Name: F.E.A.R. - First Encounter Assault Retrospective
Uploaded: 2020-03-06T18:26:39.000Z
Duration: 16 min 41 s
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Today I’ve decided to give into my current compulsion and revisit First Encounter Assault Recon

better known as F.E.A.R., developed by Monolith Productions and published by Vivendi

Universal through Sierra Entertainment in 2005.

This Windows PC version may have released over a dozen years ago, but back then it was

setting the computer gaming world on fire, look at these quotes!

The hype was real when this launched in ‘05.

I remember being floored by the E3 demos, with it appearing to be a mix of the John

Woo-inspired bullet time spectacle seen in games like Max Payne mixed with the gory atmospheric

That sounded good to me as-is, plus I was enjoying the mid-2000s trend of stringy-haired

ghost girls in horror movies, so F.E.A.R. seemed liked a fitting mix of my preferred

Inside the box you got the game itself on a quintet of CD-ROM discs in sleeves, as well

as a 33-page instruction booklet diving into gameplay basics, along with a description

of items and weaponry without spoiling every detail.

Additionally there was a Director’s Edition release, which included a DVD-ROM version

of the game that also packed a documentary video, interviews and roundtable discussions,

and a spoof by Rooster Teeth titled P.A.N.I.C.S.

Furthermore it came with this sweet comic book by Dark Horse Comics, acting as a brief

And in later years, F.E.A.R. came to Xbox 360 and PS3 as well, but from here on out

we’ll be sticking with the PC original.

After some company logo animations that have become oddly nostalgic, you’re greeted by

the main menu, with its eerie ambiance and video clips showing the upcoming chaos.

Before that though it’s best practice to hop into the graphics options and see what’s

up, because in 2005 this was a PC benchmarking staple.

F.E.A.R. makes use of what was then the latest LithTech game engine

Its combination of DirectX 9 rendering, Shader Model 2 support, Havok Game Dynamics, particle

physics, and a slew of other tech meant F.E.A.R. looked cutting edge on a capable PC.

And getting decent numbers at the end of the built-in benchmark was a point of pride indeed.

Once you’re finished ogling numbers the single player mode awaits!

F.E.A.R. then plays an M.O.V.I.E., beginning with teeny tiny text describing how the US

Army formed the F.E.A.R. team to respond to “paranormal threats to national security,”

but personally I feel it was to have another clever acronym under their belt.

After this you get a pretty excellent intro cinematic showing the possession of one Paxton

Fettel, and how, with the help of a creepy ghost girl in a red dress, he’s escaped

from his cell and taken control of a battalion of cloned soldiers using mind control.

To top it off, the man has some particular culinary preferences.

Oh yeah F.E.A.R. can get a bit graphic, so uh, you’ve been warned and stuff.

Anyway, since there’s a telepathic cannibal weirdo on the loose, the First Encounter Assault

You take control of the voiceless protagonist known simply as Point Man: the new guy on

the team that was hired one week prior for his exceptional reflexes.

["You've seen his training results. His reflexes are totally off the charts."]

Maybe they should’ve done more research though, since you immediately black out and

Once you arrive on-scene and step out of the car you’re provided a peaceful little tutorial

level that guides you by the hand, calmly showing you how to break pieces of wood and

work with a fellow soldier until oh noooo, “Mister Point Man, I don’t feel so good.”

Before long though you stop tripping balls and eventually run across some of Fettel’s

Then it’s this radical helicopter arrival scene where you drop into the level with your

Man these guys are great, I’m sure we’ll be friends foreve-NOPE.

Welp, pack it up boys, tutorial’s over.

And so is the rest of your squad for that matter, thanks to the psionic abilities of

From this point onward your visions continue with increasingly disturbing visuals flashing

before your eyes as you walk through each level.

Finally though, you’ve been through enough and are

ready to shoot some mind-controlled soldiers in the face.

Dude yes. As effective and unsettling as the horror elements can be,

it’s the feel of the combat that really made F.E.A.R. stand out from the rest.

And the first key component of this is the slow-motion mechanic, explained in-universe

as Point Man having exceptionally high reflexes.

It’s also a legit life-saver in most situations, with plenty of encounters and enemy types

that will handily overwhelm you with both attack speed and sheer volume of ammunition.

Bullet time or reflex time or whatever you wanna call it is as much about difficulty

balancing as it is an easy sales gimmick for the marketing team to get off on, everybody wins!

Then there’s the arsenal at your disposal, which kicks off with a very Hard Boiled akimbo

pistol option, followed by the requisite submachine gun, an incredibly satisfying pump action

shotgun, assault rifles in both fully-automatic and burst firing configurations, a rocket

launcher that lobs multiple missiles with every press of the trigger, and several types

of grenades and explosives for fragging the crap out of everything.

Each of these are mighty pleasing to use, especially that shotgun with its ability to

But for the most part it’s a loadout pretty typical for a special forces-focused FPS game

It’s the remaining weapons where F.E.A.R. really cements itself into memory, starting

This is one of my favorite game weapons ever, it’s a military-grade nail gun essentially,

firing chunky metallic cylinders at stupidly high speeds.

This results in some gleeful piercing action, allowing you to staple dudes to the wall for

After this you have the Type-7 Particle Weapon, one of F.E.A.R.’s more absurd options that

is immediately deadly to darn near everyone.

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F.E.A.R. - First Encounter Assault Retrospective

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