Fear (computer game)
| Fear | |||
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| Studio |
 Monolith Productions
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| Publisher |
Vivendi Universal Sierra Entertainment Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
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| Senior Developer | Craig Hubbard | ||
| composer | Nathan Grigg | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Windows: October 18, 2005 October 17, 2005 Xbox 360: October 31, 2006 November 10, 2006 PlayStation 3: April 24, 2007 April 20, 2007  |
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| platform | Windows , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 | ||
| Game engine | Lithtech Jupiter EX | ||
| genre | Ego shooter | ||
| Subject | horror | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| control | Keyboard , mouse , gamepad | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | DVD-ROM , Blu-ray Disc , download | ||
| language | German | ||
| Current version | 1.8 (October 21, 2006) | ||
| copy protection | SecuROM v7 | ||
| Age rating |
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| information | German version cut | ||
Fear ( original spelling FEAR , English for "fear" and acronym for First Encounter Assault Recon ) is a first person shooter that was developed by the US studio Monolith Productions and published on October 18, 2005 by Sierra Entertainment . On November 10, 2006, the game was also released for the Xbox 360 and in April 2007 for the PlayStation 3 . FEAR combines first-person shooters and survival horror and relies on an eerie atmosphere, firefights and the bullet-time effect known from the movie Matrix and the video game Max Payne . In terms of shock effects, the developers oriented themselves heavily on Asian horror films such as Ring or Der Fluch - The Grudge .
The version that appeared on the German market is restricted in the representation of violence. The German version has the USK classification "no youth release" (from 18 years), the English, unabridged original version was indexed by the BPjM .
action
FEAR means First Encounter Assault Recon (loosely translated "Reconnaissance and attack on first contact"). You take on the role of a member of this special unit that is sent to the docks of the city to stop a private army. The enemy soldiers are commanded by the telepathic psychopath Paxton Fettel, who recently escaped from prison. In the docks, however, the special unit is killed by a girl in a red dress, only the protagonist survives. Then the player single-handedly clears the docks of this mysterious troop. Eventually it is discovered that they are cloned soldiers from the Armacham Technology Corporation. The protagonist has to find out what's up with Fettel and the girl and how Armacham is involved in the above-mentioned incidents.
Project Origin
The Origin Project is a project to breed commanders with telepathic abilities who can control the replicated super soldiers. The commanders can give their soldiers orders and information directly on the battlefield without having to contact them (e.g. by radio). In order for telepaths to be bred, you first needed the DNA of another telepath. The project managers abused Harlan Wade's daughter Alma Wade for this purpose. Two people emerged from Alma's genes: the gambler and Paxton Fettel. The player's psychic powers were considered insufficient, and so the decision was made to develop a second person - with a more pleasing result. For this reason, only Fettel was trained to control the replicants. Since Fettel was very susceptible to Alma's telepathy and murdered several Armacham employees on her orders at the age of 10, Fettel was taken into custody and the Origin project was frozen. Project Origin is also the subtitle of the sequel game.
Project Perseus
The project for the development of the super soldier replicants. Originally developed from the Icarus project, the aim of which was to improve human muscles and bones. Project Perseus was concerned with creating strong soldiers who could easily be controlled by the commanders of Project Origin and who could be replaced quickly and cheaply if lost. Furthermore, the replicants have no human worth, which is why all human rights do not apply to them. For this reason, they can be used and replaced trivially regardless of loss.
Characters
The player
Exactly who the player actually is remains unknown for a long time. However, it is the first ATC prototype. Immediately after the first section of the game, hints are made that experiments have been carried out on him in the past. He is the first son of Alma and therefore keeps seeing her in visions. The player has the ability inherited from Alma to temporarily increase his ability to react, which gives him an advantage over his opponents. In addition, he has a flair for paranormal activity. The gamer and Fettel are part of Project Origin and were actually bred to be the commanders of the Replicant Army. In theory, the player would have to have the same ability as Fettel to control the replicants, but he does not succeed - apparently due to a lack of telepathic experience and training in dealing with his powers, which Fettel enjoyed. However, it also turns out that Armacham's powers are portrayed as insufficient, in contrast to Fettel's. Fettel often mentions that they have the same mother, which the Origin project also confirms.
The mysterious girl (Alma Wade)
At the beginning of the game, Alma gives Paxton Fettel the order to murder all Armacham employees and to free their bodies from a capsule in the Armacham underground facility (ATC). Alma only appears in visions of the player until the end. Only when her body is released from the capsule is she real, which means that she is only dangerous for the player in level 2, at the harbor and towards the end of the game.
Alma was made available for a special testing program (Project Origin) by her father (Harlan Wade, who is a senior member of Armacham) when she was eight years old because of her paranormal abilities. She was placed in an artificial coma. The scientist Harlan Wade directed this operation. Alma had her first child (the player) at the age of 15, and later she gave birth to a second prototype : Paxton Fettel, who tries to save his mother from this fate.
From the beginning to the last third, Alma appears as a girl of about eight. Later, however, she becomes more and more of a figure of about 16 years.
Alice Wade (Alma Wade's sister)
History:
She is the daughter of Harlan Wade, Alice was raised with much love by her father. Although she works for Armacham Technology Corporation, she was never informed that she has a sister, or that her sister was horribly mistreated for the purposes of the Armacham Project known as Project Origin. Because of her gentle upbringing, Alice's personality is friendly and kind, a sharp contrast to the hateful personality of Alma Wade. Her upbringing ties her very closely to her father and she remained ignorant of the crimes he committed against his eldest daughter (Alma Wade). In her office is a picture of her and her father, smiling happily. Alice's office is located on the 6th floor in the exclusive Armacham Headquarters building.
Shortly before the events in FEAR , Alice, with the help of Aldus Bishop, began surveying the Auburn District and studying the analyzes of the contaminated South River Wastewater Treatment Plant. Due to Alice's lack of knowledge of her sister and Project Origin, she does not understand that the contamination is coming from the Origin secret facility, which is a combination of toxic chemicals and Alma's unbridled anger, so that everyone in the area is feels sick. In considering the Auburn District itself, she notes that people feel nausea and malaise after being there for some time. She finds it curious, although most of the causes of the phenomenon were localized.
Multiplayer and FEAR Combat
In multiplayer mode, the game supports the following modes:
- Slowmo Team Deathmatch
- Slowmo Deathmatch
- Deathmatch
- Team Deathmatch
- Capture the flag
- Elimination with up to 16 players, also online
The anti- cheat tool PunkBuster has also been integrated into the game.
As of August 17, 2006, the multiplayer part of FEAR was available for download free of charge from the Internet under the name FEAR Combat . FEAR Multiplayer and FEAR Combat should be compatible with each other after installing the current patch.
technology
The game uses the by Monolith developed Jupiter Ex - Engine which the Havok -Physics engine has integrated. Also worth mentioning are the particle system , the slow motion effect ( bullet time ) and the outstanding AI . FEAR was written for a processor core. For this reason, the clock speed is a crucial factor in the display of the game. With the same graphics card you get a better display with a single core processor with 3 GHz than with a multi-core processor that is only clocked with 2 GHz.
Since 23 November 2005, the stands SDK to FEAR for download. It includes a level, model, string, effects and weapon editor as well as an archiving program to convert the files into a compatible format.
reception
- 4players 92%
"FEAR is goosebumps poured into program lines, the most brilliant playable horror trip of modern times."
- Gamers.at 91%
"[...] Nevertheless, FEAR is a must-play game for all those who want to learn fear anew, especially because of its great graphics!"
- GameStar 89%
"Goes one step further with the shadow games excellently introduced by Doom 3 and accentuates the plot and atmosphere in the right places with oppressive script sequences - serious shock."
- PC Action 88%
“FEAR is a hammer game. Without question the best action game of the last few months. "
- PC Games 87%
“FEAR wins the hearts of the players, while not free from weaknesses. If you care about your fingernails, you better stay away from FEAR. "
- PC PowerPlay 86%
"Nothing for weak nerves! With a horror story, shock effects and clever opponents, FEAR violently shakes the throne of the genre leader Half-Life 2 . The best shooter since Half-Life 2. "
Extensions
FEAR: Extraction Point
The Extraction Point expansion was released in September 2006 and was developed by TimeGate Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment. This add-on requires the installed base game. The background story of Extraction Point sets up where the main game stopped after Alma had climbed into the helicopter, crashed this from. The player immediately finds himself in a fighting situation with the clones reactivated by Alma out of anger over the death of her son Fettel. The expansion offers new weapons and enemy types.
FEAR: Perseus mandates
In November 2007, Perseus Mandate, another story expansion for FEAR , was released, but it does not require the main game. The add-on was developed again by TimeGate Studios. AI -controlled allies are a novelty . Perseus Mandate takes place during the events of FEAR
successor
Dispute
Since the publisher Sierra and the developer Monolith had split up in the dispute, the naming rights to FEAR were with Sierra, Monolith owned the technical content. Both Sierra and Monolith wanted to release a sequel to the game.
Monolith planned to continue the story of the main game - regardless of the add-ons that were developed and published after the dispute. Monolith's successor was to appear under the name Project Origin . Sierra also planned to commission a studio to develop a successor under the title FEAR 2 .
After the merger of Sierra owner Vivendi Games with Activision , the company sold the rights to the franchise to Warner Bros. Interactive , the owners of Monolith, as they no longer had any use for the name.
FEAR 2: Project Origin
Fear 2: Project Origin is the successor to FEAR, also developed by Monolith Productions,and wasreleased by Warner Bros. Entertainmenton February 13, 2009 for Windows , Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 after lengthy licensing disputes over the name rights. The player controls the Delta Force soldier Michael Becketin the sequel. FEAR 2 starts shortly before the end of the predecessor.
FEAR 3
In April 2010, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced the third installment in the FEAR series. The first person shooter FEAR 3 (alternative spelling : F.3.AR ) was no longer developed by Monolith Productions, but by Day 1 Studios, which had already worked on the console porting of FEAR . The successor no longer runs on Monolith's LithTech engine; instead, the new developers used their in-house engine. Film director John Carpenter and comic book writer Steve Niles were consultants on the project. FEAR 3 was released on June 24, 2011 for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. At the end of the trilogy, the player either plays Point Man (protagonist of the first part) or Paxton Fettel.
Novel publication
The novel FEAR by Dominik Kristen, ISBN 978-3-942384-49-0 , was published in February 2012 .
Web links
- FEAR at MobyGames (English)
- This subtle sense of fear review of Telepolis
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/dispbericht/PC-CDROM/Test/4415/3977/0/FEAR.html
- ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/fear/test/fear,34406,1456573.html
- ↑ http://www.pcgames.de/FEAR-dt-PC-93780/Tests/FEAR-406560/
- ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spielinfonews/Allgemein/9541/1849283/FEAR_2_Project_Origin-FEAR-License_gekauf.html
- ↑ http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/fear-3-announced-john-carpenter-crafting-cinematics/