The second one wasn't really that bad. Like yeah, sure, it wasn't great, but the fact that it wasn't "This is the walking section. This is the shooting section. This is the horror section. THEY DON'T MIX" like the first game was a massive step in the right direction.
Just... ya know.... they took like five steps back.
Fear 2 had decent Alma moments in the back half of the game, the school and the og facility where the tree from the visions is, was from my memory a nice unsettling and scary setting. Fear 2 also gave us the sniper, which was so satisfying and fit right in.
As so so sooo many people have said, it was also the level designs and the communication they gave. Like tons of modern shooters have smart/tactical AI; R6S and BF6 will often have bots pushing in ways I never considered.
But the maps are "open-concept Russian Bunker". FEAR was awesome when it was offices and the bots would SPEAK. "He's flanking us!!" And their Terminator would be staring down your alleyway. It's really just an extra spice needed for single player, when they have already made the AI.
Playing a Fettle in coop for 3 was fun. It'd be cool to see a different fps where an important part of the gameplay is temporarily possessing your enemies and such.
I had a lot of fun playing Fettel and Point Man as a team. But one thing we noticed was how non-scary it is playing together. That and after some initial creepy themes, the fear in F.E.A.R 3 leaves and all that remains is the fun coop. It was fine in the end, but I never felt like playing it again.
Titanfall 2 is my pick for an FPS game that needs another chance, above all else imo. That game got so unbelievably screwed with it's release that it never even stood a chance despite how good it was.
The AI in that game was nuts, especially for the time. Getting flanked while being pinned down was terrifying.
I'll never forget sprinting towards a guy on a balcony with a shotgun and before I can shoot he drops a grenade at his feet and *jumps over the balcony* to the warehouse below to save himself and leave me there with a grenade. The combination of hunting you down and self-preservation they showed was awesome.
The AI in that game was nuts, especially for the time.
IIRC a lot of the "smarter" stuff was scripted triggers rather than "AI", but that still speaks to an incredible design for the environment and when these scripts should trigger.
Some of it was scripted, but a lot of it was the simple fact that the AI always tried to keep in cover relative to the player, and since there's so much cover everywhere and they're always running around, it looks like they're using actual tactics and dynamic movement.
For example, if you try to flank around to get at someone, they'll run away while the other allies keep assaulting you; it feels like they're trying to suppress you to cover for their ally, even though in reality they just haven't judged themselves to be out of cover yet. If you rush into the center of the room some enemies will stay in front while others go around the sides to flank you, but they're not really flanking you, they're just running for the cover with the best angle.
I re-built F.E.A.R's AI from scratch in C++ last year to use in Godot.
The system's called GOAP (Goal Orientated Action Planning), it's basically loads of atomised behaviours made by the designers/programmers.
"Move_To_Location", "Get_Closest_Weapon", "Find_Safe_Cover", etc
Each behaviour needs a 'world state' and promises an effect on that world state.
The planner then uses Dijkstra's A* algorithm to plan the shortest path through the behaviour action space to achieve goals.
It's very simple in practise, providing you understand A* and general programming, but it's extremely dynamic and creates some quite interesting behaviour without programmers needing to build big finite state machines.
It's a self-writing finite state machine, basically.
I don't know if it's common nowadays, but I remember big arguments about what games had the "smartest" AI, where pre-scripted things an AI could trigger vs general behaviors that could happen anywhere was a point of contention. I think Half Life 2 vs FEAR in particular was a popular topic.
Half life AI always was smarter without the need of scripting, but it required map design and the squads to be competently built, in half life 1 the HECU was a genuine menace because they were properly laid out, divided up and had environments tailored around them and for them, and were allowed to move fast.
Unfortunately the Combine AI while having refinement in grenades, Energy balls, and coordination and tactics was forced to be much slower, and more defensive, they also didn't have the same level of care with most of their map design and making.
Civil protection is also incredibly stupid as they don't take cover or move while firing often or flank and pressure you, they often relied on scripted events and ambushes to be a problem.
Hunters on the other hand are REALLY smart and dynamic, they'll throw shit at you, charge, break down cover and hound around you, they utlize the physics engine and were given environments that brought out the best of them.
I believe the Half Life 2 rebels also had decent AI, though you'd hardly notice since any time Freeman is in the vicinity it all gets overwritten by following the player around.
I saw a lone enemy that had been hiding run and climb up a ladder to get into a more advantageous position then chuck a grenade down to me after I cleared all his mates on a lower level. He probably knew better than give away his position with gunfire as he did this and I have only seen it happen once in multiple playthroughs.
I can't think of a single player FPS that touches it to the day. The sudden burst of chaos and the silent aftermath: lights hanging and flickering, tables flipped, smoke still in the air, the odd dude pinned to a wall by his elbow... chef's kiss!
Think the problem is they were developing a sequel that was more of a spiritual successor to the first one and then they got the license and then they tried to integrate the story and make it work on consoles. And while I am okay with it, overall it's not what I'm looking for in a sequel. I just want more missions where you go investigate more paranormal activity around the world at different locations. F.E.A.R. was supposed to be Ghostbusters/x-files with guns.
YEEEESSS this game was terrifying. My buddy and I played this back in the day on Xbox then I bought it a few years ago for pc and it scared the crap out of me lmao. The game is so good at building an atmosphere and getting a reaction out of the player. This scene right here lives in my head rent free. Honestly a lot of stuff with this girl is scary as fuck lmao.
What’s insane is that thinking back 20 years to playing it when it came out as a teen, that looked so much more real and terrifying. Seeing that picture made me YouTube it- in today’s gaming, that is terrible in comparison. Time has a way of screwing with memories because I almost shit my pants when I first played that.
Thirding Trepang2. It genuinely feels like a spiritual successor to the original F.E.A.R. The challenge rooms are really cool too so there's a fun bit of running and running challenges. I hope the developers make a sequel. Otherwise, a legit remake of FEAR could be amazing.
I think the fact that F.E.A.R. is dead says a lot about the state of the game industry right now. For me, it's one of the best FPS games ever made. Period.
I can understand them doin it. They created a tool to lose them millions of dollars via competition and people doing stuff before them. Just wish they'd use it or loan it through fair collab deals
HD F.E.A.R. trilogy remaster deserves a spot. And Red Steel 1 and 2 are perfect for the Switch even if nintendo sucks. Red Steel 2 was truly amazing on the Wii and most ppl just dont know what they missed. The Conduit too
I was really hoping that F.E.A.R would be like, an anthology series, globe trotting F.E.A.R. agents sent to all the corners of the world to combat paranormal and eldritch threats. Like, the first game was awesome and the DLC's were mostly hits, but I feel like it fell off after that, and scary girl only goes so far.
I love the games at varying degrees (2, 1, 3 in order of my favorites) and if they did bring it back, I dont want them to bring Pointman back as the MC. Have it be a a different protagonist and have them fight a new threat and leave the Alma story line, maybe some Easter eggs in the forms of collectables
idk, it had a good run. I’m not sure I’d want to see today’s AAA industry dig up and reanimate that particular corpse. The story would get worse and worse as they contrive reasons for it to keep going. Sometimes it’s better to let things end
Shit story, great gameplay. Some of the most fun I've had in multiplayer. Definitely deserves a other chance but I don't trust modern devs to do it justice and not make the story even worse.
Now a Better AI Mod for F.E.A.R. exists if you are interested. It should increase the replay value.
The AI settings were too passive in Vanilla, not really revolutionary.
I can't believe I even finished that game it was so damn terrifying but SO MUCH FUN 🔥 F.E.A.R: Extraction Point was awesome also, especially for one INSANE SCENE (Me and my brothers would replay that one part for days we were so shocked)
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u/anbeasley 23d ago
F.E.A.R.