F.E.A.R. preview

Ma mamma always said, “E3’s like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get”. That was a lie, she didn’t really. And if she had, it would’ve been wrong too. Most of E3 is about as predictable as a wooden stool. New technology is suitably astounding, queues for demos are always long, and the Duke Nukem Forever booth never quite materializes.

F.E.A.R. at first seems similarly predictable. Monolith’s latest FPS - shown for the first time at this year’s event - follows all the conventions. The demonstration we saw starts you off in the standard chopper-about-to-land-at-LZ scenario. For a minute or two you listen to the usual banter between team mates, then you’re dropped onto the roof of a towering office block, and the action starts.

FOG OF WAR
Ducking behind some barrels to avoid fire, you notice the flashes of the crimson emergency lighting across the metal. It looks good, but this isn’t anything yet. Seconds later the player leaps out, shotgun in hand to fall upon the defence. Very quickly what makes F.E.A.R. interesting becomes apparent. Shotgun blasts conjure deliciously thick clouds of smoke that ripple and disappear upwards from the barrel. Bullets glance off walls, spray sparks and dislodges plaster in a similar fashion. Wow, we’re liking this now.

“You can’t get through the main door, find another way in!” barks a commander to your ear. Like we haven’t heard that before.

Heavily armoured guards meet you on the way in through – guess what - the maintenance door. Enemies take a number of hits, as do you. This is because you’re both kitted out with the coolest combat gear we’ve seen since Gordon’s hazard suit. Head to toe outfits of something like futuristic Raven Shield get-ups make you feel good about yourself and your adversaries.

MELODRAMA
The combat feels refreshingly brutal. Sounds are meaty, rag dolls are dramatic and there’s a generous amount of detailed blood that coats the walls as the dust settles. Grenades blast a decimating shockwave effect across their explosive radius that looks really forceful, especially in glorious bullet-time. Yes, it’s implemented without a seam. Glass shards drop like snowflakes from shattering windows and enemies flip backwards gracefully as headshots connect. Topping it all off though has to be the melee combat. The highlight of the video would undoubtedly be the moment where you vault over an office coffee table (in aforementioned bullet time, naturally) to dropkick a masked grunt backwards over a handrail to the floor beneath. Max Payne would have grimaced more than usual.

F.E.A.R. isn’t just an acronym, mind. First Encounter Assault and Recon (they must’ve really struggled for that one) actually makes sense. You blast your way through a floor or two, but before long, you’re reminded that the team that came here before you never reported back. A light flickers. One particularly gripping set piece sees you creeping through a room with a photocopier left on, repeating its bright beam towards the ceiling periodically. As you cross the floor, a dark shape seems to be loping in your direction from the blackness at the other end. The light stops, and when it starts again a second later, the shape has gone.

L.I.N.E.A.R.I.T.Y.
“What d’you think Halliday?” asks your supervisor over the intercom, as you meet a fellow operative lower in the building. “I think some nasty sh*t happened here” he mutters back. You look around. Every wall is darkly smeared in every shade of red. The team you were sent to find are, well, everywhere. A set of elevator doors close and open repeatedly on the corpse of one former soldier, another lies face down in the lobby fountain.

The somewhat lavish violence is a product of Monolith opting for an adult certification, and while it is further evident in the colourful dialogue, we got the sense this isn’t being made as a selling point. It comes across as fitting, and definitely adds a realistic tone to the (surprisingly well acted) voices of your companions.

From what we’ve seen so far, the game’s a well-judged blend of Half-Life, Doom 3 and Max Payne. In our books, it counts against a title when it’s lacking in originality, but in F.E.A.R’s case, it doesn’t matter. It seems like a lovingly perfected combination of those games served with style and polish from one of the most highly respected developers in the industry.

An unforgiving ‘2005’ is all we have to go on right now. Expect updates as more info becomes available in coming months.

Sam Goldwater