No need to “F.E.A.R.” this excellent game

If horror movies like “The Ring” and “Saw” have taught us anything, it’s that people like being scared. For the most part, people love the small rush of adrenaline from getting scared out of their seats by a movie. But ever since games like “Alone in the Dark” (not the awful movie which asked us to believe Tara Reid was a scientist) and “Resident Evil”, cheap thrills and scares have found their way from the big screen to gaming consoles.

“F.E.A.R.” (First Encounter Assault Recon) for the Xbox 360 puts you in control of a soldier working for a secret government agency named F.E.A.R. which was created to combat paranormal threats. The player’s character, referred to only as the Point Man, is tasked with stopping a madman named Paxton Fettel and his army of soldiers. But Fettel is no ordinary psychopath. He has strong psychic powers which he uses to control an army of clone super soldiers, the Replica army, created by the government. As the Point Man, you have extremely heightened senses and reflexes and you alone have the skills to find Fettel and stop him. But hidden beneath the cliché main story about stopping a maniac and his army is a story with more twists and turns than an M. Night Shyamalan movie. While trying to find Fettel, you will discover government conspiracies, uncover the truth about the Point Man’s mysterious past, and what a strange little girl named Alma has to do with Fettel and your character.

As the name of the game implies, “F.E.A.R.” is not your average first person shooter (FPS). “F.E.A.R.” brilliantly weaves intense big budget movie action with a horror story comparable to anything Hollywood has created lately. Make no mistake, this game is not for the weak of heart. The horror aspects of this game will make you second guess everything you see and the pulse pounding fire fights will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final credits begin to roll.

The graphics in this game are nothing short of spectacular. Thanks to the power of the 360 “F.E.A.R.” showcases some truly chill inducing environments. Objects and people cast realistic shadows on walls and floors which perfectly conveys this game’s creepy atmosphere. Bullets leave areas pock marked with small craters while realistic smoke and dust fly around during firefights accordingly. The sound in “F.E.A.R.” also accompanies the eerie atmosphere perfectly. The music and sound effects fits appropriately with the action as well as lend themselves nicely to the spooky sections of the game.

The power of the 360 also allows for one more critical element of first person shooters to be achieved - realistic violence. And be warned, this game is violent. Blood and gore are not in short supply in “F.E.A.R.”. Body parts flying through the air and blood dripping from strange stains on the ceiling are par for the course in “F.E.A.R.”. The sniper rifle-like particle cannon makes skeletons of your enemies, the shotgun blasts heads off sending them flying through the air spraying blood like candy from some sort of macabre piñata and the penetrator fires bolts which can pin your hapless enemies into walls. You get the picture - “F.E.A.R.” is not for anyone with a weak stomach or can’t stand a few hundred gallons of pixilated blood.

But even the best graphics in the world don’t make a game fun to play. However, “F.E.A.R.” is blessed with good looks as well as delivering loads of fun. The intense shoot outs are great fun not only because the game looks and plays well, but because “F.E.A.R.” has some of the smartest A.I. (artificial intelligence) a video game has ever had. The enemies in “F.E.A.R.” don’t blindly rush at you while you fire at them like in some shooters. The Replica soldiers take cover when fired upon, give each other covering fire while moving closer to your position, and will try to flank you if given a chance. Replica soldiers also vault over walls, jump through windows, rappel from helicopters and climb over all types of objects to get better cover – intelligence like this has rarely been seen in games until this current generation of powerful consoles.

“F.E.A.R.” also plays very well. Though there are a few too many controls (Why is there a way to holster your weapon in a first person shooter?) and they are laid out a little confusingly. “F.E.A.R.” also makes very good use of bullet time which is very reminiscent of “Max Payne” and “The Matrix”. This ability is called “reflex time” and is available because of the Point Man’s extraordinary reflexes and agility.

Even with all of this great content, “F.E.A.R.” does lack some replay value. Aside from varying difficulty levels, there is not much of any reason to play through the single player game more than once. “F.E.A.R.” also features an online multiplayer mode that has a plethora of different game types. However, there is no co-op (cooperative) mode to speak of for either online or offline game types. Though “F.E.A.R.” was originally a PC game, the 360 version includes an option called “Instant Action”. This mode drops you into a map with enemies scattered about. The faster you dispatch of your enemies, the higher your score and high scores can be posted on the Instant Action Leaderboards.

“F.E.A.R.” for the Xbox 360 is practically a must own. Some may be put off by its ridiculously high amount of violence, but many gamers will revel in it’s over the top action. Any fan of first person shooters will most likely highly enjoy “F.E.A.R.” and those who think they might like it should rent it and see just how much fun it is to pin a clone soldier into a wall with a metal spike.