First Encounter Assault Recon is a survival horror first-person shooter developed by Monolith Productions and published by Vivendi. It was released on October 17, 2005, for Windows and ported by Day 1 Studios to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Timegate Studios has released two expansion packs, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point in October 2006and F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate in November 2007. A direct sequel, Project Origin, which ignores Perseus Mandate and Extraction point, was announced by Monolith ProductionsThe 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 "Director's Edition" DVD version of the game was also released. The DVD included a "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 and two expansion packs
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 "Director's Edition" DVD version of the game was also released. The DVD included a "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 and two expansion packs
Gameplay
F.E.A.R. simulates combat from a first-person perspective. The protagonist's body is fully present, allowing the player to see his or her character'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 protagonist can be seen performing the relevant actions.
The player character uses reflex time while firing on a group of soldiers.
A prominent gameplay element is "reflex time," which slows down the game world while allowing the player to aim and react at normal speeds. This effect is used to simulate the character'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 they are 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 is crucial, as more powerful/specialized weapons tend to be more cumbersome and slow the player's maneuvers. Unlike other games of the genre where lighter/smaller weapons tend to be useless, F.E.A.R. does not scale guns on a curve, so any firearm is potentially deadly in most situations. 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."[10] 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 player may carry only three firearms at a time; thus, strategy is required when using and selecting weapons.
Compared to other shooters where mêlée is usually a last resort, F.E.A.R.'s mêlée is a viable instant-kill alternative for taking down enemies. The stocks of all firearms can be used in close combat. Lighter weapons, while being less powerful, allow the player to move around more quickly, increasing their chances of mêlée. Movement speed is maximized if a player holsters their weapon, which also allows them to engage in hand-to-hand attacks with maneuvers including punches, kicks, and slides.
F.E.A.R.'s 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 player, using suppressive fire or taking cover if under fire. The game's artificial intelligence is often cited as being highly advanced,[11][12] and its efficiency helped the game win GameSpot's "2005 Best AI Award,"[13] and earn the #2 ranking on AIGameDev's "Most Influential AI Games
F.E.A.R. simulates combat from a first-person perspective. The protagonist's body is fully present, allowing the player to see his or her character'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 protagonist can be seen performing the relevant actions.
The player character uses reflex time while firing on a group of soldiers.
A prominent gameplay element is "reflex time," which slows down the game world while allowing the player to aim and react at normal speeds. This effect is used to simulate the character'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 they are 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 is crucial, as more powerful/specialized weapons tend to be more cumbersome and slow the player's maneuvers. Unlike other games of the genre where lighter/smaller weapons tend to be useless, F.E.A.R. does not scale guns on a curve, so any firearm is potentially deadly in most situations. 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."[10] 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 player may carry only three firearms at a time; thus, strategy is required when using and selecting weapons.
Compared to other shooters where mêlée is usually a last resort, F.E.A.R.'s mêlée is a viable instant-kill alternative for taking down enemies. The stocks of all firearms can be used in close combat. Lighter weapons, while being less powerful, allow the player to move around more quickly, increasing their chances of mêlée. Movement speed is maximized if a player holsters their weapon, which also allows them to engage in hand-to-hand attacks with maneuvers including punches, kicks, and slides.
F.E.A.R.'s 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 player, using suppressive fire or taking cover if under fire. The game's artificial intelligence is often cited as being highly advanced,[11][12] and its efficiency helped the game win GameSpot's "2005 Best AI Award,"[13] and earn the #2 ranking on AIGameDev's "Most Influential AI Games
Atmosphere
A core element of F.E.A.R. is its horror theme, which was heavily inspired by Japanese horror.[20] 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".[21] 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".[10] Lead level designer John Mulkey stated, "Creating expectation and then messing w.jpg)
ith that expectation is extremely important, predictability ruins a scary mood".[21]
The player may find himself inside visions created by an unknown force.
The main source of the game's horror is Alma, 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?"[9] While Alma has been compared to the character Samara from The Ring,[22][23] 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".[9] 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".[9]
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.[20] 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."[20] 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, 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."
A core element of F.E.A.R. is its horror theme, which was heavily inspired by Japanese horror.[20] 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".[21] 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".[10] Lead level designer John Mulkey stated, "Creating expectation and then messing w
.jpg)
ith that expectation is extremely important, predictability ruins a scary mood".[21]The player may find himself inside visions created by an unknown force.
The main source of the game's horror is Alma, 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?"[9] While Alma has been compared to the character Samara from The Ring,[22][23] 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".[9] 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".[9]
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.[20] 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."[20] 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, 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."
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 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 player witnesses a man named Paxton Fettel taking command of a battalion of telepathically controlled clone supersoldiers, seizing control of the Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC) structure and killing all its occupants Now fully in control of the Point Man, the player attends a briefing held by Commissioner Betters, in the company of his F.E.A.R. team-mates Jankowski and Jin Sun-Kwon. The team's mission consists of eliminating Fettel, operating in conjunction with Delta Force.
.jpg)
A firefight against Replica soldiers.
After initially eluding the Point Man at an asylum, Fettel is located by means of a satellite tracking device, so the F.E.A.R. operatives and a Delta Force team attempt to apprehend him at the docks However, the Special Forces are inexplicably wiped out by some supernatural force; the player later witnesses further unexplained and occasionally life-threatening paranormal phenomena, including frequent hallucinations, all of which center around a little girl in a red dress named Alma. Laptops found during the course of the mission, hacked by Commissioner Betters, provide details regarding the background story. The F.E.A.R. team's search begins at a water treatment plant and later continues at Armacham headquarters, but Fettel successfully evades capture.
The player learns that Fettel was raised to become a telepathic military commander as part of ATC project Origin. He is the son of Alma, who is described as being a powerful psychic The player also learns of the existence of another child of Alma, who was born before Fettel All clues lead F.E.A.R. to believe Fettel is under control of Alma who was buried within the Origin facility when ATC closed down the project because of the danger posed by the woman. Now the villain is searching for that same facility to free his mother The player eventually takes the Point Man to the abandoned structure, fighting back both the clone soldiers and ATC, whose security agents have received orders to cover up the whole affair When the protagonist finally comes face-to-face with Fettel, he is drawn into a hallucination where the player learns that the Point Man is Alma's first son.After this hallucination, the player is able to kill Fettel. Nonetheless, Alma is freed when her storage chamber is opened by an ATC researcher, Harlan Wade, who feels guilty about the company's treatment of her;[eventually, it is revealed Alma shares Wade's name, implying that he is her father The player 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 extracts the Point Man from the rubble. While the player and the survivors of the 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 Aristide, which offers some further explanation: The president considers the project under control and deems the first prototype (apparently the Point Man) a success
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 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 player witnesses a man named Paxton Fettel taking command of a battalion of telepathically controlled clone supersoldiers, seizing control of the Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC) structure and killing all its occupants Now fully in control of the Point Man, the player attends a briefing held by Commissioner Betters, in the company of his F.E.A.R. team-mates Jankowski and Jin Sun-Kwon. The team's mission consists of eliminating Fettel, operating in conjunction with Delta Force.
.jpg)
A firefight against Replica soldiers.
After initially eluding the Point Man at an asylum, Fettel is located by means of a satellite tracking device, so the F.E.A.R. operatives and a Delta Force team attempt to apprehend him at the docks However, the Special Forces are inexplicably wiped out by some supernatural force; the player later witnesses further unexplained and occasionally life-threatening paranormal phenomena, including frequent hallucinations, all of which center around a little girl in a red dress named Alma. Laptops found during the course of the mission, hacked by Commissioner Betters, provide details regarding the background story. The F.E.A.R. team's search begins at a water treatment plant and later continues at Armacham headquarters, but Fettel successfully evades capture.
The player learns that Fettel was raised to become a telepathic military commander as part of ATC project Origin. He is the son of Alma, who is described as being a powerful psychic The player also learns of the existence of another child of Alma, who was born before Fettel All clues lead F.E.A.R. to believe Fettel is under control of Alma who was buried within the Origin facility when ATC closed down the project because of the danger posed by the woman. Now the villain is searching for that same facility to free his mother The player eventually takes the Point Man to the abandoned structure, fighting back both the clone soldiers and ATC, whose security agents have received orders to cover up the whole affair When the protagonist finally comes face-to-face with Fettel, he is drawn into a hallucination where the player learns that the Point Man is Alma's first son.After this hallucination, the player is able to kill Fettel. Nonetheless, Alma is freed when her storage chamber is opened by an ATC researcher, Harlan Wade, who feels guilty about the company's treatment of her;[eventually, it is revealed Alma shares Wade's name, implying that he is her father The player 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 extracts the Point Man from the rubble. While the player and the survivors of the 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 Aristide, which offers some further explanation: The president considers the project under control and deems the first prototype (apparently the Point Man) a success
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