FEAR was a popular first person shooter released in 2005. It received much praise for its visuals, AI, and the scary atmosphere. The multiplayer part was released as a huge, free 1.7GB download recently. However it is a fun, free multiplayer game that everyone should check out. You have to provide your email and other information to receive a free CD-key to the game.


Gameplay

Online play is very fluid and the netcode seems to be very well done. I had very stable ping and bullets all seemed to hit their target. I don't know if this is a bug, but the pings reported by the in-game browser are often higher than what they really are.

When you join a server, you are given a choice to choose a weapon. This consists of your average fps array. You can change your weapons anytime you die. The gameplay is a cross between Quake and Counter-Strike. It combines realistic weapons with fast paced gameplay. The small multiplayer maps also help ensure constant action. Team deathmatch is very fun and automatic radio commands keep you up to date on what’s going on. Teamwork is required to break into the rooms where the other team is waiting.

There are also options to have slow motion available for multiplayer. In these, you have to find something that charges your slow motion meter. Everybody playing can see the location of the charger, which means if you pick it up, you will become everyone’s target. Once you pick up the charger you have to wait until you meter is 3/4th full before you can use it. However the slow motion gameplay modes seem unpopular, as I couldn't find too many servers using it

Weapons

The weapons in FEAR are similar to weapons found in any other FPS. The maps are a big factor in weapon choice here, although I attempted to be cool and used the dual pistols regardless of the map. Weapons like the shotgun work great in the office building levels of FEAR, while you’re more likely to pick up a machine gun for the bigger maps. The 10mm HV Penetrator, a nailgun-like weapon, is a good option for any map. Physics make the Penetrator a great gun, if only for the ability to stick anyone unfortunate enough to cross your path to a wall.

Special weapons can be found around the maps. These range from rocket launchers to a railgun-like weapon called the Armacham Type-7. With the Armacham, a direct hit on an opponent leaves only a smoking skeleton.

The grenades in FEAR are different; they explode on impact with a living target. It is very satisfying and rewarding when you blow people away with an accurate grenade toss.


Your hands and feet are also weapons which are activated by the mouse 2. Hitting mouse 2 while running or standing still just gives you the standard weapon bash, but jumping forward and pressing mouse 2 lets you do a flying kick. While hitting the back and strafe with mouse 2 will give you a roundhouse kick.

Maps

Some maps in FEAR are taken straight from the single player game. You'll see office buildings, chemical plants, underground bunkers, and more. Some maps that were made for multiplayer are larger. I've seen forests and large facilities while playing so far.

Maps in FEAR are interactive, while not as great as the Half-Life 2 physics engine; you can still tear rooms apart trying to kill your enemy. Walls can be turned into Swiss cheese, dust will impair your vision, and objects will fly across the room from the blast of an exploding grenade.

Visuals and Performance

The first time you start up FEAR it auto detects the best setup for your system. The auto detected settings worked very well and I got a stable framerate in any situation. I raised the resolution to 1600x1200 from the default setting 1024. I still got a decent framerate on indoor maps, but on larger maps like "Dead Wood", my framerate would drop. Nevertheless, I was very impressed at how well FEAR ran while retaining its stunning visuals.