F.E.A.R. 3, aka F3AR, is the final installment in a first person shooter trilogy with a supernatural horror theme. I played the original game on PC and really liked it, but never got a chance to play the sequel. That's probably why I had no idea what was going on with the story. As an FPS, this one offers some serious challenges during the single player campaign, but unfortunately the online action was D.O.A.

The story is about two brothers who were subjected to some kind of experiments in a research facility. One brother is seemingly normal while the other has some telekinetic powers. A ghost of a little girl pops up from time to time and I think you're supposed to be confronting the person who did whatever it was to you. It doesn't really explain the back story that well. What this all amounts to is eight different levels, called intervals, where you fight through a variety of soldiers and monsters.

In the game, you play the living brother (Point Man) first, but can unlock the other (Fettel) after you complete the level. I suppose this is to help the replay value, but it's not much different as Fettel except you can possess certain characters, but there are also limitations like not being able to get into mechanized armor. I completed one interval as Fettel and didn't feel compelled to play any more as him because the gameplay was basically the same. You can also play as him in an online or splitscreen co-op mode with someone playing each character.

I mostly liked the layout of the levels and the diversity of scenery. In some parts you are pushing through dilapidated old buildings and there is one level which takes place inside a suburban neighborhood where you fight through houses and backyards. It reminded me a lot of Homefront in that regard. With a few exceptions, the levels are very linear and there is only a bit of exploration available. This means that once you play through the first time, there really isn't another way to go about things, and that further diminishes the replay value even if you can do it with Fettel.

Enemy AI is quite good in how they will seek cover and really make you take aim. You can rush most armed soldiers so long as you whittle down their numbers, but some encounters with the more monstrous villains will require a lot of circle strafing and backtracking. Part of the game's challenge is the sheer number of enemies you will encounter at once, so you have to be a bit tactical in your approach and that helps make it more than just a run-and-gun type FPS.

Unfortunately, the weapons in this game were pretty boring. You get a pistol that you'll hardly ever use, then there are three types of machine guns and a shotgun. There's also a sniper rifle, but ammo is scarce and it's only good in a few different areas. You will also have three types of grenades, but they tend to go way too far when thrown and the physics of them just doesn't feel right. I did like how they would explode on impact, which is nice for rushing enemies. In a couple of scenarios you get to pilot some mechanized armor that shoots rockets or large guns, and that is pretty fun although not very challenging. You can also enable a slow-mo mode but it isn't very helpful.

There are times where enemies are so far away that they can't be seen, and I don't know if that is a shortcoming of the graphics system or just part of the design. I liked how the graphics looked in this although it is mostly very dark, and some of the horror elements were kind of cool at first. I remember the original F.E.A.R. had some really creepy moments, but this one was too repetitive with the same imagery and sound effects every time a ghost appeared. Overall, though, I thought the graphics were good and didn't notice any glitches.

During the scary parts of the game, the sound and music does help to create atmosphere and I liked that. The gun sound effects eventually get so repetitive that I tuned them out. When enemy units are near, you'll hear them talk to each other via radios so this is a good way of telling you if any threats are still nearby because enemy units always hide. The rest of the in-game dialogue is done through cutscenes instead of integrated into the gameplay, and this has caused some negative discussions on a few gaming site message boards.

This game has a multiplayer component, but I couldn't find a single online game to join. I did some searching to see if maybe the servers were down or if there was some other problem, and what I found was message board thread after thread saying that Fear 3 multiplayer was dead. And that was back in August. Unless you get real lucky with your timing, chances are you won't find anyone online to play this game with you. It uses an online pass to unlock some other game types, but I never even bothered to activate it since nobody was there.

In the end, I still enjoyed the challenging single player campaign of F3AR, but was disappointed by not being able to find any online games considering this game isn't even six months old. It currently sells on Amazon.com for less than 20 bucks, so it hit the bargain bin very quickly. I doubt there will be a FEAR 4.

Recommended: Yes