I stared F.E.A.R. in the eye, and found it nothing special.

F.E.A.R was one of the most anticipated games this year, since it was voted the “best of E3”, and that the two demos released were rather promising. Of course, First Person Shooter gamers have seen it all, and roughly done it all. It takes that little bit of extra spark in order to separate the “normal” games from the “best”.

Unfortunately, F.E.A.R. falls on the former category. It definitely had the potential to be one of the better FPS games, but sadly, it simply was missing that extra boost.

F.E.A.R. starts off with a pretty nice cinematic, giving you a nice background info on your main enemy. Your mission is supposed to eliminate him right from the beginning, and will stay that way almost right to the end. Along the way, you will meet people who can help shed more light on the issue at hand. Sadly, most of them don’t live for more then 30 seconds, as something super happens and they end up being dead, resulting in nothing being shared from these people. Along your mission, you will meet this creepy girl named Alma, who will pop up from time to time, killing people and trying to scare you in general.

That’s about it for the story.

Pretty bland, isn’t it?

Thankfully, there are some saving graces for this game, as we head into the main part of our review.

Graphics:

The graphics of this game was done superbly. Monolith’s new engine did live up to its hype. The walls look fantastic, and the floor does give the area an extra feel to the environment. The water reflections are superb, as you can really see reflections of the night in it, coming very close to looking at real water itself. Bullet holes, blood, smoke and almost every single detail about the environment is made to be as real as possible. The lights themselves, when shot, will spin in a random direction, casting shadows (usually yours) of different size and shapes in the walls.

Of course, enemies look as though they came out of a clone factory somewhere downtown. If you are going to identify Bill from Joe, forget it. It’s easier trying to differentiate twins. However, the fact that the enemy looks alike is found in almost single FPS game, so it does not really matter. Who cares how A looks different from B? Just shoot them both.

Score: 8.5/10

Game play:

The game play in this game is boring to say the least. See an enemy? Slow-mo, then pump some lead into him. Retreat, wait for slow-mo to recharge, repeat. The slow-mo is one of the key factors in this game, but it can easily be abused, as your enemies simply have no protection whatsoever from this super ability that you have. Being able to keep health packs is also another factor which reduces the difficulty of this game. Instead of looking around for health during the battle, you simply have to press your button to administer your health pack, and viola; you are ready to go once again. This saves the trouble of running around after a battle, looking for med kits in a weakened state, and running into another group of enemies, who would most likely clean the floor along with you.

Of course, one of the main plus points of this game is the enemy AI, as almost everyone would have told you. If you want to rush at an enemy hiding behind a box, chances are, he isn’t there anymore, as he would have moved away from the spot, and would have a clear sight on you right now. The enemy also work rather well in teams, as they will try to flank you whenever possible, or produce suppressive fire so that you can’t peak out and shoot at the two or three enemies that is rushing at you. However, that’s about it for the enemy AI, other then that they can work well together, and they are rather smart on not hiding at the same place for a long time. If you set some traps and retreat, most enemies will simply follow you, allowing you to kill them thanks to that remote bomb you have placed, or that mine that you have carefully thrown at the entrance of the door. In a way, after a few hours of killing them, they are rather predictable, as you will know when they will attack, when they will defend. The fact that they talk more often then your mother nags at you to clean your room does not make them any smarter, because the idea of “stealth” has never crossed their minds. You can hear them chatting from almost a few rooms away, giving you ample time to prepare your strongest weapon, and your fingers to hover over the key which activates the Slow-mo. Also, for some reason, the enemy does not realize that they have a remote bomb stuck on his face. If, somehow, you managed to stick one on the enemy, retreating then detonating it will most likely take out more then 1 enemy, as the enemies tend to somehow stick together.

One interesting note is that you are only allowed to carry three weapons at any one time. I find this concept rather refreshing from other FPS titles, because it does require you to prioritize your weapons, and also, does not make your character a walking armory. Should you keep the 3 strongest weapons in the game, or should you just carry the type- particle beam, while your other two slots are weapons which your enemy drops frequently? Not that your weapon choice really makes a real difference in he game, as killing an enemy usually means ammo of some sort. If you are running low on the assault rifle, simply drop it and pick up a sub-machine gun, which the enemy dropped, instead. If you keep a balance of strong weapons, whose ammo is rather rare, and normal weapons, the game is actually rather easy.

Other then the three weapons which you carry, there’s this “forth” weapon which you have, namely your lets and your fist. Since you are some sort of super soldier, one kick usually means instant death to anyone who happens to be in your path. Problem is, you usually won’t be close enough to the enemy to use any close combat measures, and if you messed it up, the enemy’s close combat isn’t exactly pillow strikes either. The only good thing is that by using melee attacks, the rest of the enemy won’t be alerted, which can be useful. Sadly, this idea was not developed, and you will find it more satisfying to simply rush into the battlefield with your guns blazing.

This game uses the idea of “one man army”, as most of the supporting casts in the game are rather useless. One of the guys in your 4-man squad disappears within 15 minutes. Any soldiers sent to help you dies within 30 seconds. Even if they do survive longer than that, you won’t be working together with them, due to something dramatic happening or something. Hence, expect no help during the course of the game, except from F.E.A.R’s coordinator, who will keep you updated on situations.

On top of all these, is the “scare” factor in the game. The scare factor comes in the form of some cheap scares, and some which uses the environment. Of course, there are these flashbacks where you move at half your usual speed, looking at the same scene again and again, with roughly the same words whispered in your ears over and over again. However, F.E.A.R. seldom uses it’s scare tactics twice, and if it did, they are rather far apart from each other. This makes this game a lot more interesting, because you can never expect what’s going to happen next. The scares come when you least expect them to, giving a new element of surprise. Still, the fact that the annoy flashbacks appear once in a while is extremely annoying, and tarnishes this otherwise impressive factor.

Hence, while the concept of holding only 3 weapons at any one time is interesting, the rest of the game was rather blend. The AI isn’t exactly fantastic, as you can out smart them instead of them outsmarting you, if you do the right things at the right time. Abuse the Slow-mo function, and you should get past this game quite easily.

Score: 7.5/10

Storyline:

Most FPS that I’ve played had a pretty weak storyline, and this game isn’t much of an exception. The mission to kill the main enemy will be around for the entire game. When you finally chased him down, one bullet will end everything. So, if you were expecting some sort of super boss which you would be fighting at the end, you would be disappointed. The plot itself is blend enough, and it does not help that there are plenty of unanswered questions at the end. Your past,, was done pretty poorly, as your birth was merely mentioned, with nothing said on how you joined F.E.A.R. or how you had super reflexes (which is the cause of the slow-mo) ability.

It does not help that your main nemesis’s past is not revealed much, or that the end leaves you hanging. While this does allow the producers to create a sequel, it does leave a pretty poor aftertaste after ten hours of playing the game.

Although this is a FPS, which usually means that it has a pretty poor plot, I was at least hoping for something better. Nothing like the Role-Playing Games, but enough to be satisfying for a FPS.

Score: 4/10

Sound:

The sound was very well done, with the weapons having the “feel” to them as you fire a bullet. The voice cast was superb as well, as you can hear their puzzlement, or their fear when they are about to die. The enemies don’t disappoint either, especially the group of humans who seem to be in great distress when they shout “help me”. This is the only place where I cannot find any fault, but on the other hand, it isn’t exactly super either, especially when placed against the likes of other FPS such as Half Life 2.

Score: 9/10

Multi-player:

Not much to say here, except that it has just the usual Death match and Capture the Flag modes, along with Slow-Mo type if you want them. Of course, there is one more mode called “Team Elimination”, which puts you in a team to kill the opposing team. If you are killed, you have to sit out for the rest of the round. The slow-mo does add a little variation to it, but when you can see the slow-mo carrier on your HUD, he isn’t going to live long, if you are playing in a pretty big server. In small servers, those who hug the slow-mo and the strongest weapons (and have a good aim too) would be able to control the game. Melee attacks usually result in 1 hit kills, which brings a totally new idea to the multi-player scene altogether, as the melee attacks are no longer used to humiliate your opponents. Holster your weapon and run around trying to kick people. You will be surprised how many kills you can get, if done properly, of course.

Score: 7/10

Conclusion:

This game was rather disappointing. While I was not bored at any point, the fact that the plot was paper-thin does mark it down. The enemy AI is one of the best so far, but if you used your head a little bit, it isn’t too hard to defeat them. It does bring something new to the market, but if you ask me whether this is the best game ever, I would say no. It simply isn’t the best. Had the storyline been done a little better, then I would have had said yes.

Sadly, that did not happen.

Overall score (not an average): 7/10

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TPJC's open house was a flop, according to an ex-student.

Daniel Vaithilingam 02S07 (Sun 23 Oct 2005 11:13 pm) Not rated Profile Rate Reply Reply w/quote Send message Permalink Rate this post as 3X extremely bad

I feel that this year's open house was a terrible flop. As a former student of the college, I am utterly disappointed with the management about how the open house was runned. It was pretty much in shambles if you asked me. Firstly, the open house is about attracting potential students to the college with its vibrancy, something the students can actually look forward to, not boring them with some talk or tour of academic issues. I'm pretty sure the students get enough of that at home and in their previous schools, what with their exams coming up. The open house is about show-casing the college's strong points, be it in the arts, sports or whatever it is, so long as the CCAs are show-cased, it brings alot of "raaraa"ness into the day, and it allows the students to interact with the potential college students. And to think, I heard from the current students that it was the Principal's idea to have the open house the way it was. Well done, Mrs Goh, you have succeeded in possibly decreasing your intake for the upcoming year. Or maybe you thought that it was alright to make the open house boring because there are alot of students already coming in through direct entry. I believe that anyone would have enjoyed themselves more attending open houses at VJC or even SAJC, what with all the enthusiasm and the fun culture they can inculcate. And look where VJC and SAJC are in terms of how people view them. They're one of the better JCs around. I do hope that future open houses or even the orientation would be much better than the open house of 2005.

Since when was it ever successful anyway? HAHAHA.

Oh well. Thank god I'm heaing out of this school. I'm proud of being a TPJCian simply because it's slack. I mean, I laughed at my friends who had mock exams everyday last year till 7pm, while I was waltzing home at 12:10pm, thanks to the gate being unguarded or something like that. At least I enjoyed it, but sure as hell will enjoy watching this school burn to the ground.

It does not surprise me whatsoever that this ex-student has voiced his views. At least he cares.

Now, it's time to see whether the administration cares.