User Score
5.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 555 Ratings

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  1. Jun 22, 2011
    4
    I love the FEAR franchise. I loved the action horror, and I especially loved FEAR 2. It is a sad time for the FEAR franchise as this is just another poorly ported console game. Graphics are not up to par with FEAR 2, why are we regressing? FEAR 2 flowed so organically, and I could not stop playing until I beat it. In this installment, we the PC gamers are left with an overly difficultI love the FEAR franchise. I loved the action horror, and I especially loved FEAR 2. It is a sad time for the FEAR franchise as this is just another poorly ported console game. Graphics are not up to par with FEAR 2, why are we regressing? FEAR 2 flowed so organically, and I could not stop playing until I beat it. In this installment, we the PC gamers are left with an overly difficult jerky controlled game which design seems to be based around a buggy, unwanted and unnecessary cover system which leaves you looking at the poor wall texture as you wait for your health to regenerate (which is all the damn time). FEAR 2 had health packs, and it was brilliant... you the player were in control of your fate. Why, Monolith, have you forsaken your true core audience? A truly sad ending to a great series. I wont get to know what happens in the story, because this game is too frustrating to look at, and ultimately play. Expand
  2. Nov 14, 2013
    4
    This game has nothing with FEAR and FEAR 2. Only names are used from old FEAR games, otherwise is completely different game. And terrible. I finished that, because I wanted to have good feeling and finish all FEAR games. Otherwise it will be uninstalled after few hours of gameplay.
    There is missing athmosphere, scary moments, feelings, you are in some horror, story..
    Only graphic is better.
  3. May 20, 2013
    4
    i got this game thinking, Oh boy, a scary coop game! well it turned out to be a average shooter with good coop.but i am sick of the shooters that call themselves "scary." I remember playing fear 2 with better graphics and accually on the edge of my pants. huge dissapointment
  4. Nov 8, 2013
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ugh where do i start the graphics are horrible and its barely linked to f12r fear 1-2) you might as well make this one the first one cause all we know is beckets sons is just some cannibal nazi and the other just some long haired loser with reflex sprinkled on top... Expand
  5. Nov 18, 2013
    1
    Not fun. Tedious linear gameplay. I do not recommend playing it, even if it's free.

    That being said, I played the co-op online with a friend and it was slightly better but only because everything is better with friends, even hell.
  6. Dec 10, 2013
    4
    Who slopped their Call of Duty all over my F.E.A.R.? That's what I'm constantly asking myself. It's definitely the poorest, weakest entry in to the franchise so far. Not as scary or engaging, and the game play has been toned down in to this horrible call of duty style cover shooter with health regen and bad A.I.. How can you justify having bad A.I. in a series that's known for pushing theWho slopped their Call of Duty all over my F.E.A.R.? That's what I'm constantly asking myself. It's definitely the poorest, weakest entry in to the franchise so far. Not as scary or engaging, and the game play has been toned down in to this horrible call of duty style cover shooter with health regen and bad A.I.. How can you justify having bad A.I. in a series that's known for pushing the envelope in that department? As a huge F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. 2 fan who's not particularly fond of Call of Duty or its imitators, this is a mediocre and ultimately forgettable FPS that just happens to have some F.E.A.R. branding slapped on it. I felt like it was a chore I forced myself through to see the continuation of the story from two games that I actually enjoyed. Expand
  7. Dec 22, 2013
    4
    Nothing special about this game,i think 4 is more than enough.I Played all FEAR games,i have to say the FEAR 1 and 2 are great games and worth playing even in 2013 but FEAR 3 damn so sad game
  8. Feb 7, 2020
    4
    Eh, so bad compared to the first two games... Pretty generic, unimmersive, extremely linear and repetitive shooter with barely any development and a story I couldn't give less **** about. It wasn't excruciatingly bad, but I would avoid it if you're not a completionist of the series. Probably the strongest points are the challenges and the co-op mode, but after completing the story byEh, so bad compared to the first two games... Pretty generic, unimmersive, extremely linear and repetitive shooter with barely any development and a story I couldn't give less **** about. It wasn't excruciatingly bad, but I would avoid it if you're not a completionist of the series. Probably the strongest points are the challenges and the co-op mode, but after completing the story by myself I feel saturated with the game already. Expand
  9. Nov 14, 2020
    1
    Очень скучная игра. F.E.A.R. 3 - лишь блеклая тень первой части. Что я могу сказать про эту игру?- Она просто скучная, однообразная, никакая. Я ничего не могу выделить в этой игре, графика - посредственна, сюжет - скучный, левел дизайн - никакой, ИИ - тоже, стрельба - аналогично предыдущим пунктам. Я дропнул эту игру на фавелах. Небольшим приятным бонусом в конце прохождения для игрокаОчень скучная игра. F.E.A.R. 3 - лишь блеклая тень первой части. Что я могу сказать про эту игру?- Она просто скучная, однообразная, никакая. Я ничего не могу выделить в этой игре, графика - посредственна, сюжет - скучный, левел дизайн - никакой, ИИ - тоже, стрельба - аналогично предыдущим пунктам. Я дропнул эту игру на фавелах. Небольшим приятным бонусом в конце прохождения для игрока будут 2 концовки, ну и кооператив, про него к сожалению ничего не могу сказать, не пробовал. Expand
  10. Feb 15, 2021
    4
    Compared to other games in the franchise I would say that this is the worst, it does not cause terror or any distress to those who play it, it works very well as an action game but even so it becomes sickening. I recommend that if you play this game, play with a friend.
  11. Jul 14, 2011
    4
    Wow how can we play a game that has botched mouse over sensitivity... do they not QA titles any more. First Fear was ground breaking, 2nd was missing its charm and features - @Xanifur agreed this is just money grabbing nonsense.

    -smc
  12. Mar 12, 2013
    0
    You must be kidding me...What a total waste of time. The A.I. is the most lame I have ever seen the first two games were so good. what were they thinking. I know rip us off for the band names sake that's what they were thinking and the fact you cant save the game were you want is just annoying.
  13. Jan 18, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I loved the first title, It had exciting shootouts, great graphics and excellent AI. The second one was average, having nothing really new to say, but as a a hardcore shooter, it was even better. Now we have this disaster made by Day 1 Studios, people who just ported the first F.E.A.R. on the consoles. The story is nonexistent. If F.E.A.R. 2 at least had some sort of story, Here you just run from Point A to Point B, shooting everything on your way, two(the bridge and the market) levels were made just to extend four hour(!) campaign as they have absolutely no other purpose. The same goes for the entire campaign. It's boring, very predictable and uninteresting. Many things just don't make any sense at all. Why Becket is so important to anyone? How capturing him will lead someone to Alma? How do you suddenly teleport from the airport terminal to some vault? Where the hell is the U.S. Military? The game is just so full of plot holes. Graphics are horrible: low quality textures, poor lighting, old animations. As for models, well, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher bay,released in 2004 , had more detailed models than this abomination( You can check that , if you want).Despite all this, F.E.A.R. 3 runs badly as it is unoptimized. But more importantly, guns (except for the rifle) behave badly and shootouts are boring. As for scares, well, F.E.A.R. series wasn't really scary to begin with, but the horror elements did add unique and interesting atmosphere. Here this atmosphere is gone.The game doesn't even try to scare you. Playing as Fettel is fun for some time, but then you realize, that for the most part it's the same as playing Pointman, only without slow-motion. The co-op seems to be normal, but there are other co-op shooters, much better than this and multiplayer may satisfy someone for a short time. Overall, a very boring Co-op shooter and not worthy of called F.E.A.R. Expand
  14. Feb 11, 2014
    0
    Everything that made the FEAR-Series great (namely the FIRST FEAR!), was removed to create this dumbed down piece of random generic "Shooter" for drooling controller-babies.

    - Worse looking Slowmo-Effects than in Fear 2? Check! (even FEAR 2 had bad SlowMo-Effects! Glowing Enemies! WTF?!) - Bad, really bad Level-design! The enemy-ai has no room to manouver and flank you or use more
    Everything that made the FEAR-Series great (namely the FIRST FEAR!), was removed to create this dumbed down piece of random generic "Shooter" for drooling controller-babies.

    - Worse looking Slowmo-Effects than in Fear 2? Check! (even FEAR 2 had bad SlowMo-Effects! Glowing Enemies! WTF?!)
    - Bad, really bad Level-design! The enemy-ai has no room to manouver and flank you or use more cover then one piece of cover
    - Regenerating health. Need I say more?
    - annoying Jump"scares" that aren't scary at all
    - a laughable attempt to tell a "story" and interrupt the poor gameplay with boring cutscenes
    - maybe the worst dialogues I've heard in a videogame so far! Extreme embarrassing (Alma is pregnant... so.... whut?!")
    - a shoved in cover-system
    - dumbed down to the core. Combat is no challenge at all!

    If you are a fan of the FEAR-Series, don't waste your money on this piece of casual-crap!
    Expand
  15. Jul 31, 2011
    3
    What a shame for such a once great franchise to fall so badly into mediocrity. The PC version is like stepping back in time to 1997 when all FPS games were played on the keyboard, that is the amount of control you feel you have while playing with a mouse and keyboard. This crappy console port not only plays badly, it looks worse than the original, has a tacked on cover system that was notWhat a shame for such a once great franchise to fall so badly into mediocrity. The PC version is like stepping back in time to 1997 when all FPS games were played on the keyboard, that is the amount of control you feel you have while playing with a mouse and keyboard. This crappy console port not only plays badly, it looks worse than the original, has a tacked on cover system that was not needed or wanted and just like every other FPS console game has regenerative health system which i'm now sure the only point of is that it lengthens the playtime because you are stuck behind a crate for 60% of the game. Played for a few hours, uninstalled and reflected how good the original game was and what a pile of crap this was. Once again, bad or lazy development has killed this game and possibly the franchise for me. Such a shame. Expand
  16. Nov 1, 2012
    3
    Hey, I just met you
    and this is crazy
    but F.E.A.R 3 is a terrible **** game and never ever buy it maybe seriously, never. The franchise has been ruined to the point where the combination of action and horror elements is clearly dysfunctional. I started the game, having enjoyed the first title many, many years ago and never having played the sequel, curious to see how the title has
    Hey, I just met you
    and this is crazy
    but F.E.A.R 3 is a terrible **** game
    and never ever buy it maybe

    seriously, never. The franchise has been ruined to the point where the combination of action and horror elements is clearly dysfunctional. I started the game, having enjoyed the first title many, many years ago and never having played the sequel, curious to see how the title has evolved throughout the years. I was disturbed, not by the same fake ghosts that pop out each corner in FEAR 3, but by how badly of a job WB or whatever since Vivendi studios do not take part in the production of the games anymore, have done in the third installment. I remember when playing the first game, the atmosphere had this genuinely unique and creepy vibe to it. FEAR 3 dumbed it all down to a mindless CoD clone, with the cheaper jump scares than ever, but this time done so awkwardly its not scary, but more cringey.

    gameplay - 6
    visuals - 7
    story - 1
    Expand
  17. Nov 14, 2011
    2
    Potential spoilers ahead.

    The original developers of fear delivered a masterpiece in horror FPS, one day studios did the port and have pushed this out. On reflection their title was apt, it does feel like this was written in a day. It uses all the current popular media and horror tropes and recycles as many ideas from the previous games (and games from other developers) it creates a
    Potential spoilers ahead.

    The original developers of fear delivered a masterpiece in horror FPS, one day studios did the port and have pushed this out. On reflection their title was apt, it does feel like this was written in a day.
    It uses all the current popular media and horror tropes and recycles as many ideas from the previous games (and games from other developers) it creates a straight line game with decent amount of flair.
    It's fun and they have mixed the game up so it doesn't get too repetitive (more on this later) that is actually pretty fun to run and gun with.
    So why the low score?
    Well it has some pretty nasty problems, the game feels like it's built around the setpieces with the story rewritten to "sort of" fit, it also fields like they got 70% the way though developing the game and either ran out of money and pushed it out the door or just simply gave up caring as it lurches from level to level with severe themeing changes, early on the coherence is kept by some fun cutscenes but even these are sidelined leaving the latter part of the game feeling a confusing and incoherent mess. (such as it is)
    The game was clearly written for co-op play then about 80% the way though the game it "introduces" something that has been a core gameplay mechanic for one of the players since the beginning and this was purely to kill off an NPC who's sole existence in this game was just as an excuse to build a level around it (see narrative trauma above) Then there is a "twist" to the co-op that makes no sense either, the game encourages you to work together for big kills but yet has a competition element to that completely sets the ending meaning that while you are supposed to be working together you are actually competing so better off working alone and screwing the other guy over... kind of whacked for a co-op game no?? (great idea guys, which committee dreamt up having a co-op game where you encourage players NOT to work together..)

    OK so we have a fun but inconstant game, that looks quite nice and plays reasonably well, am I being harsh... Well personally my biggest beef with the game is just the fact that it's offensively short, by which I mean after some technical setup problems my friend and I completed the game in under 3.5 hours and we weren't even rushing! I have played DLC which is longer.
    Also the last level makes no sense what so ever...
    Expand
  18. Aug 2, 2012
    2
    I was severely disappointed with this installment in the series. The first thing that was horribly done was the difficulty. Any encounter with a mech suit indefinitely resulted in several reloads. You died extremely easily and quickly even on the easiest difficulty setting. Not to mention the unnecessarily large amount of cultists thrown at you all at once. I also constantly ran out ofI was severely disappointed with this installment in the series. The first thing that was horribly done was the difficulty. Any encounter with a mech suit indefinitely resulted in several reloads. You died extremely easily and quickly even on the easiest difficulty setting. Not to mention the unnecessarily large amount of cultists thrown at you all at once. I also constantly ran out of ammo and found myself spending more time looking for another weapon from cover than actually shooting. The enemies were annoyingly precise and apparently have skulls made of titanium as head shots were performed without results. The pace was extremely slow and the screen effects didn't in any shape or form make the atmosphere unsettling, they simply made it difficult to see. The cover system...don't even get me started. Where did this crappy idea come from? Most of the time you find yourself behind cover with a hovering electric grenade behind you killing you without indication. Also, why was the mystery of Point Man's appearance blown right at the beginning? I'm about 4 hours in only signed up with Metacritic to warn both fans of the Fear franchise and of FPS games that this will most likely piss you off the whole way through. I'm with many of the other reviewers on this one....I simply can't continue playing this terrible game. Expand
  19. Dec 16, 2013
    2
    I'm only giving this 2 points, 2 above the lowest score, because the game works. But apart from that there is really nothing positive to say. I've picked it up during the WB Humble Bundle and can say that I am damn lucky not having to pay the full price for this garbage. The first FEAR was great, the second really good but this is just the embodiment of the brainless consolised decilneI'm only giving this 2 points, 2 above the lowest score, because the game works. But apart from that there is really nothing positive to say. I've picked it up during the WB Humble Bundle and can say that I am damn lucky not having to pay the full price for this garbage. The first FEAR was great, the second really good but this is just the embodiment of the brainless consolised decilne FPS's underwent the last few years. There is nothing left from the last games, only weak graphics an sound, overabused cover mechanics, retarded AI (its like shooting ducks from cover, they also don't react while being shot, just run for cover) and cheap horror gimmics. Stay away if you don't want to spoil yourself the whole franchise! Expand
  20. Jun 26, 2011
    4
    If you're looking for the same hair-raising horror game driven by an immersive and interesting story that the previous two titles had, best look somewhere else. As an avid fan of the F.E.A.R. series, I was fairly disappointed with this latest installment. Despite boasting that the game had the expertise of John Carpenter and Steve Niles used in development, it remains largelyIf you're looking for the same hair-raising horror game driven by an immersive and interesting story that the previous two titles had, best look somewhere else. As an avid fan of the F.E.A.R. series, I was fairly disappointed with this latest installment. Despite boasting that the game had the expertise of John Carpenter and Steve Niles used in development, it remains largely uninteresting, incredibly short, and hardly frightening for a good majority of the game. An obvious console port, F.E.A.R. 3 at its best is another generic shooter placed in a bloody box with paranormal wrapping. Much of the paranormal happenings that were commonplace in the first and second titles are no longer present, and the ones that are there are hardly anything terrifying. The single player campaign suffers the same problem as the majority of FPS title produced these days by being too short, easily forgettable, and un-note worthy as a whole. I do like that Point Man makes a return as main character, with the psychic visage of his brother Fettel acting as a companion of sorts. The level-up based progression system implemented is enjoyable too, though I found myself many times performing differing actions for the sake of gaining experience rather than progressing through as I normally would in a FPS game, which takes away from the immersion some. The cover system, while easy to use, is largely unnecessary

    I bought this game because I thought what I was buying was another F.E.A.R. title. But instead, I got a mediocre, run-of-the-mill FPS game with little in common to its namesake, dressed up and propped up by its multiplayer co-op fanfare that cheapen the feel of what I thought was going to be a great story driven horror title. Good to rent, but not to buy.
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  21. Aug 27, 2011
    0
    The original was great. Good clean scares that make you jump. The game play was well done and complex. After that the games have gone down hill. The ending in F.E.A.R. 2 was bad but F.E.A.R. 3 is worse.
  22. Jun 29, 2011
    4
    If you play this game it feels like it has been made by people who haven't even seen fear 1 and 2... Fear 2 was already worse than 1 but this... This looks, feels and plays like a $10 budget game. It has no atmosphere, it has no story, it has no tutorial even. It has nothing. It's the biggest waste of money you can ever go for. Avoid it at all costs. Fear 1 had 9-10 from me, Fear 2 hadIf you play this game it feels like it has been made by people who haven't even seen fear 1 and 2... Fear 2 was already worse than 1 but this... This looks, feels and plays like a $10 budget game. It has no atmosphere, it has no story, it has no tutorial even. It has nothing. It's the biggest waste of money you can ever go for. Avoid it at all costs. Fear 1 had 9-10 from me, Fear 2 had 7-8, this gets 4. Expand
  23. Aug 3, 2011
    4
    This is F.E.A.R. meets Modern Warfare 2 and Mass Effect 2. I was looking forward to a new story line, better graphics, with similar game mechanics. I was not expecting a cover based, health regenerating game. I'm not sure I can even suck it up to finish this one. I may go back to playing the Perseus Mandate for a 3rd time. I can understand wanting to make changes from game to game,This is F.E.A.R. meets Modern Warfare 2 and Mass Effect 2. I was looking forward to a new story line, better graphics, with similar game mechanics. I was not expecting a cover based, health regenerating game. I'm not sure I can even suck it up to finish this one. I may go back to playing the Perseus Mandate for a 3rd time. I can understand wanting to make changes from game to game, but why turn FEAR into a copy of MW2 or ME2? Could they game developers not think of an original concept? this game should be call Modern Warfare: The Alma Project. Expand
  24. Jul 5, 2011
    2
    This is simply bad game. Nothing else. Terrible GFX and music, stupid gameplay, only AI is good.
  25. Jul 31, 2012
    3
    F.3.A.R is abysmal. It feels like Killzone on a PC and has gone the other side of the spectrum from the original. With no good features remaining from the previous two titles and just making the bad bits worse plus including an unacceptable completion time of 4 hours. F.3.A.R is a fitting end to a dying series, a good story but sadly was extremely poorly executed.
  26. Jul 2, 2011
    4
    Not as good as F.E.A.R. 2, nowhere near as good as the original F.E.A.R. The game gets points for outstanding enemy A.I. and some originality in the co-op department. I also like the reduced ammo capacity, which forces you to be a little more careful where you shoot, but why only two guns? What was wrong with three?

    The graphics are not as good as F.E.A.R. 2. There's absolutely no
    Not as good as F.E.A.R. 2, nowhere near as good as the original F.E.A.R. The game gets points for outstanding enemy A.I. and some originality in the co-op department. I also like the reduced ammo capacity, which forces you to be a little more careful where you shoot, but why only two guns? What was wrong with three?

    The graphics are not as good as F.E.A.R. 2. There's absolutely no excuse for that, even for it being a console port, but Day 1 could redeem themselves somewhat if they follow Crytek's lead and release a DX11 texture pack in the near future.

    The keyboard controls are unnatural and the mouse control is unresponsive. The cover system is an unnecessary addition. There was nothing wrong with how it worked in F.E.A.R. 2.

    What happened to the story?! What happened to exploring every room to find snippets of lore and backstory hidden in files or voice mails?

    Most importantly, what happened to the scare? The game will make you jump at times because oh no a light bulb burst, etc. But it won't frighten you like the first two games did. This is the biggest disappointment. Day 1 simply can't bring the scare the way Monolith did.

    Right now it's 4/10. If Day 1 gives us some patches to smooth out the mouse controls, and if they release a DX11 texture pack, I'll bump it up to 7.
    Expand
  27. Jul 7, 2011
    4
    El juego es monótono hasta decir basta, la historia incoherente, los niveles son una linea recta, no da absolutamente nada de miedo ni susto. Y el hermano con superpoderes se supone que solo lo ves tu, entonces ¿cómo le disparan los marines contra los que juegas si solo le ves tú?
  28. Aug 6, 2011
    4
    F.E.A.R. 3 is a really big disappointment.I've never played 1 and 2.I played 3 and I was expecting to fear.I waited for it but I didn't fear.There's nothing to fear.It was just an ordinary FPS.I bored when I played.
  29. May 27, 2012
    4
    Broken multiplayer. Way too much motion blur. The shooting feels dated, (it is the fear engine). Also, CONSOLE PORT, no dedicated servers. Hence the broken multiplayer. I can't connect to anybody and I have port forwarded for this game. The only game where I have not been able to connect to anybody. GG.
  30. Jun 26, 2011
    3
    Don't waste your time. Better games than this with better stories and better gameplay were released 10 years ago. There's no atmosphere here, no interesting characters, no interesting gameplay. It's like ordering a pizza in 1999, getting it delivered in 2001, and eating it in 2011. You can probably swallow it down somehow and trudge through, but I can't promise you won't regret it. TheyDon't waste your time. Better games than this with better stories and better gameplay were released 10 years ago. There's no atmosphere here, no interesting characters, no interesting gameplay. It's like ordering a pizza in 1999, getting it delivered in 2001, and eating it in 2011. You can probably swallow it down somehow and trudge through, but I can't promise you won't regret it. They likely took the old engine, through together some levels in a few minutes, and made the textures blurry to make it look 'better.' Go play the original (again, if need be), but don't support this garbage. Expand
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 34
  2. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 19, 2011
    80
    The third installment of the Fear series sees the once fresh shooter descending into the mire of modern mainstream gaming, but it is still a fairly compelling play and a fun co-op. [Aug 2011]
  2. Sep 16, 2011
    50
    This game would have been a lot more exciting if it either way genuinely scary or embraces its action parts a lot more. Instead it's stuck in purgatory, as a generic shooter with superficial horror elements.
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Aug 29, 2011
    70
    Fear 3 is just good shooter – more thriller than horror game. Duels are almost perfect so you'll be satisfied with them even when they are the only contents this game offers. [Issue#207]