F.E.A.R. Review (Point Man)
FLASHLIGHT..... TARGET SPOTTED!
17 years ago I played the downloadable demo for this. I probably played it 100 times over even though my PC at the time could barely run it. I had to adjust the settings to find a balance that was worthy to the eye and still playable. I ended up buying a retail copy of the game as soon as it released. To this day, it is still the best solo experience I've ever had in an FPS game. The Sci-fi horror element is legit, but I was more in it for the combat as the AI is still the most impressive I've seen. I'll never get over how they made clone soldiers feel more life-like and personable than any other AI TO DATE. The way they communicate and operate in fire teams will send shivers up your spine. They will call out when they see your flashlight, when you switch between cover they will actually identify what it is you're hiding behind. They will always lay down a stream of cover fire for each other. They will not fire if they are blocking each others cone of fire. They flank, crawl under obstacles, throw grenades to flush you out. If you kill members of the fire team, they will actually fall back to positions that don't allow you to flank them. The damage to the environment and enemy models is something I still haven't seen in many other shooters. Sometimes after fire fights you have to wait for the dust to clear to see the aftermath of the battle.
It's not perfect. It has flaws, but during a time when games had to be different to stand out from generic run of the mill COD clones, F.E.A.R absolutely delivered in a way that always brings me back to it.