Experiencing F.E.A.R. 3 In The Dark
Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Recently released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Day 1 Studios, F.E.A.R. 3 picks up where F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin left off. You are in the shoes of the Point Man, a genetically enhanced soldier with superhuman reflexes. You have the ability to manipulate time, and you’re joined by the undead spirit of your deceased brother Paxton Fettel, an entity that possesses incredible psychic powers. Both of you are the son of Alma, an evil psychic. As you can probably guess, this paranormal first person shooter (FPS) game is definitely not for the keiki.
As you would watch a horror movie, you’ll experience the game’s full effect if you play it in the dark. Before you even turn on your game console you should turn off all the lights and try to play in an isolated room. Playing the game is similar to watching a movie, especially if you go through the campaign with a friend. While you play as Point Man, your buddy can play as Paxton and use his psychic energy to blast enemies apart (can be done either split-screen in your living room or online).
Point Man plays as your prototypical FPS hero. He can go into cover, swap out weapons and use a slowmotion ability to dispatch enemy soldiers. His enhanced reflexes, such as the ability to see bullet being fired at him, set him apart from other F.E.A.R. members. Paxton plays a little more tactically, as his interactions in the world can only come from using his psychic energy to possess enemy soldiers or pick up objects. If you play as him, you need to decide how to use his slowly recharging powers.
The gameplay is about what you would expect from an FPS game, and it has a simple scoring system. It rewards you for performing certain tasks such as “Get 50 Kills in a Row” and it counts as an Aggression challenge. All the challenges presented fall into categories: Aggression, Tactics, Aptitude and Psychic. The two brothers are always competing against each other, and whoever receives the highest score obtains the favorite son title.
Photo courtesy Allstate Insurance Co
Overall the game has a good horror storyline (if you’re into that), and good continuity from previous F.E.A.R. titles. If you stay with it, you can finish the single-player campaign in a couple of days. After that, have fun online. F.E.A.R. 3 is rated M for Mature and is available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. It retails for $49.99 (PC)/$59.99 (Xbox 360/PS3) at your nearest GameStop (gamestop.com), Best Buy (bestbuy.com) or Target (target.com).
Click Chick’s Mobile App of the Week: GoodRide
Calling all motorcyclists: Allstate Insurance Company just released GoodRide, an Apple app that tracks your miles and routes, and allows you to share it on your social network (Facebook and Twitter). It lets you log your rides and store the trip details for free. You can prepare for your rides with a rider checklist, view local weather reports and gas prices. So far, GoodRide is only available for the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad, but is scheduled to be released this fall on the Android Market. Visit allstate.com/mobile for more information and to see a demonstration.
