In this series we take a look back on some fantastic games that you may have played and loved or missed but it still might be worth checking out.
- Title: F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assult Recon
- Devoloper: Monolith Productions
- Engine: Lithtech Jupiter EX Havok
- Release date: October 18, 2005
- Genre: First Person Shooter
The first game in the Flashback Friday series is F.E.A.R (and expansions) or First Encounter Assault Recon. Being that it is October, I thought we might want to start off with a horror game. This isn’t just any horror game though. It is also a rather competent shooter that also will scare the pants off you. This would be one of my favorite games of all time due to the fact that there are some really interesting weapons such as the HV Penetrator that shoot giant nails and pin people to the wall, similar to how the arrow in Team Fortress 2 does.
Here is a picture of the HV Penetrator in action courtesy of the F.E.A.R wiki:
Along with some really interesting weapons F.E.A.R also had a very cool atmosphere that I thought was really spooky and really kept you on edge. I have provided some screenshots to show what I mean.
Another thing that made the game really great was the AI being rather intelligent for its time. The Ai carried out functions such as running behind cover and peaking around corners to try and shoot you before you see them.
I remember playing some of the multiplayer and it was very awesome running around kicking and sliding into other players to knock them back. This is another feature of the game that I thought was way ahead of its time. Being able to perform martial arts while running around shooting people and duel wielding pistols was one of the most interesting game mechanics I have encountered in a FPS. Having these features available in both single and multiplayer game modes only added to the high marks I give this game.
In conclusion, this game is one of my all-time favorites for both its gameplay/combat and its story. At the time of release, I felt the story was very scary and also interesting in the sense that it kept me playing wanting to find out more about story and unravel its mystery!
