Glorious Escapism Roleplay

Rahkshi500 · Joined: 07 Jul 2010 Posts: 3230 Location: Unknown

Wow, and I thought I didn't like F.E.A.R. 2, but this makes me sad. At first I didn't understand how F.E.A.R. 3 can be so disappointing, but now I know. Okay, let's get the good stuff out of the way first.

First, I'm happy to see Point Man's face, though he looks like cleaner version of Ethan Thomas from the Condemned series. Next, Peter Lurie is back as the voice of Paxton Fettel. And third, having a co-op gameplay where the two playable characters, both Point Man and Paxton, each with different set of moves, is pretty interesting.

Now brace yourselves, because here's where I get negative.

1. The gameplay is completely changed to where it's unrecognizable as a F.E.A.R. game. Sure, you still have Slo-Mo, but everything else the other games had is completely gone. No more health and reflex boosters. No more numbered health. No more first person punching and kicking. Everything has been changed into a Call of Duty game system, complete with the regenerating health and red frame that blurs the screen when you're damaged, the quick knife action, and instead of carrying three or four guns like in the previous games, you can only use TWO at a time.

2. F.E.A.R. has never been good with the horror aspect, but at least they tried and made things generally creepy and atmospheric in the previous games and in the Vivendi Timeline. Here, it's like the developers didn't even try. The grocery store and suburbs, and the ward were probably the only places to even try being creepy and unsettling, but the rest the game is like a typical first-person shooter game. Why can't we have the creepy factor kept throughout the whole game? And hi, no more scary ghosts, instead we get the darklings from The Darkness video game. Alma has been completely turned into a passive character. In the previous games, she had a manner of creepiness and mystery as she was following you around because of an unknown agenda. Here, she has nothing worth of her appearing; she's just there. Taking her place, we get a bland featureless monster called The Creep who just pops out of nowhere to hit you and then disappears. Ugh...

3. The story is a mess from beginning to end. We have no idea how Point Man went from the explosion of the Origin Facility to an old prison located in the slums far away from Fairport. What happened to Douglas Holiday? Armacham has jump the shark in its technology, with portals and soldiers phase shifting in and out of walls. Huh? How Beckett doesn't become playable or a helpful character? All that happens is that he gives us some lousy information and then he dies, just like that. Transitions are insane, as if the characters ended up in one place at the end of a level, but then suddenly teleport to another place at the start of the next level. How did we get into the memories that the last level took place at? How come Point Man looks so pissed and brooding if he doesn't remember the trauma inflicted upon him by Harland? Why did Point Man and Paxton go through experimentation in some old house instead of in a proper Armacham facility? Why did Paxton suddenly wants to kill Alma and the third child after telling us about family and unity throughout the whole game? Why isn't there a proper closure for anything at the end of this series?

It greatly saddens me to see something like this happen to F.E.A.R., especially in the final installment of its series.
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Rabukurafuto · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:37 pm Post subject:

At least you can sell it to help get a game you might enjoy more.
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And you too could see, if you was widdle ol' me!

Rahkshi500 · Joined: 07 Jul 2010 Posts: 3230 Location: Unknown

Yes, there's that.
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"Yes, I want your love. GIVE IT TO ME!"