F.E.A.R. demo out and stuff.

[Thrik]

Yeah, as promised. Pretty much every server ever is being hammered, though the Games Domain mirror seems to be allowing me a steady download that's at my connection max-out. I've heard the following initial impressions:

1) The AI is somewhat impressive.

2) The game is somewhat creepy.

3) The game somewhat runs like shit.

4) The game is somewhat cool.

5) The demo is somewhat short.

Can't wait to find out for myself! Only 20 minutes left on the download. ¬

[Steve]

I just finished playing through the demo (the 1up.com mirror was really fast for me.)

The opening dialogue/exposition stuff was realllly bad and -inducing, but everything within the actual play, including the narrative bits in-level, was excellent.

I'll need to play this demo more. The writing has me worried, but I'm definitely still interested in the game.

Oh, and my Athlon 2800+/1 gig ram/Radeon 9700XP ran wonderfully with all the effects turned to maximum... once I turned pixel-doubling on, which effectively halves the resolution Luckily, I prioritize effects fidelity over resolution, but the game is definitely graphically demanding.

Tentatively,

[Mailman]

I'm getting it slowly via the torrent on 3dgamers.com

FEAR is one of these games that I expect that playing the demo will be fun, and just enough of the game that anymore would lead to boredom and frustration.

Btw, did anyone else think the "trailer" to this game was the silliest thing ever?

0:00 - 0:05 Oooh! FEAR! Fear is a strange emotion! Ooooh! OOOOH! FEEEEAR!!

0:06 - 1:30 *absolutely, positively standard FPS action that looks identical to any run-and-shoot game you've ever seen*

1:31 - 1:36 OOOOOH! FEEEEEAR! BE AFRAID!

[JoeX111]

Very slow download through FileShack at the moment, since 3DGamers didn't have any available mirrors up and I'd rather battle a rhino than try to wade through the FilePlanet servers.

[Steve]

The gamesdomain mirror is supposedly really good as well.

Played more of the demo. Man, that's the best singeplayer combat I've ever had in an FPS.

[Kolzig]

Hmm, got it pretty fast through Filerush's torrent link.

The opening intro was quite shitty, the gameplay seemed nice. I only played for like five minutes. I got to play this more when I wake up.

Time to sleep. Yes.

[JoeX111]

For all that hefty downloading, I was hoping for a bit more gameplay. Instead, you get a very lengthy and somewhat cheesy intro, and a brief little battle with some pretty generic enemies (though I must say, the AI wasn't half bad). However, I felt like I was playing a "scary" version of kill.switch.

And for those of you that have played it:

The more and more I think back on it, the less I like what I saw. For a game as hyped as this one has been, the demo has a real lack of polish. The physics are spotty, some of the decals are questionable at best, and I've seen multiple instances of things falling right through the level in front of me. The story seems like it might pan out interestingly, and was getting quite good in the end, before a damn Mech dropped in and attacked me. Why did a big robot have to jump in there? The atmosphere was just perfect before that. Easily one of the worst demo cliff-hangers I have ever run into. And last but not least, why is the much touted bullet time in this game just a graphically better version of what we get in Half Life 2: Substance?

Perhaps I'm just being overly nitpicky, but I really wanted to like this better than I have. Maybe I'll play it some more tomorrow at a decent hour and see if that changes my mind.

[ysbreker]

What settings did you play on, JoeX111?

Cause the physics in the game are adjusted to your pc power. so if the settings are lower you get less fancy physics and looks. oh and bullettime works pretty well and looks rather cool. I keep hitting the ctrl button when I want to crouch so I go into bullettime all the time

[Erkki]

WTF? Fear will install DirectX 9.0c (April). Choosing no will abort the installation.

I already fucking have DirectX 9.0c. WTF?

[Thrik]

Just click yes. You don't have to.

[Steve]

WTF? Fear will install DirectX 9.0c (April). Choosing no will abort the installation.

I already fucking have DirectX 9.0c. WTF?

Just like with any directx installation, it won't install any files you already have updated.

Also be sure to restart your computer after installation like it tells you to, if you don't your video performance will be horrible until you do.

[JoeX111]

What settings did you play on, JoeX111?

Maxed out everything, though I later turned down Volumetric lighting to up my framerate. The physics on bodies just seems extremely weightless to me. Whenever I walk over one, he half bounces and slides. Bodies falling off railings have a tendency to get a hand caught and just hang there without pulling free. It honestly feels like Hitman 2 & 3.

[vimes]

Pfff, it's been too f**** long since I played a FPS ... and seen/played things that fear the hell out of me : it's the Doom III syndrome, I'm fucking less reactive or intelligent than the AI and I must play with low volume so that I won't crap my pants.

Anyway, I was quite amazed by the 'intelligence' of the soldiers even if their entries are always scripted to the core. Above that, the level designers should worry more about alternate route than creating realistic environment : I can't understand how someone can reproduce realistic boring, linear level as factory or modern building just for the hell of it. Such people must live a terrible life.

[DanJW]

So I played this. I'm a little disappointed. For a start it runs like glue. The physics and graphics look a bit out of date.

Also the environments are pretty boring so far

And it was a mistake to make it so abundantly clear that the little girl is a) evil and a ghost or otherwise supernaturally insubstantial.

Demos are becoming notorious for making the game look shittier than it actually is though.

Good thing though: on the hardest difficulty, the AI is actually pretty damn good

[vimes]

And it was a mistake to make it so abundantly clear that the little girl is a) evil and a ghost or otherwise supernaturally insubstantial.

Yeah but then, how do you justify the presence of a little girl running around in factory while laughing ?

[jaao]

Couldn't get it to run with sound, therefore I unstalled it.

Reminds me of the good old DOS days, where you had to fiddle around with all drivers to get enough memory to run any game