Developer: Day 1 Studios
Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
Rrp: £12.99 (Steam), £12.99 (Humblebundle)
Released: 24th June 2011
Available on: Steam and Humblebundle
Played Using: An Xbox 360, Control Pad
Your dead mother is on the loose, and your dead brother has called dropped in to your prison cell for a visit. It seems that becoming a ghost when you die is something of a family trait.
We return once more to the Fear universe for its third and final instalment and this time we reprise the role of the ‘Point Man’ who was the main character of the first game, or at least you do at first (more on that later). Fear 3, like its predecessors, is a horror themed FPS featuring a character that can slow down time for a brief period of time.
When playing as Point Man you can now take cover behind chest high boxes etc with the simple press of the [B] button. While doing this he will automatically crouch behind it and peak around or over when you move the analogue stick. This cover isn’t perfect though, your enemies will be able to still hit you on occasion and in some cases even destroy the cover.
While you play you can complete challenges (view-able using the [Select] button). For each challenge you complete you’re rewarded with a certain number of points. Collect enough of those points and you can rank up which unlocks abilities and passive upgrades such as more health or slow-mo time.
These challenges usually are things like ‘use cover for X amount of seconds’ or ‘kill X with a SMG’.
You can also collect these points by performing a ‘psychic link’ (basically finding and interacting with a specific dead body).
Each level also has a Alma doll hidden within it that will grant a large amount of points too.
Just as with Fear 2, Fear 3 also uses a checkpoint system, although it seems a little more liberal with them than the previous game. However they’ve returned to two equipable weapon system (discounting your knife and grenades) that Fear 1 had.
Gone are the health packs and armour from the previous titles, as we now have what every shooter from 2009 onward seems to have… regenerating health.
The Fear series has always been quite linear but Fear 3 feels even more so than the others, in part this is because it likes to put you into arena style battles. It also has a nasty tendency to have doors that once you pass through will close and can’t be reopened locking off an entire area. This can be a little annoying for the type of gamer that likes to explore (because even though it’s linear there are still hallways and rooms with gear that could help around).
Now here’s where this game differs from all the others. Once you complete a mission as Point Man you can replay it as Paxton Fettle.
As Paxton Fettle you don’t really have much in the way of weaponry, you are dead after all (to those who haven’t played the first game SPOILER, Paxton was killed by Point Man in the first game). BUT you can possess people around you that do have weapons. This possession only lasts for as long as your ‘spirit bar’ has charge. Thing is, unlike Point Man, you can only possess people if your spirit bar is fully recharged. The meter recharges over time but you can speed up the process (or elongate your possession time) by killing enemies and collecting the spirit orbs they leave behind.
Paxton Fettle also has his own challenges that he can complete for rewards which are shared between the two characters.
Regardless of which of the two brothers you play as the combat is fast and fluid (yes, even in slow-mo) and each weapon has a real feeling of impact to them, especially the shotgun that seems to turn most of the soldiers early on into jam.
I’m very torn when it comes to Fear 3. In general it vastly improves on the originals but there are some additions and removals that I feel make the game lesser.
Its clear that this game was created with the console market in mind. The lack of options in the menus, the cover system, regenerating health all are things that were (and still are) more popular within the console market.
They’ve removed the reflex and health boosters that were in the predecessors and instead have incorporated the increase of slow-mo and health regeneration in the challenge rewards scheme. So instead of searching for those boosters your looking for Alma dolls and ‘psychic link’ bodies.
Another sign of this being made for consoles is the lack of a health bar on the UI, they instead have opted for a Call of Duty style ‘red damage’ screen, to represent how low on health you are.
Annoyingly the game gives you prompts for the keyboard even if you are using a control pad, this can be quite confusing and despite my best efforts I can’t find any option to either turn it off or change them.
Despite my reservations to with some of the changes that were made Fear 3 is a worthy sequel and provides a satisfying ending to the series, regardless of which of the two endings you get. This one is also the most control pad friendly of series which really helps as some of the keyboard controls are just badly placed. Its also got a very cool co-op mode which I really enjoyed, although that could be down to the company I was with.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Singularity
Darkness 2
Doom
