F.E.A.R. review (PlayStation 3)

Many of the aspects of F.E.A.R. that made it such a hit on PC are still present here on PlayStation 3. But you'd have to be very generous indeed to say the game was an overall success.

Two years ago we were wowed by the frenetic gunplay against intelligent enemies that gave the impression they really did want you dead. And while the story is hardly the stuff of epics, the spooky events and twists and turns meant that you never felt comfortable or at ease with your surroundings.

Those aspects have been retained here on PlayStation 3. The game offers some of the most exciting set-piece gunfights you'll play in a first person shooter. Wielding these chunky powerful weapons gives you a sense of power, even if some of the psychological aspects of the game attempt to make you feel puny in the scheme of things.

There Is No Spoon

Several other features enhance the gunplay. The first is the melee moves on offer – you can despatch your enemies with a well-timed kick that's more impressive than you average game's pistol whipping. More important is the Matrix-inspired bullet-time effect.

Your ability to slow time in this fashion is limited, but the ability recharges quickly enough that you'll be able to use the feature as much as you want in short bursts. It's one of F.E.A.R.'s neatest features and I defy anyone not to enjoy leaping sideways in slow motion and watching your bullets leaving visible vortices in their wake.

Unfortunately the controls do feel rather clunky making full use of combat and bullet-time moves somewhat tricky. I know there are those that will always despite first-person shooters played with a pad, but plenty of games manage to pull of a reasonable first-person control scheme. That's not something that can be said of F.E.A.R, either here on in the Xbox 360 game. I found myself dying more than one would expect just because I struggled with the controls rather than the challenge put before me. Thanks to a reasonably well spaced set of checkpoints though – there's little backtracking that has to be done on restart.

How Smart?

But get to grips with the controls and the gunfights can be thrilling visceral experiences thanks to the power of the weapons on show, the game physics and the intelligence of your enemies. These guys are tough opponents and will make use of cover and teamwork to make sure you don't last very long. Quite often you'll find yourself pinned down by enemy fire while other enemies advance on you. Surviving such encounters is as much about using cover well and your smarts, than merely being able to hit the bad guys as quickly as possible.

Repeated play does reveal faults in what initially appears to be very strong AI. You'll notice tactics being repeated in an almost scripted way. And so confidence grows – what might seem a difficult gunfight becomes another rehash of a battle you fought earlier in the game and despite the smart enemy tactics you just repeat your successful approach from last time and breeze through the section.

Spooky

There's some ten hours or so of single player adventure and it can be pretty unsettling at times. Fans of Japanese horror will find the approach the developer has taken quite familiar, often you don't see anything – but sounds and small visual hints will leave you nervous about exploring the game environments. Pools of blood and the detritus of violent events make for uneasy exploration. There are a few moments where the game will make you jump, keeping the adrenaline flowing and providing plenty of atmosphere. Again though, like the combat, there's a limited set of tricks on show and you will get used to them as the game progresses, meaning it becomes less scary rather than more so.

Some pretty uninspired production values are to blame here too. There are only so man dilapidated corridors you can wander along without getting a little bored. The game's three settings are too similar and seemed to be designed to funnel you from gunfight to gunfight rather than locations you can really believe in.

Thankfully there's more to enjoy in the game than just the regular adventure. Instant Action lets you enjoy the game's best element – the gunfighting – and try to set the fastest time to clear an area. There's an exclusive mission here for PlayStation 3 too. Multiplayer is well supported with such modes as team deathmatch and capture the flag. Multiplayer is good, but not quite enough to save a game that's almost great, but doesn't quite do enough.

And now we come to the biggest problem with the game. The presentation is really quite poor. For a game that was once a graphical flagship, this PlayStation 3 version looks tired. There doesn't seem to have been much effort put into the visual side and low resolution textures and poor models really do make you wonder if you're not playing the game on PlayStation 2. With all the power under the bonnet of PS3 it's such a surprise to see such a lacklustre visual pallet compared to PC and Xbox 360 versions. In contrast the soundscape of the game is superb, so that makes the poor visual quality even more of a surprise and a shame.

There's plenty to admire in this version of F.E.A.R. but if you've played either the PC or Xbox 360 version there's no real reason to dip your toe into these PlayStation 3 waters. It's a shame more effort wasn't put into this release as it just feels rushed and unfinished. The loading times alone are enough to make you want to give up and play something else instead. A shame, a missed opportunity.