Alma returns in F.E.A.R. 3 but this time her sons Point Man and Paxton Fettel introduce divergent co-op, giving players distinctly different abilities affecting their own play as well as the experience of their co-op partner.
GenreFirst-Person Shooters
Platforms ps3
DEVELOPER Monolith Studios | PUBLISHER Codemasters | RELEASE DATE
F.E.A.R 3 Reviews ps3
psu.com review
The detail is impeccable, and it’s clear atmosphere was the focus, as opposed to breaking new grounds in the horror-shooter genre. Levels are fairly long and expansive. Some highlights include a jaunt through a giant store. One part has you fight through a Best Buy-style showroom, and then you’ll find yourself in the food section including a meat processing facility. The levels give you plenty of graphical variety, too. Each has a distinct look and feel, but the all carry that slightly washed, almost dated visual styling that almost comes off as a B movie. Save and load segments scattered throughout levels keep the action fluid, but it occasionally stalls and breaks that wonderful atmosphere. The sound really adds a first-class touch to what would be an otherwise decent presentation. I highly recommend turning down the lights, and cranking the volume to get the full experience. Again, it’s not the biggest scare you’ll find on the market, but it has a nice heavy layer of creepiness. The eight levels, called intervals, can take you about five hours to finish solo, but likely faster with co-op. It’s a short campaign, but it’s also quite concise. I did have some issues with the ending and the last level, but that is strictly a pacing concern. Also, the final boss fight is quite out of place, but that’s not a huge problem since the game wraps up nicely.
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1up.com review
Where this point system really becomes interesting is in the co-op portion (which can be played locally via split-screen or online). Each player competes for the most points per level to attain the rank of "Favorite Son." F.E.A.R. 3 takes this one step further than a simple point accumulation competition, because it affects the ending of the game: Whichever player received the most points, that specific character’s ending will play out. The two playable characters also play radically different.
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psxextreme.com review
In order to spice up this essentially straightforward FPS, the team has instituted several features: the first is the atmosphere and artistic style, which really can’t be overstated in terms of importance. The second is a Challenge system that governs character advancement: completing various Challenges – getting so many kills with a certain weapon, staying in cover for a particular amount of time, achieving so many headshots, etc. – nets you points, and those points act as experience. When you have enough, you’ll Rank Up and reap the rewards; it could be an elongated slo-mo bar or bigger clip size; things like that.
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gamerlimit.com review
Out of all them, I heartily enjoyed both F’ing Run and Contractions, mostly due to my love of Call of Duty’s zombie mode. “Run†adds a sense of urgency by forcing you to constantly dash from checkpoint to checkpoint to avoid a misty wall of death, and Contractions one-ups most horde modes by adding both an adjustable difficulty level and a finite number of rounds (making victory actually feasible and increasing your enjoyment factor, if you’re tired of endless modes).
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gamepro.com review
It might sound like an oddly specific thing to call out in a 1,000 word review, but the developer has done a great job making these places feel authentically weathered, lived in, vandalized — and in some cases, outright trashed. One office break room, for instance, is a good example of the high level of detail in settings. Newspaper ads and assorted debris — including a sink torn out of the wall — litter the floor, "going green" and flex benefits notices are pinned to a nearby bulletin board, and a child’s crayon drawings are stuck to a refrigerator. This area also has a morbid masterpiece on its wall that’s comprised of spirals, a message written in a strange language, and eerie skeletal faces all painted in blood in other bodily juices.
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worthplaying.com review
F.E.A.R. 3 is likely to anger franchise fans because it’s not really a satisfying end to the trilogy. It doesn’t contain much of what people loved about the first few games. It makes token attempts to be scary, the plot is convoluted and feels like an afterthought, and the gameplay is more arcade than cinema. If you can overlook that, F.E.A.R. 3 is a surprisingly fun co-op arcade shooter. It’s relatively light in tone and content, and there’s not a lot of reason to play through the campaign more than once or twice, but it’s a solid enough experience. The competitive multiplayer adds some extra value to the game with a few fun modes. F.E.A.R. 3 is a solid rental, as long as you have someone to play it with. Those who want to continue the F.E.A.R. story or want a solid single-player experience should look elsewhere. There’s not enough here, even with two playable characters, to justify picking up the game.
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gamesradar.com review
We need to emphasize after all the bitching about the lack of scares that FEAR 3 is still fun to play. Firefights with the regular soldiers are almost always engaging, with well-designed “arena†type rooms to move about in, find cover amongst, and especially flank enemies in. The AI is smart and will do things you don’t expect. There are also the sections where you drive powered armor, both small and large, and these moments are always hilarious and fun – stomping along and literally turning enemies into red mist with your massive cannons doesn’t get old. The game also does a good job of making you feel like an intimidating one-man army – blow a guy’s leg off and the other soldiers will freak out in terror, and whenever you take out every guy except one he’ll say “My whole squad’s been wiped out!†which makes you feel like you’re the bad guy in a horror movie.
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