they get rid of flashlights anyway? The game is dark, and needs to be lit. Flashlights help establish the atmosphere of the game. You also argue that you want a flashlight because the game is too dark, but then say they shouldn't have one because Doom had one? Again, I'm not getting the logic. The F.E.A.R. flashlight isnt even a ripoff of doom... You can use the flashlight and the gun at the same time, which is BETTER than doom. Putting flashlights in games isn't a rip-off, it's common sense, and has been done in MANY games in the past and present.
Edit: In reply to your complaints about the fear tactics. Welcome to scary movies. "Jump out and scare you" moments are some of the most prevalent strategies directors and game designers use to cause fear. Is it upsetting? Kind of. However, I feel that FEAR again expanded on this tactic because of the superior sound and graphics. Plus little dead chicks like that are freaky as hell. When I first played the demo I remember thinking that 5 minutes of FEAR was already more innovative, scary, and creative than all of Doom3's "Scary" moments combined.
The AI is incredibly intelligent, the graphics and sound are flawless, and the game intergrates many gameplay aspects from other titles and expands on them, including sprinting, leaning, aiming down your sight, slow motion etc. The gun battles are really fucking intense because of the AI, graphics, sound, and gameplay all blend together and create a cinematic experience.
This game is a low 9 out of 10. Points taken out because the lack of variety of the opponents(although it makes sense), some story issues, and the fact that the game is a god damn system hog.
Edit: I forgot to mention how fucking brilliant and fun the multiplayer is...

hmmmmmmm, FATALITY

I don't think I've seen you write up one positive review on anything, even movies. You're a perfect critic, hates everything, no matter what, lol. I haven't played it yet, but from what I've heard from friends and co workers, the game fucking rocks. I actually can't wait to try it out.

First... HOW DARE YOU QUESTION A LORD !!
second... i actually appreciate your comments -its nice to discuss something without idiots interjecting their dumb ass one liners.
OK, so we agree that the story was complete crap - Im glad that we can agree on something. btw - can YOU tell me what its about? Because i sure cant. Please keep in mind, Im BIG on story, and when this thing didnt make much sense, it just put the turbo jets on the boat that shot this up shit creek.
When I say rip off, the concepts that I am all too familar are PAINFULLY present in the game. Meaning, when I play the game, I dont think - cool, whats going to happen next? its more like... ugh.. this reminds me of the same fucking shit i played on max payne or Doom. There are ways to weave the same cinematic/ visual/ physics into a game without having me feel like I just regurgitated the past 10 years of my gaming life in one 30 minute session.
As far as the flash light thing,i didnt not say it was a novel concept or doom was the first. I hated it in Doom, and I personally enjoy games where I can actually see my enemies and dont have to clunk around on boxes so that I can actually figure out whats going on - Yeah, some darkness is expected and acceptable, but I am sick of the flash light thing - (like i mentioned about Doom). Personal prefernce right there - and as far as the flash light issue using it together with the gun, I had the duct tape mod thing in doom because i thought it was just fucking ridiculous that you can only use one or ther other. The benefit of "better than doom' was not experienced here for me. A game that utilized the flashlight well? That would be HL2.
I didnt hear your comments regarding how linear the game felt, or how i felt the map creators used tetris boxes - they sure must have spent all their time on the graphics, because they didnt spend jack shit on the story or the map creations. Do you agree on that too? or am i the only one standing on the "they fucked the map camp" ?
The fear tactics - Im not necessarily bashing them. Im sure they would have been fucking great (in a scary way) if I felt immersed in the game. For example, when I play Resident Evil, sometimes I would actually be surprised or freak out a bit because I was immersed in the game, the story, and the game play - but with FEAR, im just sitting there looking at scary images every now and then.
I didnt think the AI was incredibly spectacular - what was so intelligent about it? they just shoot back like they did in all other games - of course,t hey didnt do retarded shit like get caught behind boxes, etc, and they did take cover.... but then again, I saw similar things in HL2. I was not astounded with it , nor was I dissappointed with it... which is probably why I didnt even mention it.
edit:
I believe the main element to that infuses the word entertainment into a game for me, is the story. The idea behind a product is to make you feel like youre part of something that youre not - something intense, something surreal. They fucked the story. I didnt even get a chance to get on for the ride because they screwed the most basics element necessary for me to enjoy it.

Nah - I dont hate everything. I just seemed to dislike the things that I've seen recently. I loved HL2. That was great ... I loved DoD 1.0 ... that was fuckin awesome! etc etc... anyway, there are games out tehre that I loved.
Movies - I didnt give movies any bad reviews. I justr try to point out some of the things that bothered me, and hopefully people feel the same - or at least have an idea of where im coming from.
As far you wanting to buy FEAR.... you want to buy a used copy off me? Ill knock off $20 off the retail price. The CD key will be valid for mulit player as well. If youre interested, PM me.
oh yes, i didnt play multiplayer on FEAR btw so maybe that might be its saving grace... i was too busy owning it up in the East Asian Deathball league <img src="/~stretch/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I wouldn't say the story is complete crap. It was just average when compared to other games in the market. So I would say that it is just bad. As for the storyline... FEAR is basically like XFiles, only more ass kicking. Some fag takes over a battalion of clone troopers and you're job is to stop them, pretty simple. Too simple though.
As for the rip off thing. I guess we have to agree to disagree... I feel that F.E.A.R. presented those regurgitated aspects of games from the past and basically reinvented and expanded on them in a new and creative way. For example, intergrating melee with FPS fighting, much like Halo does. But.. FEAR added a whole new depth to that gameplay feature, including a large number of different melee attacks that have different affects on your opponent.
Again, I feel that flashlights are a good tool when establishing atmosphere in a video game. Let me give you an example. You're walking down a dimly lit hall and you hear something from behind you. You spin around and scan various parts of the room(because a flashlight doesn't illuminate everything) and find out that it was really nothing. I think a situation such as that serves in creating a deep, immersive and creepy atmosphere. If whole rooms were lit, suspense and surprise would be completely eliminated.
As far as the game level design being linier. I suppose I agree. However, again I feel that linier level design is apparent in every FPS game on the market, and don't necessarily feel that it's a bad thing. Half-Life2 had fairly open environements and levels, but when it comes down to it, it was extremely linier. You still need to go through a certain door, and follow a certain path to beat the level. This same aspect is found in F.E.A.R. Personally, I wish more games took the Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines approach to games, but FPS shoot-um-up killer games such as Doom, HL2, and FEAR are all very linier. I agree that some levels do give the repeative feel(more so than games such as HL2), and you get the sense that you've already been there(a number of times).
Again, I guess this is a difference of opinion and a differing gaming experience, because I felt immersed in the game(not necessarily the story )thus making the scary moments more enjoyable to me. I was immersed in the graphics, gameplay, sound and atmosphere, the story was just average.
The AI in F.E.A.R. was amazing in my opinion. The soldiers act like humans. They will knock shit down for cover, jump through windows, work together, flank positions, provide cover fire for one another while they attack or defend certain positions, and toss grenades extremely well(almost too well). The AI in HL2 was very good, but a great deal of their actions were pre-programmed. For example, them propelling from the ceiling when you reached a certain point on the map, or them jumping over a barrier once you reached a certain point. In F.E.A.R. I got the sense that their actions were evolving and changing as the gun fight progressed, and that their reactions reflected my actions. FEAR and HL2 have arguably the best AI of any game ever made. So I believe that your expectations are too high with regards to that if you only expressed feelings of indifference towards the AI in both those titles.
I agree that story is a large and important part in games. However, FPS titles have been notorious for making horrible storylines. HL2, Doom, Unreal, Quake, etc have all had mediocre to decent stories. I feel that the majority of immersion into FPS titles stems from gameplay, graphics, sounds, and creative atmospheres. There was hardly anything compelling(although I would say it was interesting) or amazingly creative about the story in F.E.A.R., I agree.
Edit: Again... Points taken out because the lack of variety of the opponents(although it makes sense), some story issues, the fact that the game is a god damn system hog, **and some repeated and overly linier levels**... I would STILL give it a 8.9-9 out of 10

Maybe you just didnt play the game long enough, but i thought the story evolved into something very interesting.
Maybe isntead of playing the game for 20 minutes, then calling it quits on the story because you didnt understand absolutely everything from it, you might want to play it till the end. The game story turns out to be very interesting and ties lots of things together.
i wont even go into how great of a job they made the gun battles.

you register a fucking name so your point of view has some weight to it.

all FPS companies seem to be missing the ball lately with their games..
1) BF2 - shitty competition mod...aiming is useless...CAL is developing a BF2Pro mod in the 42 thought....have high hopes
2) FEAR - multiplayer is ass
3) Q4 - decent, but uses the Doom3 Engine, which i hear has issues
4) Painkiller - enough said
5) DoD Source - i was never a DoD 1.0 guy so i cant compare, but it seems way too much like CS Source...
6) CS Source - not a fan....
My largest hopes lie in the BF2Pro Competition Mod...it could be the sex...