Page 1

Guru3D - F.E.A.R. Preview
By Mike Sowerby

Developer: Monolith
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
ESRB Rating: R/P

Believe it or not it's been nearly a year ago that millions of gamers around the world were impatiently waiting for that infamous loading bar to crawl to its end and signify the release of one of the most important releases in FPS gaming. However, since the greatness of Half Life 2 Steamed its way to desktops and pushed the boundaries that bit further, other contenders in the FPS genre have been unable to mount a decent challenge. In fact, 2005 has been rather bereft of Single Player FPS games and those that have been released couldnt comfortably share the same sentence (or maybe hard drive) as HL2.

Therefore it is with great anticipation that we approach F.E.A.R as a potential challenger to the thrown of FPS king. As many of you will be aware, F.E.A.R (or First Encounter Assault & Recon for short) involves a rather mysterious looking girl in a red dress, a man with an unappetizing taste for human flesh and some rather flashy action set pieces al la' The Matrix. All of this is brought together by one of the best game engines around.

There has been a great amount of talk surrounding this game as of late and we here at Guru3D aim to please, so it was decided we would take a quick pre-release look at both single player and multiplayer aspects of this game with some preliminary testing and benchmark results, to give you an idea of just what to expect and whether your brand spanking new 7800GTX will be just as scared of that Girl in the Red Dress as you!

Single Player

F.E.A.R makes its cinematic pretensions clear from the start. As soon as the credits roll, and the music starts, you are treated to the full works. The camera pans across scores of troops locked 'n' loaded and ready to hunt you down, all seemingly linked to 'Paxton Fettel' a strange kind of guy with extraordinary psychic power capable of controlling battalions of soldiers and a habit of feeding off any poor unfortunate innocents - presumably to aid his powers of concentration.

It doesnt end there, after a short briefing at F.E.A.R. HQ you are sent off to hunt down Fettel equipped with reflex's that are 'off the chart'. These reflexes are put to excellent use, with a slow motion effects like that of Max Payne, or the afore mentioned Matrix. But here, it is oooohhhh so much more satisfying, thanks to the outstanding environmental effects. Sparks fly everywhere, as chunks of masonry are blasted from the walls and blood splatters from your latest victim. The physics are just great, with box's sent flying, shelves tipped over, and objects hurtling towards your head. And the explosions well, the explosions just have to be seen. And what's so great about this is you can witness it in all its glory in slow motion.

Thats not to mention the potential of the AI. If the full game can offer AI like this throughout, then we really are looking at a Half Life beater where AI is concerned. Squads of troops constantly communicate with each other, calling for backu, and shouting directions. In a firefight they show their true cunning, flanking you, ducking behind walls and using cover. They even use the environment around them to thwart your objectives; throwing shelves onto the floor for cover, climbing under debris in search of a way behind you and jumping through windows right at you. These truly are worthy foes and will present you with a challenge when you least expect it.

Then there is the atmosphere. Let me confirm to you, that based on this F.E.A.R. will have you shaking on the edge of your seat, if not falling off it. The tension is brought to just the right level, with key moments that will make your heart leap. Play the demo and you will see what I mean. Key to this is the girl. Without revealing anything significant, lets just say that she could take on the whole of Mars for creepiness. The game cleverly manages to marry the frantic matrix lobby style fight sequences with the tense moody 'scare' sequences with adeptness.