FEAR is turning 20, but Monolith's terrifying shooter hasn't lost its touch
Two decades of living in FEAR.
I'm crouching in a dimly-lit stairwell, eavesdropping on the garbled barks of a squad of FEAR's enemy clone soldiers below. They're holed up in an office at the foot of the stairs as I plot my attack.
There's a door to the left side of the office I could try to sneak up to, but a large window points directly at my approach so the chances are they'll see me.
I could try a Bruce Willis style of negotiation: akimbo pistols blazing or the thunder crack of my SPAS-12 shotgun atomising my foes in a single shot. That's to say nothing of my nail gun, which can literally stake my enemies to the wall like oversized voodoo dolls.
Or I could be sneakier: if I blink my flashlight towards that window, one soldier is sure to investigate. Pick him off and it’ll make the fight 25% easier.
Instead I toss out a proximity mine. It lands beneath the window and gleefully pings in activation, immediately drawing the soldier’s gaze. “Contact!”, one screams, instantly returning fire. I take a couple of hits as I scramble to cover. I guess we're going loud this time.
I equip my trusty shotgun and press control to slow down time. As I peek out from behind a pillar, two of the soldiers leap through the window to engage me… right onto my proximity mine. It detonates, a shockwave of fire, blood and glass radiates out in slow motion. A severed leg lands beside me.
Another soldier tries to flank me from the door to the office. He's quickly dispatched with two swift blasts of my SPAS-12, the second one gouges a chunk out of the wall behind him. Parallax maps were cutting edge in 2005 and they still look cool today.
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“I need back-up, now!” the final soldier yells, now cowering in the office behind some shelves. I switch to the nail gun and, without hesitation, pin him to the wall by his face.
Source: PC Gamer (https://www.pcgamer.com)
