F.E.A.R. 3

In the end, F.E.A.R. 3 is a great game.

F.E.A.R. 3 is an exciting horror shooter with atmosphere as thick as the blood that splatters the walls of nearly every level. Not the scariest game on the market, but good co-op and multiplayer sets this game apart from its contemporaries.

F.E.A.R. 3 lives up to, if not trumps, the prior experiences in the F.E.A.R. universe.

Don't plan on understanding a word of the campaign; just plan on playing and replaying for higher scores, better multiplayer times, and the enjoyment you can only have from pure, hilarious, scared-stiff stupidity.

The strides it makes with co-op however -- along with its point accumulation system as well as some very tense and unique multiplayer modes -- makes this a great game to play with a giant bucket of buttered popcorn, a large Coca-cola, and some friends. This is your video game summer blockbuster.

The controls are tight and responsive, the story is well-written and intriguing, that continuous fear factor is a huge bonus, and the Challenge system for ranking up forces you to experiment.

Series followers know what to expect, and they won't be disappointed. New features like the cover system and the cooperative mode work well, although the game won't make history.

It may not be the most epic shooter experience out there, but F.E.A.R. 3 eloquently satisfies its niche by giving us a refreshing alternative to the played out machismo theme in most of the shooters out there.

F.E.A.R.3 isn't flawless, nor inventive but in the end, it works and deliver the thrills and excitement fans and non-fans are looking for in a $60 game. Aside from the complex story arc - if past games weren't played - there's enough substance to make it an easy and recommendable purchase.

The influence of horror legend John Carpenter has helped create a really spooky and often atmospheric world that may not look great, but it certainly delivers the goods.

If F.E.A.R. 3 has one major drawback it's the fact that it's not scary at all, but instead is just mildly creepy most of the time.

F.E.A.R. 3 is a good shooter but never surpasses the very first F.E.A.R. game. The gameplay is very smooth and you'll be playing this campaign multiple times because of the co-op and the different gameplay elements each brother possesses. F.E.A.R. 3 lacks scary moments and that is a pity, seeing how this used to be a key element in the series.

It's more a shooter than a horror game. The story isn't stunning and the missing freedom in the levels is a major disadvantage. The graphics aren't state of the art, while the sound effects are pretty cool. Also the KI is challenging and the slow motion sequences are pretty entertaining. But the core element of the game is the amazing coop-mode, where you are playing with a friend (one Paxton Fettel and one plays Point Man).

A lack of scares doesn't mean that this game isn't an incredibly fun and competent video game. It's got some great gun based violence on display, fun cooperative action and two unique characters to round out the mix. Really the only drawback that should stop you from buying this is if you really hate games with gimped split-screen gameplay or are expecting a tense, nail-biting horror video game.

Actual fear and horror step aside for an especially serviceable focus on action. This isn't solely the case for the lonely players though. Cooperatively there's more than enough quality to extract from F.E.A.R. 3, which makes this part the real successor to the original. The game stays on its feet, even though the story is poorly told and lacks impact, which is more than mentionable nowadays.

Though it may have its faults, the vast majority of the content is a first-person shooter fan's wet dream, even if it doesn't deliver the kind of nightmares you may be hoping for.

The excellent shooting mechanics work in F.E.A.R. 3's favour, as they are able to let me forget about the poorly told story. Furthermore there are some truly amazing horror sequences which sent my pulse racing. That was also the case in some instances in which the flawed balancing almost led me to throw my gamepad against the wall in frustration.

While F.3.A.R may not be the most competitive FPS on the market, it offers a ton of unique mechanics you really can't find anywhere else.

F.E.A.R. 3 has its flaws, and some of its scares come off more as loud and obnoxious than genuinely frightening. Overall, though, the game is a fantastic blend of horror and action that's armed to the teeth with extras.

From the single-player campaign that can be played through twice with two different characters to the co-op campaign that you can play through with a friend locally or online to an incredibly thoughtful multiplayer offering, F.E.A.R. 3 has a lot going for it.

Few scares, little innovation - but a fun play through regardless. Great multiplayer, too. [Sept 2011, p.81]

This new F.E.A.R. game is supposed to be scary, but it actually isn't. But the new features you can find are great. This time you can also play with Paxton Fettel, there is a nice to play multiplayer and the co-op works great. The story on the other side disappoints and that also counts for the graphics.

F.E.A.R. 3 features many of the integral pieces necessary to deliver frights – haunting sound effects, an arresting atmosphere, and foreboding environments – yet too often the game recycles old techniques that proved scary in 2005 but do little to raise my blood pressure now.

A welcome treat, if only for its nerve-grinding atmosphere. The campaign is far too short-with Fettel, you could probably whiz through it in three or four hours-but the multiplayer modes are a lot of fun.

F.E.A.R. 3 has some unique features and is motivated by ingenious and atypical gameplay mechanics, but it is also wasteful of unique opportunities and a new disappointment for this series.

Nice multimedia as expected, but the AI has taken a dip. Fortunately, the multiplayer elements and Challenges keep things fresh.

Fear seems to have forgotten what its name means. It's become an average linear and scripted shooter, and gone are the cinematographic sequences as well. On the other hand, there's some goodness in the 2 players coop and in multiplayer. Consider it only if what you seek is light FPS entertainment, better if played with a friend.

It's short on scares, but satisfying shooting and exciting cooperative play make F.E.A.R. 3 a thoroughly enjoyable shooter.

Fast, fluid movement, pin-sharp aiming and the endless cool of a rechargeable slo-mo function are on your side. [Sept 2011, p.114]

While F.E.A.R. 3 is at its best as a solid(and fun)co-op shooter, it stumbles as an addition to the series. [Sept 2011, p.82]

Although there are some failures in the campaign, including a slight loss of identity (the scary element of the game), F.E.A.R 3 is a solid FPS and has a competent multiplayer that is different from other games in the genre.

Much of F.E.A.R 3 is commendable then, but ultimately a lack of polish and genuine investment in the campaign sees it fall a distance short of full potential.

F.E.A.R. 3 has a few misses here and there, but when it hits the mark it becomes incredibly entertaining. Considering the improvements compared to the second game we're really looking forward to another installment in the series.

Aside from these few relatively minor negatives, F.E.A.R. 3 is a very solid shooter that covers a lot of the right bases -- I just wish the developers had put as much imagination and creativity into the single-player campaign as they did into coming up with new multiplayer modes. And, you know, actually made it a bit more scary.

We hate its impotence, its utter lack of a scare beyond an aversion to getting shot. And with its market-led features and Skinner-box mechanics, we hate that a series that began as a lesson in horror – of the B-movie kind, admittedly – now feels so afraid of the competition.

Maybe if it inspired loss of bladder control in the same way the original did - or, better still, how Monolith's Condemned did - it might have been slightly more memorable. FEAR 3 is sadly lacking in the fear department, and has subsequently lost its defining characteristic.

F.E.A.R. 3 is likely to anger franchise fans because it's not really a satisfying end to the trilogy. It doesn't contain much of what people loved about the first few games. It makes token attempts to be scary, the plot is convoluted and feels like an afterthought, and the gameplay is more arcade than cinema. If you can overlook that, F.E.A.R. 3 is a surprisingly fun co-op arcade shooter.

A mixed package: a competent but bland single-player campaign, plus a considerably better co-op campaign, along with some creatively fantastic multiplayer modes. If you're easily scared by horror movie clichés you might get scared by the attempts at creepiness, but we didn't find it scary at all.

It will barely trouble your memory in six months. [Sept 2011, p.100]

Despite a few rays of fun, F.E.A.R. 3 is a production that offers gloom, minus any impending sense of doom. As an action-based first-person shooter it's solid enough to stand alongside is contemporaries in the faceless, grey-brown ranks of the FPS genre, but it does nothing to stand out from the status quo. [September 2011 p71]

It might be time to put this series to bed. [Issue#208, p.82]

This probably won't be the end of the Fear franchise, but if the developer does decide to keep it with a trilogy, they drove it home on a strong, if belabored, horrifying note.

This time, the campaign mode is mostly based on co-op and action, rather than a horror experience. A quite pleasant surprise is the many four-player online co-op modes, thought the campaign is mostly disappointing and it fails to compete with its two predecessors.

Alma used to give you nightmares with the previous episodes? That won't be the case here. Action is predominant, and serves well for nice gunfights, let's make that clear. But with production values that are below our usual tastes, levels that are too linear and an atmosphere that is more bloody than frightening, there's disappointment to be had. F.3.A.R is but another FPS that has trouble differentiating itself from the crowd.

A disappointment, there's no two ways about it. The scares just aren't there – we live in a post-Amnesia world, so we know it's possible for FPSs to terrify – and the rest of the action is so utterly standard it strays into boring territory more than we hoped it would. A more interesting co-op mode and the competitive, point-based leaderboards covering both single and multiplayer drag it out of average territory, but generally speaking we fear this is a missed opportunity.

Ok, so the multiplayer is quite fun. But the campaign is disappointingly linear and a game with the name "fear" in the title should be scarier than this.