Post by Bytor on Dec 13, 2009 22:36:07 GMT -5
-Visuals- 7.8/10
By far the weakest aspect of the game. Honestly, if it were for the PS2 I'd still say good, not great but good. It actually reminds me of Red Faction and I gave it a decent score...however, it was an older PS2, not a 2007 PS3 game. The graphics simply seem a tad blurred and indistinct. The chairs look bad, the desks look bad, the enemies look bad, especially after they are dead. It's really too bad, if you could overlook the graphics the rest of the game is really, really good.
-Sound- 8.8/10
I love the sounds the enemy soldiers make! You actually sometimes buy that they are actually real people playing against you based on some of the comments. The biggest complaint I have is that the messages you get from the various laptops are so low that it's hard to hear, although the phone messages come in loud and clear, and they are wonderfully done and do add a lot to the story line
-Gameplay- 9/10
The strongest aspect of the game by far. The controls are so responsive, the shooting is spot on and and the hiding is also great. You will find this a very enjoyable FPS, it's difficult without being simply silly in the attempts to shoot, duck and hide and shoot some more. I also like the "slow-mo" aspect, in this, if you have enough reflex power you can slow down everything and this gives you much more time to aim and fire. The biggest complaint I have is you can only carry three weapons at a time although they are readily available, especially if you kill a lot o enemies, lol. This is basically what I call free range battles ass well, while certain enemies are easier to kill with certain weapons you can basically use whatever weapon you want the vast majority of the time. The puzzles are even fun, actually I don't really consider them puzzles as much as figuring out how to get from point A to point B, challenging yet not over whelming. Health is also seldom an issue, it's tough to stay healthy but there are plenty of med kits around. I actually think the gameplay might be the best I've ever played in a true FPS, it's got the perfect amount of challenge without being too easy or too difficult. Now, the thing which lowered the score quite a bit...get ready for some serious load times, thankfully not throughout the action but every time you get to a new chapter or level the load times can be very extensive, which based on the graphics involved befuddles me a tad!
-Story- 7.8/10
You are a new recruit for F.E.A.R (First Encounter Assault Recon) and sent to investigate some rather bizarre happenings ...and honestly, after about four chapters I was pretty much lost. It does have some rather suspenseful moments but over all it's not exactly Silent Hill 2...although it does, as I said, have it's moments of creepiness. Alma is indeed creepy, I admit I jumped more than once when she appeared suddenly...and she will appear suddenly!!
The problem with the story is, although you learn what's going on (somewhat) it's simply too little information to really get a grasp on, even the ending doesn't really answer many questions, it will provoke some thinking on your part though, problem is you'll never really know if your theory/hypothesis is correct or not.
-Overall- 8.6/10
I'm giving it a decent score because even though it has it weaknesses and glitches it's simply a really fun and challenging FPS to play, doesn't require 100 hours to finish, isn't going to exactly take you into another realm story wise but it will give you quite a few hours of fun by providing some challenging and various kinds of battles to engage in. And...the ending is simply AWESOME (and that's all I'll say about it)