(no subject)
I played through the demo level and...yeah....FEAR is fairly scary. The game that it most resembles ain't Doom 3 or Half-Life 2, but Chronicles of Riddick. Mostly in the way that it uses lighting to set the mood (which WAS done in Doom 3, but to inferior effect, imho). It also has that same unreal "sheen", as if the virtual "lens" has been coated with vasoline. In fact, the game has an almost System Shock 2 feel to it...which is a damned good thing. The game is heavily scripted. At one point, you see a girl in a red dress (or covered in blood) laughing at you as you start to descend a ladder. When you hit the bottom rung, another psychic premonition hits in the form of the main baddie, telling you "they all deserve to die". Total freakshow. Even in daylight, I jumped out of my seat.
Thankfully, FEAR is no Doom 3. The scares are consistent, but not mindnumbing in their frequency. The combat is fun. AI tactics is fairly unpredictable, and the firefights feel more realistic than even Half-Life 2.
That said...while played FEAR, I realized what it is that sets Half-Life 2 apart from the crowd.
Right at the end of the driving level (right before "Sandtraps", I think) of HL2, you reach a bridge. Or rather, you end up under the bridge, having to navigate some hairy jumps, avoiding some headcrabs. This sequence is a centerpoint, I think, because it highlights what Valve does best. These guys are subtle. More than any other FPS manufactured to date (I think I'm played more than 50% of 'em), HL2 lets you breath a little bit. It lets you take in the surroundings, develop a strategy. Whole lengthy sequences where there's not a bad guy in site and you just need to navigate the terrain.
Now, sure, there are some sequences that are almost completely breathless. "We Don't Go To Ravenholm...." is probably the most fucked-up level out of any FPS I've played (Father Gregorious and his flaming art exhibit springs to mind). But despite the intensity, you've STILL got room to breath. Nothing is in your face. The programmer isn't grabbing you by the back of the head, forcing you to check this shit out. You look or you don't. There's no guided tour, no neon lights.
FEAR wants to be both Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 at the same time. Maybe a little dash of Halo 1/2, in regards to how weapon inventory is handled.
FEAR totally falls short in the "facial animation department". At least in HL2, you felt like the characters were looking at you. Here, I feel like I'm staring at a picture.
After the demo is over, the prog brings up a webpage where Monolith pimps "the directors cut".
This is all Stephen King's fault. Back in 1990 (I think), King rereleased "The Stand" with 300 or so pages that he had to cut out of the original version. Maybe he felt it would tie more directly into his Dark Tower mythology. I dunno. It was cool at first. By far, James Cameron's cuts of "Aliens", "The Abyss" and "T2" are superior to the theatrical releases. But ever since then, we've been deluged by a steady stream of "director's cuts" or "producer's cuts" or "preferred cuts". Hell, even "Waterworld" was an actor's cut (Kevin Reynolds was forced from the editing room after the film started going south and Costner stepped in to "save" the picture. After having seen Reynolds earlier work like "The Beast", I think the studio would have been better served allowing Reynolds to do his thing).
Now that this craze has hit the gaming industry, I'm crying fucking "uncle". Recently, Halo 2 and Doom 3 for XBox were released in two seperate versions - one with supplemental material costing 5 bucks more and another bare bones version without. While the extra content is nice, I can't help but feeling butt raped by having to make a choice between a superior version and the version for cheapskates.
Naturally, I always choose the "value added" edition. I'm an idiot like that.
The gaming community started getting pissed around the time that MOH:Pacific Assault was released. A mediocre game to begin with, but again, you had to make a choice between the extra-content and no-extra content. The pisser was the fact that the extra-content version was released on (a) DVD and (b) contained an extra weapon. So if you bought the cheap-o version, you weren't buying the full game. Content was withheld. And yeah, even content as insignificant as an additional weapon could drastically change gameplay mechanics.
What's next? A Halo 3 special edition with extra cinematics? An extra level?
I know, I know. Valve did get in on that act somewhat with the whole bronze-silver-gold tiered purchase thing when HL2 was released via Steam. But at least the full game was the full game. The supplemental content was additional GAMES, not an addition to the original attraction. To wit, the "Lost Coast" add-on that Valve is releasing shortly will be available to anyone who purchased HL2, be it a store bought copy or a Steam-purchased bronze edition.
That said, I preordered the FEAR - Director's Cut, because I'm a sucker for supplemental material. But I don't have to like it.
Thankfully, FEAR is no Doom 3. The scares are consistent, but not mindnumbing in their frequency. The combat is fun. AI tactics is fairly unpredictable, and the firefights feel more realistic than even Half-Life 2.
That said...while played FEAR, I realized what it is that sets Half-Life 2 apart from the crowd.
Right at the end of the driving level (right before "Sandtraps", I think) of HL2, you reach a bridge. Or rather, you end up under the bridge, having to navigate some hairy jumps, avoiding some headcrabs. This sequence is a centerpoint, I think, because it highlights what Valve does best. These guys are subtle. More than any other FPS manufactured to date (I think I'm played more than 50% of 'em), HL2 lets you breath a little bit. It lets you take in the surroundings, develop a strategy. Whole lengthy sequences where there's not a bad guy in site and you just need to navigate the terrain.
Now, sure, there are some sequences that are almost completely breathless. "We Don't Go To Ravenholm...." is probably the most fucked-up level out of any FPS I've played (Father Gregorious and his flaming art exhibit springs to mind). But despite the intensity, you've STILL got room to breath. Nothing is in your face. The programmer isn't grabbing you by the back of the head, forcing you to check this shit out. You look or you don't. There's no guided tour, no neon lights.
FEAR wants to be both Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 at the same time. Maybe a little dash of Halo 1/2, in regards to how weapon inventory is handled.
FEAR totally falls short in the "facial animation department". At least in HL2, you felt like the characters were looking at you. Here, I feel like I'm staring at a picture.
After the demo is over, the prog brings up a webpage where Monolith pimps "the directors cut".
This is all Stephen King's fault. Back in 1990 (I think), King rereleased "The Stand" with 300 or so pages that he had to cut out of the original version. Maybe he felt it would tie more directly into his Dark Tower mythology. I dunno. It was cool at first. By far, James Cameron's cuts of "Aliens", "The Abyss" and "T2" are superior to the theatrical releases. But ever since then, we've been deluged by a steady stream of "director's cuts" or "producer's cuts" or "preferred cuts". Hell, even "Waterworld" was an actor's cut (Kevin Reynolds was forced from the editing room after the film started going south and Costner stepped in to "save" the picture. After having seen Reynolds earlier work like "The Beast", I think the studio would have been better served allowing Reynolds to do his thing).
Now that this craze has hit the gaming industry, I'm crying fucking "uncle". Recently, Halo 2 and Doom 3 for XBox were released in two seperate versions - one with supplemental material costing 5 bucks more and another bare bones version without. While the extra content is nice, I can't help but feeling butt raped by having to make a choice between a superior version and the version for cheapskates.
Naturally, I always choose the "value added" edition. I'm an idiot like that.
The gaming community started getting pissed around the time that MOH:Pacific Assault was released. A mediocre game to begin with, but again, you had to make a choice between the extra-content and no-extra content. The pisser was the fact that the extra-content version was released on (a) DVD and (b) contained an extra weapon. So if you bought the cheap-o version, you weren't buying the full game. Content was withheld. And yeah, even content as insignificant as an additional weapon could drastically change gameplay mechanics.
What's next? A Halo 3 special edition with extra cinematics? An extra level?
I know, I know. Valve did get in on that act somewhat with the whole bronze-silver-gold tiered purchase thing when HL2 was released via Steam. But at least the full game was the full game. The supplemental content was additional GAMES, not an addition to the original attraction. To wit, the "Lost Coast" add-on that Valve is releasing shortly will be available to anyone who purchased HL2, be it a store bought copy or a Steam-purchased bronze edition.
That said, I preordered the FEAR - Director's Cut, because I'm a sucker for supplemental material. But I don't have to like it.