F.E.A.R.

Last year, Monolith’s huge shooter, F.E.A.R., was only being shown behind closed doors and wasn’t playable. Still, I was so impressed by the game’s graphical presentation, intense action and frightening sense of atmosphere, that I felt comfortable naming it my personal game of the show. However, this year, the game was on the show floor and playable, and the game has come a long way, showing even more of a frightening aesthetic and sense of intensity. At this stage in the game, F.E.A.R.’s gameplay delivers as much as its amazing graphics engine. The game will offer all the thrills and ambience as a high-profile Hollywood horror movie, as well as incredible graphics that can give any game currently touting the Doom III engine a run for its money.

F.E.A.R. puts you in control of a member of a classified strike team sent into a building that has been taken over by an unknown terrorist group. The first team that was sent in has mysteriously vanished, only to be seen in bloody chunks by you when you arrive to assess the situation. Not all is as it seems here, as you begin to have frightening visions and hallucinations, and you begin to realize just what you are up against…

F.E.A.R. handles like most first person shooters, but there are a few differences, like the ability to slow down time for a few seconds, which allows you to concentrate and take your enemies out with a bit more concentration. The game also has a realistic physics model, which means that objects in the game will act realistically, and move and fall as they should. The excellent AI will also take full advantage of the environments, knocking obstacles out of the way and knocking over tables to take cover behind and such. The weaponry is also very sweet, with real-life weapons like grenades and SMGs, as well as instruments like nail guns and plasma rifles. If you shoot an enemy with the nail gun while they are up against a wall, they will actually be pinned to the side of the wall like a post-it note. Very cool.

As I mentioned before, the graphics are amazing. Monolith has been working from the ground up with its engine, and the game could well rival anything that the popular Doom III engine is capable of. The character models look amazing and tout tons of details, the environments are laden with ambient lighting and great shadows, and the physics look fantastic, giving the game a great total package.

F.E.A.R. is what the shooter genre needs, a game that combines a great sense of ambience with amazing graphics and fun gameplay. Check it out this fall.

For All E3 2005 Previews