FEAR 3 is the latest title in Monolith's long-running franchise of paranormal first person shooters. Its release has been well met by the gaming press, who praised it for its strong cooperative experience. IGN called the game a "solid shooter" while 1up.com praised the game's competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes.
8.5
machinima.com review
FEAR 3’s long-winded combat scenarios are often broken up by hauntingly quiet strolls through creepy hallways and uninviting buildings. One level in particular, set in an abandoned department store, is particularly effective at messing with you as you walk through rows of eerily glowing TVs and a refrigerated butcher’s room with slabs of meat hanging from the ceiling.
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1up.com review
And really that seems to be my overall critique of F.E.A.R. 3. The memorable moments for me don't come from the scare/startle tactics in the campaign, but from trying to outrun a cloud of death with other players. It wasn't the confusing story that made me want to keep playing; it was the goal of trying to earn more points than my friend in co-op. It's the competitive nature of the game's online component that makes this worthwhile for fans of multiplayer shooters. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some popcorn to put into the microwave before the next online round begins.
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gamingnexus.com review
The single player campaign isn’t that short either as it took me about seven hours to get through one play through with Point Man and that’s playing the last half of the game on the easy mode. The game does get hard in places, even on the easy difficulty. It doesn’t get controller throwing hard but I will admit to that I had to walk away more than once. The game does encourage replay with the two ways to play through the campaign and it does score your performance along the way so perfectionists will want to go back and try to claim the top spot on the game’s leaderboards.
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ign.com review
Whether you’re looking for a new, solid shooter to play or something set in a unique, horror-filled atmosphere, F.E.A.R. 3 has something for you. You won’t find the be-all, end-all shooter experience with F.E.A.R. 3, but you’re still bound to have a lot of fun.
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Video Review
gamepro.com review
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. In a time where the majority of FPS games out there concentrate on realism and recreating the real world, F.E.A.R. 3 provides a welcome change of pace by weaving the paranormal and horrific into the experience.
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eurogamer.net review
This is based around F.E.A.R. 3's most innovative feature, Paxton Fettel. Being a ghost, he can't pick up weapons. Nor does he have slow-mo. Instead, his abilities include levitating enemies, shooting them with a projectile, forming a shield around Point Man and a melee attack that gets substantially more powerful if used while Point Man has activated slow-mo (which affects both players). Best of all, when a meter that refills over time is full, he can possess enemies.
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digitalchumps.com review
FEAR 3 puts you back in the boots of Point Man, the protagonist from the first game. As you may recall, he is a FEAR (First Encounter Assault Recon) operative. Recent events have caused most of his team to die, but Jin, a female FEAR op, is still alive. Much of the campaign is about finding and rescuing her. Then you need to deal with Harlan Wade, the Armacham architect who created Alma (and you) in the first place -- and finally reach Alma. Point Man is in for a hell of a night.
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gamerlimit.com review
F.3.A.R also features a unique multiplayer mode that’s pretty unconventional from the normal fare – which is a good thing, given the current level of FPS saturation. For starters, there really isn’t any “standard” competitive play on the menu: the four modes, entitled F’ing Run, Contractions, Soul King, and Soul Survivor, are basically all extensions of co-operative gametypes.
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xbox360.ign.com review
While Point Man is your typical gun-toting badass, Fettel is able to possess enemy soldiers and generally cause an insane amount of havoc. Better yet, you can play the campaign together with a friend locally or online, utilizing both characters' strengths simultaneously.
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cheatcc.com review
As I mentioned earlier, this game was designed around co-op play, and it's actually a lot more fun if you have a friend with you. The entire campaign can be played with two players, one as Point Man and the other as Fettel. Each brother has a different style of play. Point Man is more reliant on weapons, though he can use his psychic powers to slow time. Fettel's moves are geared toward psychic power, with abilities to lift people telepathically and possess their bodies. This leads to some interesting cooperative strategies. For example Fettel can lift an opponent while Point Man blasts him with a shotgun, and Point Man can slow time to allow Fettel to get behind a riot gear-toting soldier.
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gamerstemple.com review
I feel bad for F.3.A.R. In fact, I’ve always kind of felt bad for the entire F.E.A.R. series, dutifully buying and playing each, knowing they’ll be good, but not great. What holds the sci-fi/horror games back? To put it simply, they’re behind the times. F.E.A.R. games have always left me thinking, “Man, if that game came out a few years ago, it would have been the best game ever.” But by the time these shooters come out, the great concepts and gameplay they hold just feel tired. Imagine stacking F.3.A.R. up against, say, Resistance 2. Shooters both, the games are about on par with one another in terms of graphics, sound, gameplay, etc. The difference is Resistance came out in 2008. It’s 2011, and forward-thinking gamers simply don’t feel like yesterday’s best is today’s as well. I say bring on F.3.A.R. 4, but make sure we have some new ideas, better scares and an easier to type title next time around.
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gamesradar.com review
So the campaign is variable in effectiveness: it’s decently fun as a shooter, but fails to deliver as a horror game. If you know the only way you’re planning on playing FEAR 3 is as a single-player campaign, it’s a competent but skippable experience. Of course, if you’re a devout FEAR-head you probably won’t want to miss out on the familiar experience and progression of the story, but don’t expect anything groundbreaking. However, if you plan to join up with other players, FEAR 3 becomes considerably more interesting.
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