- This is one of my favorite series (overall).
- Alma is my favorite character in virtually any video game that I have played, just about.
- I am extremely disappointed with the ending to F.E.A.R. 3. They screwed up everything good about the series, at least to me, because of how much I liked that character.
F.E.A.R. 1 and it’s expansions.
Fear 1 was the first game in the fear video game series. It was the introduction to Alma Wade and the entire story surrounding her. The series basically introduces a new character called “Point Man”. You play as him throughout the story. He has a special ability to heighten his reflexes and make himself go very fast (and make it feel as if time has slowed down around him). In the beginning, you are part of a team called F.E.A.R. This stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. As you play through the game, you continuously see an 8-year-old girl. She appears in various places throughout the game. But she always vanishes when you get close to her. She is around 8 years old and wears a red dress. She also sometimes talks to you about various things as you play the game.
Also, throughout the fear video game, you see a strange-looking man named “Paxxon Fettel”. He is the main protagonist of this first game. Throughout the entire game, the main goal of you and your team is to capture or kill him. As you play through the game, you eventually find out that you are the son of Alma…the 8-year-old. Then you find out she’s not really 8. She is much older than that. Over time you also realize that Fettel is your brother. At the end of the game, Alma’s Father releases her from the vault..I will explain all of this in another section pertaining to her.
Now for the expansions. They were both created by a different company from the original game. Neither one of the expansions was that good. They were not horrible, but unless you are a die-hard F.E.A.R. fan, then they can be avoided by the average gamer. There is nothing especially interesting in them. Also, the world is set in a different realm…so basically, those stories did not happen. The original makers ended up making those storylines obsolete and set them into a fantasy world. So these are events that never really took place, but for me, they were fun to watch regardless. They were released later as a set, and called “F.E.A.R. Files” if you find that, then you effectively have both expansions for the first game…although the first one of the expansions is better out of the two. Although, as I said, make sure you realize they are not considered part of the main F.E.A.R. storyline.
F.E.A.R. 2 and it’s expansions.
F.E.A.R. 2 was put back in the hands of the rightful owner. I do not know what to say about this game. I was stunned, amazed, and engrossed, and had one of the best gaming experiences in my life. I was convinced at this point that the second one blew the living crap out of the first one. It was awesome in every way and featured my favorite character (Alma) a great deal. This was one of the best storylines and best gaming experiences in the entire series. The expansion was called Project Origin. I had no complaints about this game, either. It was shorter, sweet, and to the point. In the expansion, you take the role of a soldier that was originally a member of the project origin..a race of soldiers that are collectively controlled by one psychic commander. At that time, Paxton Fettel was in prison..he ended up taking control of one of the original soldiers. The soldier fights his way through all of his brothers, finally getting to the prison cell and having his body taken as a host to be Paxton Fettel.
Overall the second one in the series was by far the best. The main thing I liked, was it’s heavy focus on Alma and here entire story. The main character of the second one encounters her countless times, and even has a major scene with her at the end of the game, that changes the course of the storyline forever.
F.E.A.R. 3
In totally honesty, I thought this series was nowhere near as good as F.E.A.R. 2…and did not like a lot of things about the story line of this game. Don’t get me wrong on some points…the gameplay is awesome. The way they did the shooting mechanics, cover mechanics, and the overall combat is great. At it’s core the combat is a much better improvement over the previous F.E.A.R. games…what disappointed me was the story. The presence of Alma in this game was very limited, next to none..at least until the end. I was not happy with the ending either. Them taking out one of my favorite characters in the series was just disappointing.
When I first played it, I was angry and went browsing around online. One person’s theory online stood out to me..and perhaps this is true. The F.E.A.R. series at it’s core is about a group called “First Encounter Assault Recon”. It has nothing (at it’s very nature) to do with Alma, or her entire storyline. Someone said online that if they decide to release future F.E.A.R. games..it would probably be different stories and things that F.E.A.R. has dealt with as a team, and may have different stories than Alma. He did not think they originally intended for her to be the only storyline. They intended to have different games come out with them dealing with different circumstances…this may or may not be true, but it’s definitely something to think about.
Overall I enjoyed the fear video game, but the ending left me much to be desired.
Teaser Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivGy1a7vjF0
When F.E.A.R. one was over, and that other company temporarily took over…they created the two sub series that were considered not part of Canon (the main storyline)…they also ended up releasing a teaser video, and a very good one. When I first saw the video I was under the impression they were creating a movie. I spent hours looking online for details about the movie..and I could not find anything. I finally discovered how the video was created, and that it was just marketing material. I loved the video nonetheless, and really let’s you see how some of her core powers work.
The video can be viewed above, or visited directly on Youtube.
I highly recommend watching the video, especially if you like the F.E.A.R. series.
Other archived blog posts can be found here.