FEAR 3 Review

Publisher Warner Brothers

Developer Day 1, Monolith

Platform Xbox360, PS3

Release Date 24-June-2011

Fear 3 is the latest instalment in the series of paranormal horror shooters from the developers Day 1 and Monolith Productions. Set around nine months after the ending of FEAR 2, Pointman (the main character from the Original FEAR title) has been captured by Armacham Security and is being held in a prison. This is until his dead brother shows up.

*****Spoilers from the first two games in the paragraph below.

The original FEAR game saw you in control of Pointman as you tracked down and killed a telepathic cannibal called Paxton Fettel who it was believed at the time to be under the control of Alma. Fettel then turns out to be your brother of all things, and while finding out this you also find out that Alma is in fact your mother. Fear 2 deviated a little from FEAR 1 in that instead of playing as Pointman you took on the role of Michael Becket. The leader of a small team sent to destroy Alma. During one of the more disturbing final sequences Alma has her way with Becket and the game ends with the reveal that she is pregnant with his child. Hence Fear 3 starts just about 9 months after the end of FEAR 2 with Alma going into labour.

Spoilers over ****


Fear 3 puts you back in control of Pointman, this time you are in an uneasy alliance with your brother Fettel as you escape the Armacham Technology’s asylum and make your way through the remains of the prison escaping through the sewers into the slums of the city. Battling not only the soldiers and monsters but also the citizens who have been driven insane by the blast at the end of the first game.

Fear 3 is very much a summer blockbuster, while it doesn’t set the world alight, what it does it does really well. The game itself is not particularly long coming in at around the 5-7 hour mark, it is bolstered by a co-op option with two different endings along with a number of pretty solid multiplayer modes to keep players entertained for a few weeks in the boring summer dry spell. In fact the multiplayer side to the game is its best feature, with 4 new gameplay modes including one which is their own take on the Nazi zombie style of course without the Nazi’s or zombies ! Ghost mode is another cleaver mode that offers a much more engaging experience than your stable death matches.

In the co-op mode each player controls one of the brothers, the final stats determine the ending available when you complete the game. If Pointman has been the better player then you get the good ending, if Fettel has been the better you are treated to the evil ending.

The gameplay is flawless, I played from start to finish without encountering a single glitch. The improved cover system is quite good and for a change it doesn’t result in making the game any easier as the enemy AI is also pretty top notch and they will flank you a drive you out of cover at every opportunity.

Graphically the game is also quite impressive with good use of lighting to create the atmosphere. While the atmosphere is a creepy super natural one, it is fair to say the game is nowhere near as pants wettingly scary as the original, but it still holds a number a good jumps. But for the most part this has more action than suspense in a similar approach as Dead Space 2. For some this will be disappointing but for this reviewer that’s ok as I really don’t take well to really scary games.

The story is ok, while it doesn’t have many surprises left in store it does keep the game interesting throughout, giving much more of an insight into the children’s upbringing.

Overall : Fear 3 is as solid a shooter as you will find on the market, good graphics, great gameplay and plenty of action. Everything it tries to do it does really well. The co-op and multiplayer modes don’t feel tacked on and do add considerable enjoyment to the game beyond the solo campaign.

FEAR 3 is nowhere near as scary as the first outing but it really is a solid shooter with enough in it to please even the most fatigued of FPS players.

Score 8/10

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