Until recently I had been hesitant to try console first-person shooter (FPS) games without the company of my loyal mouse/keyboard combination. Games like TimeShift and The Orange Box however, provided an impetus and opportunity to get used to experiencing the genre through the use of those “clunky” dual-analog sticks. The end result? I was re-hooked. I had been meaning to play F.E.A.R., hearing good things regarding the game, so when the opportunity to play the standalone expansion pack F.E.A.R. Files for X360 crossed my desk, I leapt at the opportunity. I should have stayed far, far away.

They’re Here…

F.E.A.R. Files is a standalone expansion pack to the very successful FPS F.E.A.R., which concerns an arm of the military tinkering with paranormal powers and phenomena and was – linear, narrow level design aside -  one of the best games of 2005. This expansion pack does not require the original game but rather provides two separate standalone storylines (Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate) to help F.E.A.R. fans flesh out their experience.

The problem is F.E.A.R. Files, as a whole – or separate, is hardly a worthy addition to the franchise. It is barely mediocre, to be honest. Where does this title go awry? …Nowhere in particular and everywhere at once.

Like most games the first aspect that grabs a player, or not, are the visuals. I understand F.E.A.R. Files is probably running on the same engine as F.E.A.R., a game that’s at least two years old, but I still found the graphics in this release extremely underwhelming, especially given the quality of visuals experienced in other FPS titles releasing this year. It should also be noted that The Orange Box features Half-Life 2, a game three-years-old, which still manages to hold its own with games released this past month.

Character models and textures in F.E.A.R. Files are soft and not very detailed and lighting effects dynamically influence the environment backgrounds, but not moving figures. The most glaring example of this is usually during the poorly-acted cut-scenes, most notably the intro to Perseus Mandate. Since the background lighting barely registers on the character models, we’re treated to an epilepsy-inducing scene of bad dialogue and flashing yellow lights. In short, the graphics are not terrible, but unremarkable and outdated.

One, Two, Freddy’s Coming For You…

F.E.A.R. Files may not look modern, but that’s hardly a game-killing item (I still play Doom) as long the gameplay and immersion mechanics are rock solid. F.E.A.R. Files attempts to present an atmosphere of Lovecraftian terror. Unnamable and powerful creatures will dart in and out of reality around the player at will; taunting mostly, attacking wantonly. Of course this means our most common adversary will be possessed (I think at least) members of our own platoon.
 

Yup, an FPS that features a lone commando wielding automatic weapons against a platoon of heavily armed military soldiers. Oh, and you should probably seek cover because that’s as innovative as this game aspires (cover isn’t very innovative anymore). Combat in F.E.A.R. Files plays out like a multitude of other games and quickly becomes repetitive and boring. The gameplay is as outdated as the graphics. Lucky for you dear reader that I played this game not once, but twice long past the point of no return (Two separate games seem like less of a selling point at this junction).

F.E.A.R. Files does not succeed in creating a sense of dread or horror (hard to be afraid of anything when one carries three machine guns), and the audio and atmosphere serve only to instill the same sensation of horror one might find in a modern teen-horror movie; which is to say, not scary, nor even atmospheric at all. F.E.A.R. Files attempts at horror top out at ramping up the soundtrack at pre-defined “jump” scenes. The imp-behind-the-door-holy-crap scare scenes of Doom 3 were positively frightening compared to the weak atmosphere fostered in F.E.A.R. Files. Gameplay and combat are serviceable enough, but wholly unoriginal with nothing to distinguish this collection from the multitude of better FPS titles on shelves today.

He Had the Blackest Eyes, The Devil’s Eyes

The section-dividing titles I have culled from classic horror movies are scarier than F.E.A.R. Files. With no one aspect standing out or even rising much above mediocre, there is not a lot to recommend here. If one is a fan of the original game, by all means check this title out. If you, like us, were a fan of the original then you’ll certainly find some interest in re-exploring the environs of F.E.A.R. and digging up a little more of the storyline in the process. Consider it akin to forcing yourself to watch Star Wars Episode I.  There was some pleasure in the viewing – but you were there more out of some odd commitment you felt to Lucas. Players unfamiliar with the original game should save their money and buy that instead. The original F.E.A.R. was stellar.  As Obi Wan said, “This one’s not worth the trouble.”