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92Monolith forges new shooter territory with some truly freaky elements, challenge, fun, and beauty. If there is a fly in the ointment, it's that the environments aren't too varied, and the game is kinda short.
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91A shooter that captures the sensation of being in wild and desperate firefights like no other game before it, and it's an incredible, kinetic, almost exhausting experience from start to finish. More than that, though, is the fact that it's also one of the most atmospheric and creepy games ever made, as well as one of the most intense shooters that you'll play this year.
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92Is it the next "Half-Life"? It may very well be since anticipation for a sequel is rising every day as more and more play F.E.A.R. for the first time.
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F.E.A.R. is all about messing with your head in single player. If you aren't freaked out by the ambient noises and ghoulish aspects during the games "downtime" you'll be on the edge of your seat trying to stay alive during the extremely intense firefights.
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Like no other game I've played, F.E.A.R. grabbed me by the throat, punched me in the gut, and made me pay attention and become my onscreen character. [Nov 2005, p.170]
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90Unquestionably, one of the best shooters of 2005. The advanced graphics and physics create a string of firefights that are amazing to watch, and creative level design and advanced AI make them equally engrossing to play.
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100Both a technical and narrative masterpiece, F.E.A.R combines elements of science-fiction and horror with a beautiful aesthetic presentation and incredible enemy A.I.
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90Glorious fun. Slow motion gun battles tied to an engine that articulates carnage with the furious eloquence of a caffeinated linguist, bound together by people who've seen a lot of Asian horror, uniting to spread memorable moments over a bed of visceral excitement.
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Terribly immersive... If you've got a system good enough to run this, do not miss out: F.E.A.R. is one of the most strikingly fun and exciting games to be released all year, and easily the best FPS since "Half-Life 2."
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F.E.A.R. might well be the year’s best single-player PC experience, but it won’t win any awards for its multiplayer. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag are the only game types, and there aren’t many maps.
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90It brings to your mouse and keyboard the most adrenalin and expletive producing firefights of any shooter made to date, and not just by a little bit. How good? Good enough that facing a mountain of hype-fueled expectations F.E.A.R. will blow you away and you'll be ready to play through it again on the next higher difficulty before it's even over.
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An extremely well done shooter as far as the action goes, and only suffers from a few flaws such as the lack of level and enemy variety. If you can overlook those flaws, you will have a lot of fun battling a very elusive AI, which makes each and every firefight a unique and exciting experience.
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80Despite the recycled enemies and the never-ending labyrinth of steel grates, catwalks, desks, and elevators, F.E.A.R. delivers some of the best action this side of Paris Hilton's cell phone.
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100With an 8-9 hour single player campaign and its hefty multiplayer portion, F.E.A.R. is an absolute must have for any First Person Shooter fan out there that takes pleasure in having the holy hell scared out of them, all while playing an intriguing game with an impressive storyline.
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The difference is that "HL2" was given the effort to keep it going throughout the final product, whereas FEAR shows its brilliance intermittently. In this sense it’s a disappointment, but a game hardly needs to be perfect to be playable.
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90Take realistic physics, gorgeous visuals, plenty of immersing sound, psychological mind games, a pinch of horror and mix that with a storyline to rival any big budget movie and there you have it, something completely new.
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In opposition to its marketing pitch, then, it's perhaps best to view FEAR less as a horror show punctuated by action than a blistering action spectacle that likes to play games with its guests. [Dec 2005, p.98]
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90While it can't touch the haunting potency of survival-horror classics like "Silent Hill" or "Resident Evil" (thanks to the scare-dispelling power of a semi-automatic shotgun and a belt-full of grenades), it makes up with more adrenaline-pumping moments of sheer destructive glee than anything else on the market.
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80For a game to strike a good balance between eeriness, traditional FPS action and straight-out frights is astonishing, and F.E.A.R. has managed it in style. [Nov 2005, p.92]
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92As a shooter, F.E.A.R. succeeds admirably. It's the first game to convincingly channel the kinetic exhilaration of "John Woo violence" in the FPS format. [Nov 2005, p.48]
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85Arguably the strongest single-player FPS this year. It is the total package – great graphics, great sound, great multiplayer and captivating single player.
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100A must-own, a must-play, a must-have or whatever generic must-“word” or must-“phrase” that you’ll find plastered on a game box. From start to finish, this is a tight experience that will challenge and entertain you unlike any other FPS of 2005.
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82While FEAR introduces some spectacular visual improvements, artificial intelligence, and an awesome new melee combat system the game is lacking the varied environments and game plays modes that would put it in the pantheon of great FPS games.
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89The story is mysterious enough to demand further investigation, but after a while you start wishing they would hurry things up and get to the good stuff. It’s only later when you’ll stumble onto the Catch-22 that the only truly "good stuff" in the game is that you can blow up a lot of the boring stuff.
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Frighteningly good. The close-quarters combat works extremely well and so does the storyline. On the downside, the level-design is rather drab and the system requirements are downright deadly. [Nov 2005]
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A perfect example of a modern day AAA title with very little wrong in all areas of game design. So why isn't F.E.A.R. a perfect ten you ask? Simple, it all boils down to the fact that in order to enjoy the game to the fullest, players may have to spend as much as (if not more) on upgrading their PCs as it does to buy the Xbox 360. After all how many gamers have at least a 3-Gig processor, 1-Gig RAM, 256 Meg GPU powered machine?
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There's the requisite little Goth girl with long black hair to 'creep you out.' Thanks to its overuse, it's become the lens flare of horror. [Jan 2006, p.48]
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80Due to the fact that both elements of F.E.A.R., the horror and the action, are crafted so thoughtfully they seamlessly merge together to create a, if not unique, then at least very polished experience.
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91A combination of the impossible, a game that will in one moment make you sweat with the intensity of the elaborate set-piece firefights and make you shiver in nervous fear the next.
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93FEAR is an unqualified success in my opinion, as it creates a good, stressful, horrific environment that doesn’t quite jump you out of your seat as creep you out.
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87F.E.A.R.'s adherence to tightly confined corridors and the repetitive gameplay means Monolith’s shooter fails to reach the summit of the FPS pile. F.E.A.R. is a follower, not a leader. However, its shadow does manage to reach "Half-Life 2's" eyes. If only just.
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Technically the game stands up well, but feels a bit rushed in places, leading to some rather uninspired level design.
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98One of those titles that comes along only once every few years, a game that just seems to get everything right- the game’s overall experience exceeds the sum of its considerably impressive parts. This reviewer cannot remember the last time that he was so immersed in a FPS’s single-player game.
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90Remember to check out if your machine matches the minimum specs or else you’ll get disappointed. We actually recommend that you are closer to the recommended specs if you want it to run properly.
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89I swear, for the first five hours FEAR was on its way to a "Half-Life" sized score. The favourable comparisons were many and various: the thoughtful and dangerously accurate guards, the beautifully designed levels... but FEAR never upped the ante. It stayed almost exactly the same from start to finish. [PC Gamer UK]
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Grumpier gamers will find fodder to gnaw upon, but the fact remains that it's a prima donna of a game that more than succeeds in its attempts to scare and scintillate. Despite everything, I adore it - and strongly suspect you will too. [PC Zone]
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88Running sideways in slow motion, blasting the head off a commando provides absurd visceral splendour, especially when you've just shatter his legs wtih a sliding kick. Some people worry about violence in games. We do too: we worry that it usually isn't this good. [Nov 2005, p.84]
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91A top quality shooter. It is visually impressive, has some of the best AI this side of the Rio Grande, and does a damned good job on weapon management. Still, the steep system requirements will put a hamper on the regular public’s enjoyment and hold off all but the most advanced PCs.
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90The enemy artificial intelligence is top-notch, so reloading a level never plays out exactly the same way twice, and the sound design is superb.
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89With a wider variety of tasks and environments and an engine that someone has at least taken a stab at optimising this could have been a true classic (a free pair of fresh pants would have helped as well).
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92Fantastic horror game with great action and everything else that that might imply, you can use your flashlight AND your gun, and the game will STILL scare you! Hallelujah!
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85But if you're looking for fantastic action and a good scare or creep-out mixed in, then F.E.A.R.'s dingy and abandoned alleys, rooftops, and office complexes will certainly satisfy.
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89Spectacular in its combat and technical areas but a complete letdown in its storytelling and paranormal aspects. Ultimately, it’s a highly polished but surprisingly standard first-person shooter, a game that feels like it's missing some parts. If you can ignore all that, it’s an absolute blast.
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F.E.A.R. has by far the best tactical combat I have ever experienced, and has super-high production values throughout. The sense of dread never lets up throughout the game.
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F.E.A.R.'s troopers try so hard, you almost hate not fighting fair. [Jan 2005, p.96]
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93But the fantastic graphics, sound, and firefights all blend to make F.E.A.R. an excellent game, though in order to enjoy the graphics and the game to its fullest, you must have a high-end computer system. In closing, F.E.A.R. is definitely one of this year’s best games.
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With cutting-edge graphics, thumping surround sound and good design engineered to scare the willies out of you, F.E.A.R. is quite a dazzling experience.
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70More often than not there is no real feeling of threat from the various visions and flashbacks, the implementation and setting of which are continually reused. This gives the impression that figuratively speaking the player is doing little more than chasing ghosts and the result is them ending up very blasé about what is happening on screen.
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100Thankfully, you can slow time, Matrix-style, to get out of the more harrowing battles, while the game's controls are smoother than Moby's head.
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With superb graphics and sound, good storyline and an above average AI, F.E.A.R is without a doubt the best first person shooter of the year and probably one of the scariest games ever made, topped only by the likes of "Aliens vs. Predator 2" (another Monolith masterpiece) or "Clive Barker’s Undying."
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86If you like things that go bump in the night, or just revel in unloading hot brass into terrorists bodies, go out and buy this game. It’s well presented, atmospheric, scary as hell and a blast to boot.
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90While some of the horror elements to the storyline may seem a tad cliché, the game's almost perfect fundamentals and solid extra's makes it an instant nominee for 2005 PC Game of the Year.
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93A true thriller in that it makes use of corner-of-the-eye imagery, unsettling voices, and effects to send chills down your spine which leads to a healthy dose of dread.
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F.E.A.R. is as thrilling and involving as "Half-Life" but lacks its narrative panache: I was never quite clear on what was going on in the game. I knew my goal - track down a psychic, escort a corporate executive's daughter out of danger - but I didn't ever care who these people were nor did I understand their motives.
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100F.E.A.R. is just polished, period. If you have the system to handle the game, it is a must have for all gamers.
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83Some interesting levels -- even three or four -- and I'd go into the 90s, but the levels are amazingly dull for a game built on an engine this powerful. It's like hiring Michaelangelo to paint your garage.
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90What is already in F.E.A.R. could not have been done any better, although unfortunately the game's tempo and difficulty stays relatively constant regardless of progress through the game, and seems to be missing another level as the game kicks on into its climax.