After raising a ruckus on the PC and Xbox 360, F.E.A.R. has finally arrived on the PlayStation 3. However, a couple of nagging issues and underwhelming graphics keep it from being the monster that Sierra intended to unleash.
The game's narrative continues to be one of its big driving factors. Players take control of a newly-minted officer in an elite Delta Force assault team, called in to investigate some weird goings-on around an abandoned building. We're not talking about some minor noises or a broken window. There is some REALLY weird stuff happening. Throughout the game, players will run across terrifying "visions", like watching some guy getting tortured in a chair, having to wade their way through a room drenched in blood or running like hell from a psychotic little girl with the ability to telepathically tear things apart. The reason behind all this mayhem comes to light as the game progresses.
Another of F.E.A.R.'s features lies within the ability to slow down time. During any part of the game, players can hold down a button and bring things to a stand-still for a few seconds. The screen fades in with a warping effect and enemies, comprised of well-armed super-soldiers, come to a near-complete standstill. Gamers have the option to nail someone in the head and watch them flip backwards with some very effective rag-doll physics. This talent can also be used to avoid an incoming grenade or let loose on soldiers hiding out behind objects that would have been otherwise unreachable.
This, however, leads to one of the bigger frustrations in the game: the controls. The PS3's SIXAXIS controller does an adequate job, but there's a delay between pressing the fire button and watching the action occur on screen, resulting in plenty of cheap deaths and damaging the game's appeal.
Another issue lies within the game's graphic performance. While F.E.A.R. doesn't look horrible, the frame rate jumps around, moving at 30 frames per second and below whenever firefights get out of hand. Some of the lighting effects look unpolished -- particularly the bullet effects that constantly fly around the screen. The lengthy load times don't really help either. Even the Xbox 360 version doesn't take this long to start up. At least the audio didn't lose anything during the conversion. The ambient music, creepy voices and gunfire still sound as good as they ever did.
F.E.A.R. does feature some interesting new content. A new single player mission introduces players to a recruit on the Delta Force team, setting the stage for events to come in the main story mode. The new multiplayer maps deserve a play-through too, tying in to F.E.A.R.'s surprisingly stable versus mode. Up to sixteen players can get into a match at once and the action never lets up. The SIXAXIS response delay would be an issue here, but all the players involved have to put up with it. This provides a balance than what has to be endured in the single-player mode.
F.E.A.R. deserves a look, if only for the new content and trying to survive against the PlayStation Network elite. If more had been done with the graphics, SIXAXIS response time and loading times, it could've been a must-own, just like Resistance: Fall of Man. Instead, what should have been a remarkable shooter for the PlayStation 3 ends up just being above average.
Final Score: 6 (out of 10)
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