F.E.A.R. 3

So if you are a FPS fan, a F.E.A.R. nut or merely someone who loves their gore, then pick up F.E.A.R. 3 – you'll have a bloody good time.

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.

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.

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.

No, F.E.A.R. 3 isn't scary - but considering the length of the singleplayer and the strength of the multiplayer, I don't think it really matters.

Perhaps Fear 3 is horror for the squeamish, but if you're looking for something to scare you enough to keep you up at nights, you best look elsewhere. However, if you are in the mood for a fun and solid shooter with a creepy aesthetic, Fear 3 delivers a viscera filled romp that's worth checking out.

A mix of influences this random shouldn't work but the willingness to blend genres and experiment with multiplayer pays off despite the flaws.

Won't give you shivers, but will make your thumbs itch.

Fear is intrinsically a solitary emotion, but the only worthwhile experiences you can have with FEAR 3 require the participation of a friend or three. With that kind of congregation, any chance for terror is completely diminished; but your chances for excitement are dramatically increased.

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.

While I enjoyed FEAR 3 because I'm a fan of the series, I don't think the average person picking this up will know all the missing tidbits of knowledge the game doesn't give you to piece it all together.

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.

Thanks to its pathetically short campaign, dodgy co-op setup and broken multiplayer matchmaking, F.E.A.R. 3 is one of the best shooters I've played presented in the worst possible way. It pains me to have to be so harsh, but there's simply no justification for how this game's excellence has been squandered and ultimately ruined.

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.