"oh shit, the NINJA MONKEYS are attacking"

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Your walking along a dark hall, you flash light is on. you stop at a door way looking into a room to clear it. as you look into the corner a guy appears out of mid airm, and with amazing speed and agility he ontop of you in a matter of secounds. he punches you three times then runs off, dissapering before you even realized what happen.

Thats just one of the many "OH SHIT" moments in F.E.A.R: First Encounter Assault Recon. If you don't know what F.E.A.R. is, It's the latest game from MONOLITH. The same company that has brough great FPS games in the past like, BLOOD, No One Lives For Ever, and Shogo. And F.E.A.R. is one of their best works ever. taking pure intense action, and mixing in horror elements in the style of THE RING, and it's done just right, and welcome to the first review here on Wrecked Systems.com.

In F.E.A.R. you play a Nameless new comer to the F.E.A.R. team. a Group set up secretly by the army to deal with Paranomal threats to the nation. And it's your first day on the job As their new point man.

F.E.A.R's graphics are of topnotch, brining in so many little touches as well that make this game what it is. Effects like dust fillin the air from your gun shots missing and hitting the wall. sparks flying as your oppenits armor gets damaged. areas getting cloudy from all the dust generated by all the bullets missing the targets. particals flying out of things. and to my knowlidge, being the first to use Bumpmapped bullet holes on almost every thing. Makeing it look like you took chunks out of the wall. Add in amazing shodows casted by every thing around you, and even your self(yes you have a body in this game. just look down). The blood effect in this game are well. amazing as well. They will appear as you would think they would, a guy gets killed plasterd aginst the wall. blood will streak from where he hit to the ground as he falls. Sever ragdoll effects int eh game will make you wince in pain as you watch guys buckle on them selfs as they fall. even more so when you blow a guys arm off, make him two parts, or even reduce him to nothing but blood and body parts.

the sound in the game is also topnotch. Eveyr single weapon you use in the game has that mutch needed punch to sound how powerfull they are. the score in this game adds such a major element to the game, but it never makes it self to over powering in games like UT04. The foot steps as you move sound prefect. changing as needed depending what your walking on, which is once again. something minor but missed when it's not there.

The games AI is by far the best ever to date, and is in my mind the first AI to act like TRUE squads. Guys will talk back and forth, work to pin you down as one or more move to flank you. they will also take and use cover exactly like you would. even create their own cover. and your almost always out numberd 3 to 1. and rarely ever face one guy by him self. when they die, they scream out in pain, often still fireing there gun as they fall down. they will also react to getting hurt, they will limp if hit in the leg, stope using an arm if injured enough in it and so on. but there is little varity bettween the types of guys you'll face. but you won't be thinking about that at all

the Weapons int he game are spot on, you got every thing from Duel weilding pistols, to a Rail like gun that turns you opponets to nothing but bloody bones. But in the game you are only alowed to carry three guns at a time. brining up thef " do i take this gun this guy dropped or stick with what i have" thought as you play. also what gun your holding will affect how fast you can move. and how much ammo you can carry.

There are also hand to hand combat elements in the game. not much, just stuff from attack by hitting them with what weapon you have out, or your fists. but have nice touches of the ablity to slide kick, or jump kick guys when you get close enough. This also adds some steal into the game. allowing you to take a couple out before they know your there if you wanted to.

There is a unique aspect of the game which is the SLO MO mode in the game. Basicly taking the effect of the bullet time from the matrix and putting it into the game. but it amazinly fits with the game perfectly, and is done just right. trust me when i say that you will love the fact that you have this

The mutlie in the game is Also great. you got every thing from you standerd DEath match, to Capture the flag, and each one with a SLO MO vatiation. Matches are often extremly intense with firght fights breaking out all over. and the hand to hand fights every now and then. BUT, nothing beats slide kicking some one who didn't even see you as they exit a room.

the game also comes in two Flavors. The normal version, wich comes with a lovely set of 5 CD's to manage. and then theres the Directors edition DVD, which is on DVD, and comes with the cool extras like the makeing of the game, a way to short Directors commentary, a Live action Prequale, and a Video made by the guys of ROOSTER TEATH, intro ducing there new Series, PANICS. but the Fact that the DVD version is well, on a DVD makes it worth the extra cash when getting it.p

There are a few down sides of the game, the game wasn't even a few hours old before there was a patch put out for F.E.A.R. there is even a notice int he box tellign you to patch. the game comes is in a cheesy sleave case, in stead of a decent normal CD or DVD case. the (as i call them) Crack monkey, clokeing ninja's are a pain in the ass to deal with but don't ruin the game for you.

There are no filters sadly when browsing for games online as well. so you can't make it only show a certain type of game. or ones that are not full or empty.

Overall this game is almost pure perfection. It takes the bar that was set by HL2 and snaps it in half as it places a new one in what we should Expect in FPS games from now own. When one gets this game. try to look for the DVD edition if you can. not just for the extra, but for the fact it's one disk.

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I give F.E.A.R. a near pefect

9/10

and my FIRST,

MUST BY NOW OR FEAR THE RAGE OF HAMSTERS

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