Notes

• I have never played any FEAR game, only heard great things about them (s/o Raycevick)
  
• I did not finish the game (see playtime)
  
• I review games as I experience them: in the present from my personal viewpoint weighed up against other games I've played up until this point. No bonus points for being old
  
• Did everything in this guide EXCEPT for enabling EAX without sound card (too much work).

Settings

• Extreme Difficulty
  
• 100 FOV
  
• 120 FPS
  
• Hold to Crouch

• Combat feels incredibly dynamic; AI constantly flank you and I find myself using audio cues to figure out if a combatant is dead. It feels very grounded and realistic
  
• Slow motion is actually extremely useful and feels good to use. It doesn't make the combat too easy (most other games (old and new) with slo-mo I've played tend to make the combat too easy)
  
• Very cool premise; I like the idea of some malicious force taking over a military unit
  
• Cutscenes still look decent; animations can be iffy but it's not bad
  
• Graphics are still very good
  
• Horror and atmosphere itself is pretty good
  
• Though the missions are quite linear, the game makes sure to reward you for paying attention to smaller details
  
• There are options to skip story sequences AND you can disable headbobbing; very nice QoL features

• The core gameplay loop quickly grew quite stale
  
• Medkits are WAY too abundant; there's so many that it feels fourth-wall breaking
  
• Checkpoints can be few and far between. Quicksave every once in a while
  
• Sensitivity slider doesn't go as high or as low as it should
  
• No option to hold ADS instead of toggle
  
• Mouse smoothing is enabled by default

In conclusion, while FEAR has extremely impressive elements, the core gameplay loop wasn't something that I found all that exciting. In today's era of mechanically deep & technically impressive FPSes, I found FEAR's at-the-time impressive VFX and AI technology was not enough to make the core gameplay loop hold up today. I do see why many people love FEAR, and I don't think it's a bad game by any means, but I didn't find it engaging enough for ME. If you're like me, I cannot recommmend FEAR.

[h1]FEAR, past its phenomenal first impression, is a game I grew bored of quite quickly.[/h1] [i]Notes[/i] [list] [*] I have never played any FEAR game, only heard great things about them (s/o Raycevick) [*] I did not finish the game (see playtime) [*] I review games as I experience them: in the present from my personal viewpoint weighed up against other games I've played up until this point. No bonus points for being old [*] Did everything in [url=https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2835341057]this guide[/url] EXCEPT for enabling EAX without sound card (too much work). [/list] [i]Settings[/i] [list] [*] Extreme Difficulty [*] 100 FOV [*] 120 FPS [*] Hold to Crouch [/list] [h2]Pros[/h2] [list] [*] Combat feels incredibly dynamic; AI constantly flank you and I find myself using audio cues to figure out if a combatant is dead. It feels very grounded and realistic [*] Slow motion is actually extremely useful and feels good to use. It doesn't make the combat too easy (most other games (old and new) with slo-mo I've played tend to make the combat too easy) [*] Very cool premise; I like the idea of some malicious force taking over a military unit [*] Cutscenes still look decent; animations can be iffy but it's not bad [*] Graphics are still very good [*] Horror and atmosphere itself is pretty good [*] Though the missions are quite linear, the game makes sure to reward you for paying attention to smaller details [*] There are options to skip story sequences AND you can disable headbobbing; very nice QoL features [/list] [h2]Cons[/h2] [list] [*] The core gameplay loop quickly grew quite stale [*] Medkits are WAY too abundant; there's so many that it feels fourth-wall breaking [*] Checkpoints can be few and far between. Quicksave every once in a while [*] Sensitivity slider doesn't go as high or as low as it should [*] No option to hold ADS instead of toggle [*] Mouse smoothing is enabled by default [/list] [b]In conclusion[/b], while FEAR has extremely impressive elements, the core gameplay loop wasn't something that I found all that exciting. In today's era of mechanically deep & technically impressive FPSes, I found FEAR's at-the-time impressive VFX and AI technology was not enough to make the core gameplay loop hold up today. I do see why many people love FEAR, and I don't think it's a bad game by any means, but I didn't find it engaging enough for ME. If you're like me, I cannot recommmend FEAR.