I really enjoyed the previous F.E.A.R. games. The first two I played when I was into PC games, FEAR Perseus Mandate and then I played FEAR 2 Project Origin on the Xbox 360. The combination of scares and tight shooter gameplay was great, but does this third game in the series keep the mix just right?
Unfortunately the game’s not as creepy as the previous titles but it does still play very well as a shooter and the co-op mechanic through the campaign mode and multiplayer modes serve to make things last even longer.
You play as either Paxton Fettel or Point Man, both sons of Alma, the rather odd psychic girl that looks like something from the ring. You begin the game as Point Man when he’s broken out of jail by his ghostly brother and off you trot filling Armacham soldiers with lead the majority of the time. The guns feel solid when you fire them and now there’s a snap-to cover mechanic which, to be honest, you won’t use that much as the soldiers are just as intelligent as ever and try to flank you at the earliest opportunity, Luckily, you can still slow down the action thanks to your fast reflexes to pop off some quality headshots! Once you’ve played through a level you can then play through as Fettel, raising enemies into the air, firing projectiles at them and even possessing their bodies. In co-op mode you can then of course work together to cause all sorts of mischief! Ah, silly boys playing with their toys!
The first F.E.A.R. really creeped me out but this one just doesn’t have the same effect. It’s about as scary as a ghost train but thankfully the graphics are more detailed this time around and you’ll still enjoy it when things go ‘boo’ at you even if you don’t jump.
Multiplayer mode gives you four ways to play. Soul Survivor has Alma corrupting one player who then possesses Armacham soldiers and sends them against everybody else, Soul King has four people playing as Spectres trying to kill enemies and collect their souls, Contractions plays like a horde mode with waves of enemies coming at you and there’s also the funnily named F’ing Run mode where once again you fight waves of enemies but this time there’s an evil wall of black smoke trying to engulf you!
F.E.A.R. 3 is an enjoyable shooter that unfortunately doesn’t scare me as much as I’d like. It is however a solid shooter, if a little unbalanced so it gets a very good 7 out of 10.
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Related: FEAR 2 Project Origin, FEAR Perseus Mandate, FEAR 3 review on Youtube
