When I saw the 2004 E3 teaser video for F.E.A.R., I was convinced we had a winner on our hands. Being a rather big fan of games made by Monolith, I was quite excited by today’s release of the F.EA.R. demo. Following are some of my impressions.
The technology: F.E.AR. uses a brand spanking new graphics engine that shows off all the features one would expect from a next-generation gaming engine. Real-time lighting and shadowing, the Havok Physics Library, and impressive offerings for sound options are not new, but now expected from any first-person shooter expecting to compete for play time. Not surprisingly, much of the menu interface and the feel of the controls is descended from Tron 2.0, Monolith’s prior offering.
Weapons: The weapons seemed powerful and fitting, with good sound effects. Allowing the player to only equip three weapons at a time is a new concept in a Monolith game and often a controversial gameplay decision, but it works here, thanks to bountiful supplies of ammunition for each weapon. A devastating choice of arsenal is a rail gun, which leaves blackened skeletal remains in its wake, and proximity mines to leave surprises for hapless victims.
Artificial Intelligence: It’s hard to describe how the AI reacts to the player and environment without comparing it to that of other recent games, such as Half-Life 2 or Far Cry. But, I can say with confidence that the AI in F.E.A.R. is the best I have seen since the original Half-Life. Enemies do just about everything that made the HL1 AI so great, with the added bonus of having them dive under stuff, jump through windows, and throw over shelves to both create cover and impede your path. Truly awesome to behold.
Story: Being a demo, the player is exposed to only a small sample of the storyline. The game puts the player in the boots of a trained killing machine with super-fast reflexes and sends him to a nondescript warehouse, packing a pistol and some menacing melee moves. Nothing revolutionary is revealed in the demo, but it can get rather scary at times.
“Bullet Time:” Ever since I saw this in the demonstration videos I’ve been wanting to get a crack at this. Well, it’s awesome. I got a little disoriented at first due to a slight confusion over the controls, but now that I have the hang of it I can say it is pure genius. Dodging oncoming bullets and splattering an enemy solider into a fine red cloud of mist is truly jaw-dropping.
Gameplay: The gameplay is pretty much standard FPS fare, but I was impressed by the skillful way the action sequences were paced alongside the bits of psychological horror. The demo is challenging, and certainly put me in my place the first time I attempted it on the normal difficulty setting. My only complaint was that it was a bit short, but that can’t be considered a valid complaint because it is only a demo.
Overall, the demo is solid fun. The controls get some getting used to, and some of the age-old complaints about the previous Lithtech engines are still relevant, like the occasional feeling of running in molasses or lagged mouse input. Performance was good on my system, with just the occasional lagging when moving between areas and a surprisingly large performance hit when checking out the occasional neat volumetric lighting effect.
To make a long story short, this demo has practically guaranteed that I will be preordering this game soon.
Overall grade: A-