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F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon

From F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon
This is the article about the video game. For the organization of the same name, see F.E.A.R. (Organization).

F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon is a first-person shooter developed by Monolith Productions and published by Vivendi. It was released on October 18, 2005, for Windows, the first expansion pack, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, was released by Timegate Studios in October 2006. The second expansion, F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate, was released in November 2007. A direct sequel was announced by Monolith Productions, Project Origin due out in 2008.

The game's story revolves around a supernatural phenomenon, which F.E.A.R.—a fictional special forces team—is called to contain. The player assumes the role of F.E.A.R.'s Point Man, who possesses superhuman reflexes and combats an army of cloned soldiers, and at the same time uncovers the secrets of a paranormal menace in the form of a little girl.

F.E.A.R. was well-received by critics, scoring 89% on Game Rankings, and The New York Times calling it "as thrilling and involving as Half-Life. A "F.E.A.R. Director's Edition" DVD version of the game was also released. The DVD included a F.E.A.R. "Making Of" Documentary, a director's commentary, a short live-action prequel and the exclusive first episode of the promotional P.A.N.I.C.S. machinima. A related Dark Horse comic book was also packaged with the DVD. Along with the Director's Edition, F.E.A.R. Gold Edition was released. Gold Edition included the Director's Edition and Extraction Point. F.E.A.R. Platinum Edition features the original game, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point and F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

F.E.A.R. simulates combat from a first-person perspective. The Point Man's body is fully present, allowing the player to see the Point Man's torso and feet while looking down. Within scripted sequences, when rising from a lying position or fast-roping from a helicopter for example, or climbing ladders, the hands and legs of the Point Man can be seen performing the relevant actions.

The Point Man uses Slow-Mo while firing on a group of Replicas.

A prominent gameplay element is "Slow-Mo," which slows down the game world while allowing the Point Man to aim and react at normal speeds. This effect is used to simulate the Point Man's superhuman reflexes. Reflex time is represented by stylized visual effects, such as bullets in flight that cause air distortion or interact with the game's particle effects. F.E.A.R. lead designer Craig Hubbard stated that Monolith Productions' primary goal was "to make combat as intense as the tea house shootout at the beginning of John Woo's Hard-Boiled." He continued on to say that "defeat[ing] ... enemies ... with style" was crucial to this goal and that reflex time plays a large role in "mak[ing] the player feel like an action movie hero."

The game contains weapons based on non-fictional firearms, such as pistols, assault rifles and submachine guns, as well as entirely fictional armaments like particle beam weapons. Each firearm differs in terms of ammunition type, accuracy, range, fire rate, damage and bulkiness. The latter characteristic affects the Point Man, as more cumbersome weapons slow the Point Man maneuvers. F.E.A.R., unlike any other FPS games, does not scale weapons on a curve, therefore any firearm is potentionally dangerous in most given situations for most given enemies. Monolith Productions stated that it aimed for "a balanced arsenal where each weapon serves a specific function," rather than "just going with a bunch of real-world submachine guns and assault rifles." F.E.A.R.'s heads-up display crosshair's size dynamically shows where shots will fall based on movement, aim and the weapon in use. The Point Man may carry only three firearms at a time; thus, strategy is required when using and selecting weapons. All weapons possess mêlée attacks, and a hand-to-hand combat system allows the Point Man to attack unarmed with maneuvers including punches and kicks.

F.E.A.R. artificial intelligence allows computer-controlled characters a large degree of action. Enemies can duck to travel under crawlspaces, jump through windows, vault over railings, climb ladders and push over large objects to create cover. Various opponents may act as a team, taking back routes to surprise the Point Man, using suppressive fire or taking cover if under fire. The game's artificial intelligence is often cited as being highly advanced, and its efficiency helped the game win GameSpot's "2005 Best AI Award."

[edit] Atmosphere

A core element of F.E.A.R. is its horror theme, which was heavily inspired by Japanese horror. The design team attempted to keep "[the] psychology of the encounter" in the player's mind at all times, in order to "get under [the player's] skin", as opposed to the "in your face 'monsters jumping out of closets' approach". Lead designer Craig Hubbard stated in an interview that "horror is extremely fragile ... you can kill it by spelling things out too clearly and you can undermine it with too much ambiguity". He remarked that he attempted to strike a balance with the narrative elements of F.E.A.R., to give players "enough clues so that [they] can form [their] own theories about what's going on, but ideally [they will] be left with some uncertainty". Lead level designer John Mulkey stated, "Creating expectation and then messing with that expectation is extremely important, predictability ruins a scary mood".

A horror sequence.

The main source of the game's horror is Alma Wade, a ghostly little girl. Craig Hubbard remarked that "a guy in a mask chasing co-eds with a meat cleaver can be scary, but on some level you're thinking to yourself you could probably kick his ass if you got the drop on him ... but when a spooky little girl takes out an entire Delta Force squad, how are you supposed to deal with that?" While Alma has been compared to the character Samara from The Ring (Sadako in the original Japanese), Craig Hubbard stated that she "was born out of a tradition of eerie, faceless female ghosts" and not "as an answer to any specific movie character". Hubbard acknowledged that Alma "admittedly bears some visual resemblance to the ghosts in Dark Water or Séance," but "creepy little girls have been freaking [him] out since The Shining".

F.E.A.R.'s audio was designed in the style of Japanese horror films, with the sound engineers using inexpensive equipment to create sound effects, utilizing methods including dragging metal across different surfaces and recording pump sounds. Monolith Productions commented, "The sound designers had to be concerned with avoiding predictability," since "[l]isteners are smart ... they will recognize your formula quickly and then you won't be able to scare them anymore." Silence was also utilized in order to "allow players to fill in the space, which lets their imagination create their own personal horror".

Monolith Productions composed F.E.A.R.'s music in reaction to scenes, instead of "creating a formula that would consistently produce music throughout the game". The design team called F.E.A.R.'s music structure "more cerebral and tailored to each individual event", and continued that "sometimes the music is used to ratchet up the tension to toy with players ... [it] will build to a terrifying crescendo before cutting off without a corresponding event, only to later have the silence shattered by Alma Wade, when players least expect it."

F.E.A.R.'s horror theme was praised by critics. Game Informer claimed that "... the frequent spooky head trips that Monolith has so skillfully woven together make an experience that demands to be played." IGN opined that "the environment has been so well-crafted to keep you edgy and watchful ... [that] playing the game for a few hours straight can get a little draining." GameSpot reacted similarly, calling F.E.A.R.'s horror "exceedingly effective," and agreeing that it "can leave you a bit emotionally exhausted after a while."

[edit] Synopsis

[edit] Intervals

F.E.A.R. is broken up into Intervals which are then further broken up into what could be called levels.

Interval 01 – Inception --- Point of Origin

Interval 02 – Initiation --- First Encounter

Interval 03 – Escalation --- Infiltration

Interval 03 – Escalation --- Heavy Resistance

Interval 03 – Escalation --- Bad Water

Interval 03 – Escalation --- Exeunt Omnes

Interval 04 – Infiltration --- LZ is Hot

Interval 04 – Infiltration --- Watchers

Interval 05 – Extraction --- Bishop

Interval 05 – Extraction --- Blindside

Interval 06 – Interception --- Sayonara, Sucker

Interval 06 – Interception --- Unauthorized Personnel

Interval 06 – Interception --- Afterimage

Interval 07 – Redirection --- Alice Wade

Interval 07 – Redirection --- Flight

Interval 08 – Desolation --- Urban Decay

Interval 08 – Desolation --- Point of Entry – Part 1

Interval 08 – Desolation --- Point of Entry – Part 2

Interval 09 – Incursion --- Lapdog

Interval 09 – Incursion --- Bypass

Interval 10 – Revelation --- The Vault

Interval 11 – Retaliation --- Ground Zero

Interval 12 – Epilogue --- Aftermath

The Xbox360 and PS3 versions of F.E.A.R. also contain a Bonus Mission as well as five Instant Action Maps.

[edit] Plot

The story of F.E.A.R. is presented in such a way that only a few minor plot elements are presented in the game's beginning, thus allowing players to experience the adventure as "the hero[es] in [their] own spine-tingling epic of action, tension and terror." The manual briefly mentions the player character's recent induction as "Point Man" to the F.E.A.R., a secret special operations group of the U.S. government specialized in dealing with paranormal threats. The character's extraordinarily reactive reflexes are described as well, hinting that the government is interested in his abilities. When the game begins, the Point Man witnesses a man named Paxton Fettel taking command of a battalion of telepathically controlled clone supersoldiers, seizing control of the a Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC) structure and killing all its occupants.

The Point Man attends a briefing held by Commissioner Rowdy Betters, in the company of his F.E.A.R. team-mates Spen Jankowski and Jin Sun-Kwon. The team's mission consists of eliminating Paxton Fettel, operating in conjunction with Delta Force.

A firefight against Replica soldiers.

Fettel is located by means of a satellite tracking device and hunted by F.E.A.R. and Delta Force over several locations. The search for Paxton Fettel begins at a South River Wastewater Treatment Plant and later continues at Armacham Technology Corporation Headquarters. While the villain evades capture by the special forces, the Point Man witnesses unexplained and occasionally life-threatening paranormal phenomena, including frequent hallucinations, all of which center around a little girl in a red dress named Alma Wade. Laptops found during the course of the mission, hacked by Commissioner Rowdy Betters, provide details regarding the background story. The Point Man learns that Fettel was raised to become a telepathic military commander as part of Armacham Technology Corporation project Project Origin. He is the son of Alma Wade, who is described as being a powerful psychic. The Point Man also learns of the existence of another child of Alma, who was born before Fettel.

All clues lead F.E.A.R. to believe Paxton Fettel is under control of Alma Wade, who was buried within the Origin Facility when Armacham Technology Corporation closed down the project because of the danger posed by Alma. Now the Fettel is searching for that same facility to free his mother. The Point Man eventually reaches an abandoned structure, fighting back both the clone soldiers and ATC security guards, who have received orders to cover up the whole affair. When the Point Man finally comes face-to-face with Fettel, he is drawn into a hallucination where the Point Man learns that he is Alma's first son. During this hallucination, the Point Man kills Paxton Fettel. Nonetheless, Alma Wade is freed when her storage chamber is opened by an Armacham Technology Corporation researcher, Harlan Wade, who feels guilty about the company's treatment of her; eventually, it is revealed Alma shares Wade's name, and that he is her father. The Point Man is then called upon to sabotage the structure's reactor, to destroy the facility. In the aftermath of the detonation, a Delta Force UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter extracts the Point Man from the rubble. While the Point Man and the survivors of the first F.E.A.R. team survey the results of the explosion from the helicopter, Alma makes one last appearance, preparing to pull herself up into the helicopter's cabin. The destruction of the Origin Facility has not stopped her quest for revenge.

After the game's credits, the player can listen to a phone call between a mysterious Senator and ATC president Genevieve Aristide, which offers some further explanation: Genevieve Aristide considers the project under control and deems the first prototype a success.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Development

F.E.A.R. was announced at an E3 2004 pre-show, though its existence as an untitled project was revealed prior to this announcement. The game's first trailer later premiered at E3 2004 and was well-received by critics. During the E3 2004 showing, F.E.A.R.'s lead designer, Craig Hubbard, stated that the game "evolved out of a concept we started developing right after Shogo that we've been dying to work on." Monolith Productions' director of technology, Kevin Stephens, later elaborated that this concept was "to make an action movie in a first-person shooter, where you really feel like an action star." To this effect, the team focused on immersing the player, utilizing elements like a silent, nameless protagonist with an unknown background, and only allowing the player to see the protagonist's body when looking down or sideways.

During 2005, F.E.A.R. made playable appearances at Consumer Electronics Show, Game Developers Conference and E3, all of which were well-received. Its showing at E3 garnered it the Game Critics Award for "Best Action Game." Vivendi allowed gaming journalists to play through the first four levels of the game, which received even more positive reaction than before.

F.E.A.R. eventually released on October 18, 2005. Alongside the basic CD-ROM edition, theDirector's Cut DVD version of F.E.A.R. was released with a number of extra features. A Dark Horse Entertainment comic book and a series of live action vignettes help clarify a number of plot elements depicted in the game, while the "Making of F.E.A.R." and director's and developer's commentary offer several insights and trivia into the game's development through interviews with employees of Monolith Productions and Vivendi. Also included is the exclusive first episode of the F.E.A.R. machinima, P.A.N.I.C.S., created by "Rooster Teeth Productions."

Over the course of the "Developer's roundtable commentary," producer Chris Hewitt reveals, "We had a whole level in the game where we had this car chase sequence... we spent about two months on that thing...." "But the car chase sequence didn't work the way we hoped it would," adds designer Craig Hubbard, commenting on the choice to remove that level from the game. Hewitt also comments that, "Actually we started off with two villains, and Fettel was one of them until we merged them together...." Craig Hubbard also remarks that "his jacket actually used to belong to another villain we had in the game named Conrad Krieg, whom we combined with Fettel pretty literally.

[edit] Engine technology

F.E.A.R. is the first game developed using the newest iteration of Monolith's Lithtech engine. Codenamed "Jupiter EX," the F.E.A.R. engine is driven by a DirectX 9 renderer and has seen major advancements from its direct precursor, "Jupiter." The new engine includes both the Havok Physics Engine and the Havok "Vehicle Kit," which adds support for common vehicle behavior. This latter feature goes mostly unused in F.E.A.R., as no vehicles appear outside of scripted sequences.

Graphically, F.E.A.R. utilizes normal mapping and parallax mapping to give textures a more realistic appearance; the latter is a bump mapping technique and is most notably used to give the appearance of depth to flat bullet hole decals on walls. volumetric lighting and lightmapping are included with the addition of a per-pixel lighting model, allowing complex lighting effects to be developed. Vertex, pixel and high-level shaders, including a host of additional special effects, are also featured in Jupiter EX.

[edit] Reception

Prior to release, F.E.A.R. generated large amounts of hype from computer game journalists. Upon release, F.E.A.R. received critical acclaim, with Computer Gaming World calling it "one of the year's top single-player shooters" and PC Gamer' regarding it as "the first game to convincingly channel the kinetic exhilaration of 'John Woo violence' in the FPS format."

IGN claimed that "Monolith forges new shooter territory with some truly freaky elements, challenge, fun, and beauty." GameSpy praised the game's plot, later awarding it their "Best Story" Game of the Year award. The New York Times thought differently, stating "I was never quite clear on what was going on in the game. I knew my goal — track down a psychic, escort a corporate executive's daughter out of danger — but I didn't ever care who these people were nor did I understand their motives." The game has also received criticism for its system requirements, which call for an extremely powerful PC.

Maximum PC stated that "Monolith did a great job with both the in-game sounds and the soundtrack ... the spooky audio makes exploring deserted ruins creepy, and the positional sound works to great effect; sinister noises like breaking bottles and creaking metal come from your rear channels with just the right frequency to freak you out," but "after eight hours of battling the exact same opponents, in a perfectly linear environment, it’s tough to remain enthusiastic." GameSpot also found the game slightly repetitive, but still called it "quite easily one of the most intense and atmospheric games that you'll play,"

The Xbox 360 port has also received positive reviews, but not quite as favorable as the PC version. The multiplayer and instant-action mode were praised for better gameplay, but the control scheme was negatively viewed. Reviews have also stated that it lacked bonus features, despite the new mission included in the game and Bonus Gun type the Auto-pistol . Gamespot gave the game 8.6, while IGN rated it 9.1.

The PlayStation 3 port received less favorable reviews than the other two versions, but still had positive reviews overall. It contains a Bonus Mission, but the chief complaints of the negative reviewers were downgraded graphics and long loading times. Gamespot has given the port a 7.1, making it the lowest rating of the three versions of F.E.A.R. on Gamespot.

[edit] System specs and notes

Minimum Specs

  • Windows XP, X64 or 2000 with latest service pack installed
  • DirectX 9.0c (August edition) or higher
  • Pentium 4 1.7GHz or equivalent processor
  • 512 MB of RAM or more
  • 64 MB GeForce 4 Ti or Radeon 9000 video card
  • Monitor that can display in 4:3 aspect ratio
  • 5.0 GB free hard drive space for installation
  • Additional hard drive space for swap file and saved game files
  • DVD-ROM drive
  • 16-bit DirectX 9.0 compliant sound card with support for EAX 2.0
  • Broadband or LAN connection for multiplayer games
  • Mouse
  • Keyboard

Recommended Specs

  • Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or equivalent processor
  • 1 GB RAM
  • A GeForce 6600 or 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro or equivalent supported DirectX 9 compliant video card with hardware T&L and pixel shader 2.0 support
  • Sound Blaster X-Fi series sound card

Supported chipsets

  • NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti series, GeForce FX 5900 series, 6600 series, 6800 series, 7800 series
  • ATI Radeon 9000 series, Radeon 9500 series, Radeon 9600 series, Radeon 9700 series, Radeon 9800 series, Radeon X600 series, Radeon X700 series, Radeon X800 series, Radeon X850 series

Notes

  • Installation requires the user to install DirectX 9.0c (August Edition). As with many older games, this does not check if a newer edition is already installed and cannot be avoided without aborting the installation.
  • Players with an XBOX360 or PS3 can purchase the game for their systems and have equal performance depending on the system.
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