F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon is a survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Vivendi Universal Games and Warner Bros. Games. It was released on October 17, 2005, for Microsoft 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 2006, and F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate in November 2007. It is the first game in the main F.E.A.R. series. On November 15, 2021, Microsoft announced that in celebration of 20 years of Xbox, they would be adding over 70 more games to their backwards compatibility program. Included in these games was the entirety of the F.E.A.R. franchise, which are now available to be purchased and played on Microsoft's Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S Consoles.
The 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 must uncover the secrets of a paranormal menace in the form of Alma, a young girl.
F.E.A.R. was well received by critics, scoring 89% on GameRankings, 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.
A prominent gameplay element is "reflex time", which slows down the game world while still 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 said 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". 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 melee is usually a last resort, F.E.A.R.'s melee 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 melee. 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, using a STRIPS-based architecture known as Goal Oriented Action Planning (GOAP) and its efficiency helped the game win GameSpot's "2005 Best AI Award", and earn the #2 ranking on AIGameDev's "Most Influential AI Games".
multiplayer[]
F.E.A.R.'s multiplayer component includes mainstay gameplay modes, such as deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and last man standing. "Control" and "Conquer All" gametypes were later added through a patch. Some gametypes in F.E.A.R.'s multiplayer use the "reflex time" effect: SlowMo deathmatch, SlowMo team deathmatch, and SlowMo capture the flag. Only one player can use/carry the reflex power-up; when fully charged they can activate it and give themselves (and the rest of their team if applicable) a speed advantage over opposing players. However, the one carrying the power-up will have a bluish glow, and they will show up on a foe's HUD.
On August 17, 2006, F.E.A.R.'s multiplayer component was retitled F.E.A.R. Combat and made available for free download. Downloaders of F.E.A.R. Combat and owners of F.E.A.R.'s retail edition may play together online. Gamespy Industries ended its Gamespy Open Program, which ended F.E.A.R. Combat's online multiplayer functionality on December 19, 2012.
The PC version of the game used the PunkBuster program to prevent cheating. Even Balance discontinued PunkBuster support for F.E.A.R. in December 2007 in favor of the second expansion, F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate. While PunkBuster-enabled servers will still check for and protect against known cheats, the program will no longer automatically update. Because of this, many players with an outdated version of PunkBuster are unable to play in PunkBuster-enabled servers without being automatically kicked from the game.
The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, just like the PC edition, only have online multiplayer. There is no split-screen local play.
plot[]
In the year 2025, the military contractor Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC) has developed an experimental unit of telepathically controlled clone supersoldiers known as the Replicas. Their psychic commander Paxton Fettel goes rogue and takes command of the Replica prototypes, seizing control of the ATC headquarters in Fairport, Washington and killing all occupants.
A covert special forces unit, F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon), is deployed to Fairport in response to the crisis. The team is commanded by Commissioner Rowdy Betters, and consists of Spencer Jankowski, Jin Sun-Kwon, and the newly-minted, unnamed Point Man. The team's mission is to eliminate Fettel, operating in conjunction with Delta Force. Fettel is located by means of a satellite tracking device and hunted by F.E.A.R. but manages to evade capture. F.E.A.R is later joined by Delta Force operatives led by Douglas Holiday to assist them in capturing Fettel. Over the course of the night, Jankowski mysteriously vanishes and the Point Man encounters heavy resistance from Replica soldiers and later from the elusive ATC engineer Norton Mapes. He also rescues other ATC employees who were captured by Replica forces including Aldus Bishop and Alice Wade, although ATC Security assassinates Bishop and Alice flees from protective custody and the Replica to search for her missing father alone.
Throughout the night, the Point Man witnesses unexplained, and occasionally life-threatening, paranormal phenomena, including increasingly-vivid hallucinations that frequently afflict him, all of which are centered on a red-dressed young girl named Alma. Laptops and phone messages provide details regarding Fettel's background; as a part of ATC's "Project Origin", he was raised to become a telepathic commander of the Replicas and that he is the son of Alma, a powerful psychic. The files mention something called a "Synchronicity Event", in which a comatose Alma telepathically linked with Fettel when he was ten years old and resulted in several deaths. The files also mention the existence of another child of Alma, who was born before Fettel.
All clues lead F.E.A.R. to believe Fettel is being controlled by Alma, who was locked in the Origin facility when ATC closed down the project owing to the danger the woman posed; Fettel is searching for that same facility to free his mother. The Point Man travels to the abandoned structure, fighting back both the Replicas and ATC guards, who along with Mapes have received orders to cover up the whole affair. By the time the Point Man comes to finally face Fettel, it is revealed he has captured, killed and cannibalized Alice Wade, with the Point Man too late to save her, and he is subsequently drawn into a hallucination where he learns he actually is Alma's first son and is thereafter enabled to kill Fettel himself. Fettel's death results in all Replica forces shutting down.
Alma is nonetheless freed when her storage chamber is opened by Alice’s father and Project Origins director Harlan Wade, who feels guilty over the company's treatment of Alma and who is revealed to be her father. A wounded Mapes tasks the Point Man to sabotage the structure's reactor, running a gauntlet against Alma's ghosts before the whole location explodes. In the aftermath of the detonation, a Delta Force Black Hawk helicopter extracts the Point Man from the rubble, rescuing him. While he and the survivors of the F.E.A.R. team survey the results of the explosion from the helicopter, Jin wonders what happened to Alma. Just then, the helicopter loses power, and Alma is seen pulling herself up into the cabin: the destruction of the Origin facility has not stopped her quest to get closer to her son.
After the game's credits, the player can listen to a phone call between a mysterious senator and ATC president Genevieve Aristide, which offers some further explanation: the woman considers the project under control and deems the "first prototype" (presumably a reference to the Point Man) a success.
development[]
F.E.A.R. was announced at an E3 2004 pre-show, though its existence as an untitled project was revealed prior to this announcement. The game's first trailer later premiered at E3 2004 and was well received by critics. During the E3 2004 showing, F.E.A.R.'s lead designer, Craig Hubbard, stated that the game "... evolved out of a concept we started developing right after Shogo that we've been dying to work on". Monolith Productions' director of technology, Kevin Stephens, later elaborated that this concept was "... to make an action movie in a first-person shooter, where you really feel like an action star". To this effect, the team focused on immersing the player, using elements like a silent, nameless protagonist with an unknown background, and allowing the player to see the protagonist's body when looking down or sideways.
During 2005, F.E.A.R. made playable appearances at Consumer Electronics Show, Game Developers Conference and E3, all of which were well received. Its showing at E3 garnered it the Game Critics Award for "Best Action Game". After the release of a single-player demo, Vivendi allowed gaming journalists to play through the first four levels of the game, which received even more positive reaction than before. F.E.A.R. eventually was released on October 18, 2005. Alongside the basic CD-ROM edition, a "Director's Cut" DVD version of F.E.A.R. was released with a number of extra features. A Dark Horse Entertainment comic book and a series of live action vignettes help clarify a number of plot elements depicted in the game, while the "Making of F.E.A.R." and "Developers' commentary" documentaries offer several insights and trivia into the game's development through interviews with employees of Monolith Productions and Vivendi. Also included is the exclusive first episode of the F.E.A.R. machinima, P.A.N.I.C.S., created by Rooster Teeth Productions.
Over the course of the "Developer's roundtable commentary", producer Chris Hewitt revealed: "We had a whole level in the game where we had this car chase sequence [...] we spent about two months on that thing...." "[B]ut the car chase sequence didn't work the way we hoped it would", adds designer Craig Hubbard, commenting on the choice to remove that level from the game. Hewitt also comments that "actually we started off with two villains, and [Fettel] was one of them until we merged them together....". Craig Hubbard also remarks that "... his jacket actually used to belong to another villain we had in the game named Conrad Krieg, whom we combined with Fettel pretty literally".
atmosphere[]
A core element of F.E.A.R. is its horror theme, which is heavily inspired by Japanese horror. 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". 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". Lead level designer John Mulkey said that "creating expectation and then messing with that expectation is extremely important, predictability ruins a scary mood".
The main source of the game's horror is Alma, a ghostly young 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?" While Alma has been compared to the character Samara from The Ring, 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". 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". Developers Dave Matthews and Nathan Hendrickson say the name 'Alma' comes from the character Alma Mobley in Peter Straub's novel Ghost Story.
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, using methods including dragging metal across different surfaces and recording pump sounds. 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". Silence is present 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".
engine technology[]
F.E.A.R. is the first game developed using the newest iteration of Monolith's Lithtech engine. Codenamed "Jupiter EX", the F.E.A.R. engine is driven by a DirectX 9 renderer and has seen major advancements from its direct precursor, "Jupiter". The new engine includes both Havok physics and the Havok "Vehicle Kit", which adds support for common vehicle behavior. The latter feature goes mostly unused in F.E.A.R., as no vehicles appear outside of scripted sequences.
Graphically, F.E.A.R. uses normal mapping and parallax mapping to give textures a more realistic appearance; the latter is used to give the appearance of depth to flat bullet hole sprites on walls. Volumetric lighting and lightmapping are included with the addition of a per-pixel lighting model, allowing complex lighting effects to be developed. Vertex, pixel and high-level shaders, including a host of additional special effects, are also featured in Jupiter EX.
F.E.A.R is notable as the first game to use the popular "GOAP", "Goal Oriented Action Planning" technique in its AI system. GOAP is a technique that allows the NPC enemies to move beyond simply reacting to the player, to actually planning its goal of defeating the player.
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- ↑ "F.E.A.R. release dates (PlayStation 3)".
- ↑ "The Best Horror Games".