F.E.A.R. Extraction Point (PC) Review
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point is an expansion pack to the game F.E.A.R. It serves as a direct sequel to FEAR, picking up where the main game left and covering the protagonist's fight through a desolated city swarming with clone soldiers and horrible psychic monsters. Extraction Point is much more shooter-oriented than the original FEAR, filled with more difficult encounters and battles.
As this is an expansion, I'm going to refer the reader to any number of reviews of the original to learn about the graphics, sound, and controls and only provide a brief summary of my feelings about them. The graphics are good, but compared to other games from the same time period they're nothing special. The sound is very good, except the voice acting which fails to convey any real emotion or sense of urgency. The controls are intuitive and easy to handle except for my habit of hitting G and throwing a grenade when I wanted to interact with an object (the F key).
The plot continues from the end of FEAR, picking up after the helicopter the protagonist was in has crashed. Fortunately the protagonist survives. Within a few minutes of escaping from the crash site and moving down to the city streets, the play discovers that the psychic villain who was killed near the end of the first game is back. Cue all the dormant clone soldiers waking up and beginning a hunt for the player that lasts the rest of the game. Alma is back, of course, and alternately trying to save or kill the player depending on her mood.
It's a tense ride through several environments including the subway, the sewer, a church, warehouses and eventually a hospital. Along the way various characters die horrible screaming deaths as the player, helpless, watches. The game uses the same techniques as the original FEAR to try and scare the player, with Alma of course figuring prominently in the creepiness. You can expect to see pools of blood, bizarre hallucinations involving fire, and lots of semi-invisible enemies attacking in poorly lit areas.
There's a couple new enemies in the expansion, including a new invisible psychic manifestation that fights in melee similar to the stealth clones. Also new, or if it's not I at least don't remember it from the first FEAR, is another kind of robot enemy, which is just as annoying as the original ones. New enemies also bring with them new guns, including a laser that can sever limbs off of enemies and leaves cool markings in the terrain, and a Gatling gun that spits out tons of bullets at the enemy.
Now for a quick scoring summary for those of you keeping track of the numbers:
Gameplay: 8
Good, tight controls. Mostly intuitive layout on the keyboard. Enemies are well balanced, and there's a great selection of firearms. Some frustration with the robotic enemies exists, though. The slow motion toggle is really essential in this game, whereas in the first game it could be ignored. The new enemies hit too hard, and in the case of the invisible ones move too fast to be easily dispatched without using slo-mo.
Graphics: 8
Solid, could be a lot better for the time it was released in.
Sound: 8
Sound effects are crisp and appropriate. The ambient music fits the game perfectly. The voice acting is merely adequate.
Replay: 2
I don't think there's anything to be gained from a replay. The plot's shallower than the original FEAR, and there's not enough new and interesting gimmicks around to make going through the game's areas worth doing more than once.
Other: N/A
Some of the crazy sights seen at the end of the game don't make a whole lot of sense. I'm also pretty tired of helicopters being shot down in this series. The dead psychic cannibal harassing you says you'll have to make a choice, but you as the player never get to make one.
Overall: 8
It's good for what it is: five or so more hours of FEAR. If you go into it expecting something more, you're going to be sorely disappointed.
As this is an expansion, I'm going to refer the reader to any number of reviews of the original to learn about the graphics, sound, and controls and only provide a brief summary of my feelings about them. The graphics are good, but compared to other games from the same time period they're nothing special. The sound is very good, except the voice acting which fails to convey any real emotion or sense of urgency. The controls are intuitive and easy to handle except for my habit of hitting G and throwing a grenade when I wanted to interact with an object (the F key).
The plot continues from the end of FEAR, picking up after the helicopter the protagonist was in has crashed. Fortunately the protagonist survives. Within a few minutes of escaping from the crash site and moving down to the city streets, the play discovers that the psychic villain who was killed near the end of the first game is back. Cue all the dormant clone soldiers waking up and beginning a hunt for the player that lasts the rest of the game. Alma is back, of course, and alternately trying to save or kill the player depending on her mood.
It's a tense ride through several environments including the subway, the sewer, a church, warehouses and eventually a hospital. Along the way various characters die horrible screaming deaths as the player, helpless, watches. The game uses the same techniques as the original FEAR to try and scare the player, with Alma of course figuring prominently in the creepiness. You can expect to see pools of blood, bizarre hallucinations involving fire, and lots of semi-invisible enemies attacking in poorly lit areas.
There's a couple new enemies in the expansion, including a new invisible psychic manifestation that fights in melee similar to the stealth clones. Also new, or if it's not I at least don't remember it from the first FEAR, is another kind of robot enemy, which is just as annoying as the original ones. New enemies also bring with them new guns, including a laser that can sever limbs off of enemies and leaves cool markings in the terrain, and a Gatling gun that spits out tons of bullets at the enemy.
Now for a quick scoring summary for those of you keeping track of the numbers:
Gameplay: 8
Good, tight controls. Mostly intuitive layout on the keyboard. Enemies are well balanced, and there's a great selection of firearms. Some frustration with the robotic enemies exists, though. The slow motion toggle is really essential in this game, whereas in the first game it could be ignored. The new enemies hit too hard, and in the case of the invisible ones move too fast to be easily dispatched without using slo-mo.
Graphics: 8
Solid, could be a lot better for the time it was released in.
Sound: 8
Sound effects are crisp and appropriate. The ambient music fits the game perfectly. The voice acting is merely adequate.
Replay: 2
I don't think there's anything to be gained from a replay. The plot's shallower than the original FEAR, and there's not enough new and interesting gimmicks around to make going through the game's areas worth doing more than once.
Other: N/A
Some of the crazy sights seen at the end of the game don't make a whole lot of sense. I'm also pretty tired of helicopters being shot down in this series. The dead psychic cannibal harassing you says you'll have to make a choice, but you as the player never get to make one.
Overall: 8
It's good for what it is: five or so more hours of FEAR. If you go into it expecting something more, you're going to be sorely disappointed.