F.E.A.R.

Platform: PC
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Multiplayer Demo

If there's one thing I can count on from PC first person shooters, its their ability to make my computer seem woefully out of date. It happened with Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 and I'm getting that same, not-so-fresh feeling from F.E.A.R.

It's a bummer playing these graphically intensive games at the lowest settings. You can tell you're missing something great. But all you get are flat textures and rigid shadows.

One benefit of playing without the graphical bells and whistles is that you get to experience the gameplay boiled down to its simplest form. And F.E.A.R.'s multiplayer doesn't seem to offer much different. It's a fast-paced frag fest marred only by how convenient it makes spawn camping. But multiplayer isn't what I'm coming to F.E.A.R. for in this first place. It's the creepy first player story that I'm interested in. That and a new motherboard and processor.

Download the multiplayer demo here.