Community Review: F.3.A.R. (With Help From Junglist)

23 responses to “Community Review: F.3.A.R. (With Help From Junglist)”

1. 

   AnonymousPessimist

   July 4, 2011 at 10:09 am

   Is he called Junglist because he listens to drum’n’bass?

   Always wondered.

   Reply
   1. 

      xkylex

      July 4, 2011 at 10:35 am

      Yes.

      Reply
   2. 

      AnonymousPessimist

      July 4, 2011 at 10:38 am

      http://twitter.com/#!/TheJunglist/status/87679708313042944

      AP, answering all the hard questions.

      Reply
2. 

   giort08

   July 4, 2011 at 10:15 am

   I think im about a 1/3 the way through it (the 360 version). It’s pretty fun- like what a lot of people say, it isnt as “scary” as the prvious two but i’ve had a few jumps here and there. One thing that is annoying is that they have active cover- a la Gear of War- which would be fine if it was a third-person shooter….but it isnt, so you’ll be hiding behind cover, not being able to track where the enemies are, pop your head up for a look, and get shot up straight away. Also the active cover button is also the crouch button, which sucks if you want to just crouch behind something, and you end up getting stuck there (I have died many times because of that)
   But other than that, it has been quite fun, and now I wait until one of my other friends decide to pick it up so I can have a go at that “Fucking Run” mode…..which looks awesome (^_^)

   Reply
   1. 

      giort08

      July 4, 2011 at 10:22 am

      Also- it would be Great if Developers gave you the option to fully customise the Button Configuration. the set up in F.E.A.R 3 (I refuse to type it with the number as a letter) has your slow-time button as “Y” which, in nearly every other shooter, is the switch weapons button (they decided to give the left bumper the glory of weapon switching). This made it extremely frustrating for the first couple of hours, trying to switch weapons in a fire fight, and instead usiing up all your precious slow-time power. It may seem like a small thing to ask, but it would have made it so much easier to get into the game.

      Reply
      1. 

         os42

         July 4, 2011 at 11:00 am

         Same here – spent the first few hours using slo-mo instead of switching weapons… and there’s only one button configuration that swaps those two buttons, but it seems to screw up everything else.
         I was a big fan of the series, but there was only one part that I enjoyed in this game – climbing up a ladder in the gardening store, and came face to face with Alma, reminding me of that ladder part in the first game.
         Other than that: game wasn’t scary, level design was crap, and they seem to have added an achievement/ranking system for no reason and to no purpose. Having completed the game, I can’t help feel glad that I didn’t pay full price for it, and if I didn’t feel the need to keep it to complete my F.E.A.R. collection, it would be going in the bin (not trade-in, couldn’t in good conscience let it be resold).

         Reply
3. 

   SunSkorpion

   July 4, 2011 at 10:28 am

   Good to see Jung is still going strong. TBH, I haven’t kept up with what he’s up to. Is he writing/reviewing for regular site or show? Does he have a blog of sorts that he uses?

   As for the game, the name put me off straight away. plus, I never heard great things about the 2nd Fear, so I never played that.

   I did love the original though. The mix of sci-fi and horror, the use of lighting, the mature themes and the interesting AI made the game pretty good for me.

   Reply
   1. 

      James Mac

      July 4, 2011 at 11:55 am

      He works for Gamearena doing their podcast and a weekly video review.
      I think he does some kind of late night videogame thing for OneHD too.

      Reply
4. 

   Mark Martin

   July 4, 2011 at 10:44 am

   I’ve completed it in multiplayer with a friend on PC (Commando) difficulty on Saturday. It was pretty short campaign but it was heaps of fun. I was Point Man and he was Fettel. Started playing single player as Fettel, wow he’s so OP compared to Point man, I can see now why my friend kept betting my scores :).

   My only gripe with the game is that it next to impossible to find a multiplayer co-op match unless you organise with someone.

   i didn’t actually mind the shotness of the campaign as i’ve got an embarrsing amount of other games to finish.

   Reply
5. 

   ndroste

   July 4, 2011 at 10:56 am

   Maybe a good rental then?

   Reply
6. 

   Colby

   July 4, 2011 at 11:27 am

   The single player campaign was quite disappointing I reckon.

   Way too short, and after my second play through I’ve come to the conclusion that too many of the games core mechanics have been stripped out.

   Now we have regenerating health (not bad in itself, but indicative of the me-too problems with this game) and no body armour or proximity mines – two strategic considerations I’ve always enjoyed. There is a maximum of two weapons, ala Halo, and – at least initially – the amount of ammo you can carry is minute.

   This means that difficulty is largely confected by a combination of ammo conservation and many waves of enemies.

   Some of the enemies are needlessly cheap and considering the series’ previous innovation in AI, the only-just-good-enough-AI is disappointing. To cap it all off, the story is ridiculous (even by FEAR standards) and all the background scene-setting stuff – like phone messages – are not even present at all.

   The net result is a small collection of levels that remind me a little of the two previous (far superior) games, but which is ultimately forgettable and banal. A shame.

   Reply
7. 

   mailed

   July 4, 2011 at 11:36 am

   An argument could be made for FEAR 3 being the best of the series. The PC version has some technical issues (a lot of overclocked nVIDIA cards cause crashing if you run in DX11 mode) but it’s still great fun.

   I’ve only played it solo so far as well, so you don’t need to play co-op to enjoy it.

   Reply
8. 

   James Mac

   July 4, 2011 at 11:57 am

   Fight the power Mark

   *shakes-fist*

   Fight it.

   Reply
9. 

   Jerkoff

   July 4, 2011 at 12:19 pm

   As a PC gamer must say somewhat disappointed with lack of Eyefinity support, esp since FEAR 2 supported it out of the box.
   Anyone felt a bit nauseous after playing? Then again nothing compared to Mirror’s Edge which I did throw up on after playing

   Reply
10. 

    Chuloopa

    July 4, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    I had to pause at one point – i thought i’d share what i saw upon my return

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/trozza/jung.jpg

    Brilliant

    Reply
    1. 

       Chazz

       July 4, 2011 at 1:22 pm

       This game like totally like blew my mind, man.

       Reply
11. 

    Kyle_Katarn

    July 4, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    The only F.E.A.R Games that count are the first one, and the first expansion (non-canon, I know), they were the only scary ones. F.E.A.R. 2 was crap because they dropped the atmosphere all round for some shitty jump scares (monster jumps out in front of you going A-BOOGELY-WOOGELY WOO), all this which they sacrificed for focus on the combat.

    I wanted to be proven wrong with F.3.A.R. but from what I’ve seen from the LP series I’ve been following… it’s the same old shit from Project Origin, jump scares, no atmosphere, combat only experience.

    OH! And this Coop thing with Paxton Fettel to compete for the “favorite child”? Probably the stupidest, most idiotic thing they could have added to this.

    Reply
    1. 

       Chazz

       July 4, 2011 at 1:40 pm

       And this is the problem. People who think you can follow up the original game using the same forumla as the first game.

       FEAR’s atmosphere came from not knowing what exactly was happening. Not knowing the history of the experiments and how things work in the FEAR universe.

       The sequels can’t match the same atmospheric style because there is no mystery anymore. You understand what is happening, you know what Alma is and what she’s capable of.

       If they’d tried the same formula in the sequels they would’ve been met with remarks saying it’s too derivative of the first game and not scary because you know what to expect.

       Reply
       1. 

          Kyle_Katarn

          July 4, 2011 at 2:25 pm

          There are plenty of ways to scare someone without resorting to the cheap crap they pulled in Project Origin.

          Reply
          1. 

             Chazz

             July 4, 2011 at 2:58 pm

             Go ahead and enlighten us.

             Reply
12. 

    James Mac

    July 4, 2011 at 3:54 pm

    I have decided that, from now on, if it is spelt F3AR… then it shall be pronounced ‘feather’, and blank looks shall be given to anyone who asks if we mean Fear3.

    Reply
    1. 

       giort08

       July 4, 2011 at 11:47 pm

       or even fethreeyaarr XD

       Reply
13. 

    bapslap

    July 7, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    I pray the next one is called F.O.A.R.

    Reply