F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) continues to wow PC and Xbox 360 gamers thanks to its blistering pace, impressive gunplay and buckets of gore. This March, publisher Sierra and developer Day 1 Studios will finally bring the game to the PlayStation 3, and it should mirror its counterparts, providing those involved improve the level of detail and make one necessary control switch.

A creepy little girl, a cannibalistic whacko and cloned soldiers make up the game's twisted and interesting tale, one in which the player, as a member of the elite squad known as F.E.A.R., infiltrates a compound to investigate mysterious goings on. In the process, his buddies get turned into red goo and an innumerable number of enemies send thousands of bullets in his direction, all the while supernatural events pop up. Doors fly open, glass shatters, apparitions appear and monsters creep from the dark. Fortunately, this hero packs an assault rifle, pistol, sub machine guns and even a rocket launcher. He also possesses the ability to slow down time, thus giving him an advantage on his much slower opponents. Creeping up behind someone and making him explode with a well-placed shotgun blast feels quite exhilarating.

Overall, the gunplay (not the creepy narrative) makes F.E.A.R. unique. The game's physics system allows for a great level of interaction, as bullets rip through bottles, chairs, windows and computers, kicking up sparks and sending objects flying in all directions. Things move so fast that slowing things down means life or death, as the artificial intelligence ducks behind cover and works as a team. Even the healthy abundance of health packs won't prevent the AI from killing someone numerous times.

Much like the Xbox 360 version, the PS3 edition includes the single player campaign as well as the console exclusive Instant Action Mode, where the game drops players into various environments and charges them with killing as many enemies as possible. On the downside, this port doesn't look nearly as sharp as its 360 cousin. For whatever reason, the graphics look faded, even while running on an HDTV through an HDMI port.

Furthermore, Day 1 Studios elected to map firing to the SIXAXIS controller's R2 button, a curious decision, seeing as how most first person shooter developers elect to make R1 the primary firing button. Because of this, F.E.A.R. sports an annoying learning curve where some gamers may need to retrain themselves so that they don't confuse the two. It sucks slowing down time and pressing R1, only to watch (angrily) as the character switches weapons instead of pumping bullets into his enemies.

While the game certainly enhances the PS3's library, one has to wonder if consumers will care. Despite the machine's supposed power, companies continue to release ports (sloppy seconds, really) that people played eons ago. Hopefully, gamers will celebrate F.E.A.R.'s March 13 release.

Related Links

F.E.A.R. (PS3) Game Guide

F.E.A.R. Website