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F.E.A.R. certainly made a name for itself amongst pc gamers when it hit the shelves last year and it also created a similar buzz in the console gaming community including many Xbox 360 fans hoping it would be released for consoles. At its time of release gamers and reviewers alike praised F.E.A.R for its brilliant visuals, which pushed many machines to the limit. It wasn’t just another first person shooter (FPS) however, like many of the FPS games being released there wasn’t much to differentiate between them and only a few titles were selling well. There have been a handful of FPS titles which have done well on the PC, including Half Life, the Battlefield series and of course the return of Doom. Most will agree that F.E.A..R deserves a place as one of the greats on the PC platform so as you would expect the news that it was to be released on the Xbox 360 was well received by Xbox fans.
F.E.A.R. then, can be called a ‘PC port’ as it is a pc game originally which will be transferred to the Xbox 360. PC ports have been met with mixed reactions in the past because unfortunately many of them don’t seem to be rated as highly as they were originally on the PC which means gamers are optimistic when they hear about a hit PC game coming to consoles. The transition to consoles might mean a loss in content, downgrade in graphics or it simply doesn’t work without the keyboard/mouse combination. Although Monolith developed the game for the PC, they will be working with Day 1 Studios to bring it to the Xbox 360.They will have a large task ahead of them then if they want to keep F.E.A.R. a hit game for consoles as well as PC’s.
I suppose I better explain what the story behind F.E.A.R. is all about. F.E.A.R. stands for First Encounter Assault Recon, which is a top-secret special unit in the military that deals with abnormal situations. You play as a member of the team, which has been sent in to deal with a military commander who has taken command of a secret army of clones which he has some sort of strange psychological bond with. He is searching for something and it is up to you and your team to track him down and find out what he was searching for. This isn’t a mindless first person shooter and it does have a very interesting and in-depth storyline so that’s all that can be said without going into spoiler territory. So it’s not just your average shooter, Monolith and Day 1 Studios want to give players a very cinematic and atmospheric experience. F.E.A.R. is well known for its intense gunfights, slow-motion shootouts, brilliant effects and giving players the occasional fright. As the name might imply, the game does have some spooky moments and since the storyline is based about paranormal clone soldiers the plot gradually unfolds the mystery.
As mentioned before, the graphics are definitely something to drool over and these amazing visuals no doubt help make the game seem far more real and create a more immersive experience. On a top end PC the graphics are some of the best you can get, even now and the game has been out several months. It is a tall order to get the same sort of visuals on the Xbox 360, we all know that the 360 is a powerful machine but questions have been asked whether it can cope with games such as F.E.A.R. The developers have claimed that the visuals will be retained in porting it to the Xbox 360 and in interviews they seem confident about the Xbox 360’s capabilities so hopefully we can expect a visually stunning game in a few months time. I’m almost certain that if the game is successful in retaining most of its graphical glory, then it should rank as one of the best in terms of FPS games on the Xbox 360. We should also expect some excellent explosions and brilliant lighting effects to create a spooky, eerie atmosphere, not knowing when the next enemy will pop out. To make it seem like you’re in a Hollywood movie, the gun effects will be sharp and loud, as will the explosions. Also the gunfights will be fast and mostly in close quarters so players will have to be alert all the time and with the violence and gore that is present in the game it should be fun, also Condemned fans should feel right at home. F.E.A.R. already has a nice selection of weapons to use throughout the game however Xbox 360 owners will see new weapons added to that arsenal which is part of the new content promised.
F.E.A.R. isn’t just a graphical showcase though. Over the years, many developers have stated that they will be introducing revolutionary new AI etc. but how many updates in enemy AI for shooting games have we seen? Most would conclude that not much has been done, no matter how hard developers try. Aside from the visuals, another highlight in which F.E.A.R. is renowned for is the games enemy AI. If the AI on the pc is anything to go by then expect alert, fierce and aggressive enemies. They will try to outflank you, flush you out with grenades, use objects for cover and even knock down objects to create cover for themselves. Not much information has been released about the multiplayer side of F.E.A.R, however it will be compatible with Xbox Live and will no doubt have the usual deathmatch, capture the flag modes although the team working on F.E.A.R. may add in a few nice surprises because they have promised more content than what is in the PC version. There will also be Live accessible scoreboards, you will be scored based on the time taken, accuracy etc. at the end of each level in single player and it can be posted onto a leader board.
F.E.A.R. has been such a hit on the PC and its hard to see it failing on the Xbox 360 provided it doesn’t cut too many corners; however the Xbox 360 is a powerful machine and hopefully it can handle F.E.A.R. I’m sure some Xbox 360 owners are still slightly optimistic and PC gamers simply say it just won’t look as good on consoles; but from the footage seen so far it certainly looks like it is coming along well and it is reassuring to know that the developers are trying hard to keep this awesome PC game a successful port. I’m sure the Xbox 360 version of F.E.A.R. wont be brushed aside as yet another PC port, because after all Microsoft can be proud of the amount of exclusive titles coming to the 360. F.E.A.R will get a lot of attention, especially from those who can’t afford such high end PC’s required to run the game properly. F.E.A.R is expected in early 2007. For more F.E.A.R screenshots simply click here. For F.E.A.R movies click here.
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