Cinematic games are a difficult breed to pull off. Balancing gameplay with dramatic elements while still making the game compelling is difficult. It requires the best of voiceover acting, cut-scenes, music, lighting and mood. Especially mood. More often than not, the best cinematic games are built around real dramatic events, especially wars. F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault and Recon) by Monolith Studos, brings all these elements together in an original, frightening first person shooter.
The full story behind F.E.A.R. is being kept quiet for now, but it's definitely a paranormal creepy cannibalistic hodgepodge that quite frankly, creeped me out at times. The opening scene shows a man held in a secure facility; men come to release him; next, you seem him feasting on a guard. Ok…creepy part #1.
During each scene, whether it be a cut-scene or player-driven the music is appropriate. It may seem eerily quiet but always in the background you'll hear the chatter of your other F.E.A.R. members - or whispering, constant whispering. As you, the player, ramp up the action the music does so accordingly adding to the immersion in the story.
Back to the story... A S.W.A.T. team is first sent in with you as support. Unfortunately, they all rather…disappear. It's the oddest thing, they simply turn to ash. This occurs while you're playing the game, before your eyes. It's then that it's realized it's going to take the full force of the F.E.A.R. team to solve the problem.
Combat is handled through the use of two weapons plus grenades. You also have the option to fight in hand-to-hand melee should you choose. Much of the environment can be used to hide behind or for stealth. But beware, the AI on this game is very smart and learns from your movements. You'll not often be able to pull off the same move twice. Also, enemy placement is a combination of scripted and dynamically generated NPCs. That guard that killed you rounding the corner may not be there after you load a new game - but there may be four in the hallway just before it.
One of the other "features" of your unit is the ability to use "slo-mo" to manage a situation. Over time you build up the energy to activate this ability, although if used correctly it can be thought of as an extended weapon. Once your meter is full and the ability activated, for a short period of time everything in the room but you will slow down. Explosions become escapable, you can duck shrapnel - it's rather like bullet time to the extreme.
It's really hard to give an accurate picture of this game. In many ways it's a simple first person shooter. But when you add the story (what's with the guy that just turns to ash whenever you see him?), the sound - the constant whispering, the music, the use of cinematics, the dynamic enemy spawns, did I mention the intense and beautiful graphics? All of these combine to make an experience, not a game. And this gamer, who avoids blood and first person shooters, can't wait to play.
I'm a mother of two boys, ages 7 and 10 and live in the chaos that ensues. I've a permanent disability that keeps me homebound, so books, kids, games and books are my constant companions. Oh, and books, too. *grins*
My children both play games so I often play them first, getting to know exactly how something may effect my sensitive and easily stimulated older child vs. my stoic and imperturbable younger.
I like games for games; for the pure enjoyment of them and believe that no game is wholly bad, though some are real stinkers.
I also have the dexterity of a camel in mittens so find playing FPSs difficult (and I also don't like the gore) and RTSs at times can stump me. I just can't seem to move quickly enough to keep up with them. Some of my favorite games are arcade games and I'll spend 3-5 years on the same 5-6 levels because I just never get any better. But, I have fun.
