First Impressions: F.E.A.R. On Xbox 360

Our long car ride comes to an end and the boss and I roll up in a back alley in some god-forsaken part of town. He tells me they've got satellite recon of the area revealing heavy enemy movement. A direct assault is out of the question, this ones going to take stealth, skill, and experience. When he's finally finished I move from the car, f**k me it stinks. Vents on all sides release whatever that smell is and graffiti litters the area. From here on in though none of that matters though, I've seen this too many times to get distracted. It boils down to one thing, they called me. And they only call me when they don't know what the hell is going on…basically, they're scared. I move with care, slinking from cover to cover, trying door knobs…I need to get inside. I remember now, he told me about a sewer system that'll lead me to a side door. Entering the sewer, the smell intensifies, as if it were a danger meter, warning me to turn back while I still have the legs to carry me. The lights flicker and my heart skips in sync. Shaking it off I move further, into a dark damp corridor with more, seemingly endless, vents. The vents simultaneously shut loudly, I almost want to cry, it feels like this building is alive, and I'm no longer welcome. Oh well, at least the smell is gone. I notice a bunch of rats scurrying their way down the hall away from my destination…do they know something I don't? A girl whimpers quietly and a crouched figure slinks from a shadowy corner across my view. The rats definitely knew something I don't. All the same I give chase, rounding the corner the girl ran to…all is concrete. Nothing but two giant walls…where could she have gone? The rats were right.

So it was, that with such dramatic flair, F.E.A.R. sunk its teeth into that innate part of my psyche that just loves to be scared. Great, time and motion activated events mess with your brain and actually make you feel afraid of a small girl, even though you're a highly trained special operative holding a shotgun the size of an anti-aircraft gun.

F.E.A.R. does a number of other things right as well. Guns for instance, feel just as powerful as they should. When firing a shotgun it almost feels as if the backlash might break back through the screen, while smaller guns feel much more in control. Ambient effects surrounding the firing of guns also enhance their appeal. Plaster flies from the walls when a shot goes astray, and display of sparks and particle effects spray from the barrel when an enemy fires.

Normally, when a game is brought over from the PC the camera remains the same, that wonky, blazing fast, view that works fine with a mouse but just doesn't work with a control stick. Normally that's the case, but apparently Monolith learned a lesson from its previous 360 horror game, Condemned. The camera is fantastic, and feels just as it should, not too fast, and not so slow you can't turn to shoot in time.

Another mistake so often inherited from the PC version of a port, is the movement. Many times the character will move as if he/she is running on a treadmill, with the camera remaining perfectly, unrealistically still. Although not a very big deal, every bit helps when it comes to immersion. F.E.A.R. corrects these mistakes, making the character move in realistic step motions.

Atmosphere aside however, a number of technical issues, keep an icy grip on F.E.A.R. preventing it from truly blowing me away. From the beginning, even before enemies enter the screen, frame rate issues mar the experience, especially when sliding down a ladder. The guns as well, leave something to be desired, because despite feeling great, they look like toys I could break in my bare hands.

Despite some faults F.E.A.R. still manages to be a satisfying experience that makes me excited to see the completed version. Monolith has some work to do before the game hits store shelves in November of this year, if they want it to stack up to the PC experience.