F.E.A.R. 3 Review - Second Opinion

Played on:

Xbox 360

These days, we expect a lot from a triple A title. Having played some of the best, we take high-end graphics, eye-popping effects, epic scale, famous voice talent and incredible interactivity for granted. Seen in that light, the third installment in the F.E.A.R. series is a big disappointment. Small in concept, narrowly interactive and thin on story, this is a shooter that not only doesn’t fulfill its promise, but should have been made a decade ago.

The events in F.E.A.R. 3 start right after those of the last game, with the unimaginatively named Point Man imprisoned in an Armacham Technology Corp. facility. Freed by his telepathically gifted but psychotic brother, Paxton Fettel, Point Man sets out to return to the city of Fairport which lies in ruins. From that point on, the plot gets a little hazy. You find yourself battling your way through level after level against the backdrop of an increasingly powerful and pregnant Alma, whose labor pains periodically send destructive waves of psychic agony rolling across the environment. At one point, you briefly reunite with F.E.A.R. Operative, Jin Sun-Kwon but that never really amounts to anything and in the end, you don't really know what your motivation is for doing anything. Further, if you haven't played the previous two F.E.A.R. titles for some much-needed context, prepare to be really lost.

In addition to a thin and uninspiring storyline, F.E.A.R. 3 breaks little ground in terms of gameplay. You'll encounter basically the same enemies, fire the same weapons, experience the same bullet time as you did before. You'll also see more of the same now-totally-unscary paranormal visions and feel like you're playing through the same levels. Really, all that can be said for differences between this game and its predecessors is that it's watered down the original concept to such a degree that what started out as a scary, surprising, tension-filled interactive experience has become a predictable, disjointed, unrewarding one. In fact, to accurately reflect the feel of each title, I'd suggest renaming the sequels. Where the first game was called F.E.A.R., the second should be called U.N.E.A.S.E. and the third, A.P.A.T.H.Y.

To be fair, the fire fights are still fairly challenging although the AI seems somehow to be dumber than it used to be. Either that, or the predictability of the level design is making their movements too easy to anticipate. Whatever the reason, in most cases, it's easy to sit behind cover and pick enemies off one by one. The pacing of the game is pretty monotonous, consisting mostly of alternating sequences of soldier-type guys shooting at you, angry, zombie-like assailants rushing you, and cheap haunted house effects doing their level best to startle you. Things are occasionally broken up when you jump into an armored mech and go stomping around firing rockets or have to take on an elite enemy wielding a gun that can burn a hole right through you, but these things are few and far between.

The campaign being overall such a humdrum experience, the best way to make it fun is to play through it in splitscreen co-op mode with a friend. In co-op, one of you plays as Point Man and the other plays as Paxton Fettel. As opposed to wielding guns, Fettel deals damage with his telepathic powers. This means he can fire energy balls from his hands, levitate enemies and even possess enemies' bodies. Doing the latter is temporary but provides players with an added strategic tool as well as giving them the option of firing guns when telepathic combat starts to wear thin. Levels also become more interesting as players sometimes have to work to together in order to get through an area. The most interesting twist to co-op however, is that while called co-op, it's also competitive. Throughout the campaign, players do their best to outscore one another in order to win favor with Alma and the title of “Favorite Son”. This competitive aspect even affects the ending, which can go one of two ways.

Outside the moderately interesting co-op campaign, F.E.A.R. 3 does have some other good things to offer. It is on occasion, satisfying to survive what feels like an endless barrage of enemies. And while there's rarely (at least on default difficulty) a real sense of jeopardy, there are one or two interesting settings. A subway car sequence (which is admittedly, not the most creative level concept) is cleverly arranged to maximize movement and surprise. Even better, the most interesting level takes place in a generic big box store, which is entertaining to those of us who've always dreamed of fighting off waves of maniacs inside a Costco.

Unfortunately, that's about the limit of F.E.A.R. 3’s inventiveness and its graphics and sound are also sadly limited. While the voice acting isn't terrible, the sound mix is so strange, you'll have to turn on subtitles to understand what the gravelly-voiced Paxton Fettel is saying. (You won't have that problem with Point Man since he never opens his mouth and stands there throughout the game, mute and hairy like an inarticulate Sasquatch.) The music and effects are mostly forgettable and the graphics, while serviceable, aren't designed to knock anyone's socks off.

In addition to the single player and co-op campaign, F.E.A.R. 3 features online and local multiplayer with several decent, if unspectacular modes. Up to four players can play a familiar survival mode called “Contractions”, or two soul-possession modes called “Soul Survivor” and “Soul King” (although the latter two are not going over well—I was never able to find an active game in these modes). The best of the multiplayer modes however, is called hilariously, “F***ing Run” and entails trying to fight your way through waves of enemies while avoiding being killed by a moving Wall of Death.

After the let down that was F.E.A.R. 2, many of us were holding out hope that F.E.A.R. 3 would redeem the series, bringing us more insight into the story or at least more depth to the gameplay. Unfortunately, we were destined to be disappointed. F.E.A.R. 3 breaks no new ground and provides no new depth either in terms of narrative or gameplay, choosing instead to rehash what was done better in the game's flagship title. And although its open endings seem to point to further chapters, unless drastic changes are made, few of us will want to play them.

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