Did anyone think that F.E.A.R. was scary?
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I thought the original F.E.A.R was quite creepy and disturbing, and there were some genuine scares in there caused less by something jumping out and more by the feeling of unnease you get from wondering what horrible thing you're going to witness next. At the time with the graphics being cutting edge it made it much more scary than it is today - it really hasn't aged well at all visually.
F.E.A.R. 2 I found wasn't as psychological and there are a lot more of those in-your-face jumpy scares which got quite predictable after a while and were a bit yawn-worthy.
F.E.A.R. 2 I found wasn't as psychological and there are a lot more of those in-your-face jumpy scares which got quite predictable after a while and were a bit yawn-worthy.
I jumped a few times, and did feel a little tense in some parts in the first one, which surprised me as I'm pretty desensitised to horror. FEAR 2 didnt scare me at all though (more action focused)
In my opinion... No, no and no. I played in the dark and with headphones on and it was probably one of the most unscary experiences ever. Okay, so i'm fairly desensitized, but still. Just seeing the same girl/mid-age guy walk across slowly then dissapear over and over again is not what i consider scary. It's not what i even consider horror. When i hear people talk about how they found the game scary, sometimes i think they're just pulling my leg. But oh well, everone's different.
Yes. I was staying at my friend's house and there was a group of us. The controller was handed to my best friend (who has never played an Xbox 360) and they put her on the Fear demo... She ended up running through it backwards with the camera stuck on the back of her head... It was horrible xD
The first one, definitely. Serious mind fuck. Here's an example: you expect music to ratchet up and reach crescendo during a scare, right? And for the first half of the game, that;s exactly what happens. Then, for the second half, that still happens sometimes, but then, they also have music build, build build...and then nothing. Conversely, they'll also have scares happen with no musical cue at all. All of this leads to uncertainity of when things will happen, and therefore paranoia.
That's just an example, however. Most of the fear (c wat ah did thar?) comes from just a building sense of unease, built slightly by the aforementioned music. They managed to make you scared of normalcy and genuinely look forward to a tough fight. I have a distinct memory of when the tension got too much at a random time, and I just stood there looking at a random desk, terrified or no reason other than the excruciatingly built tension.
It might be worth mentioning, however, that that was my first horror game.
EDIT:
That's just an example, however. Most of the fear (c wat ah did thar?) comes from just a building sense of unease, built slightly by the aforementioned music. They managed to make you scared of normalcy and genuinely look forward to a tough fight. I have a distinct memory of when the tension got too much at a random time, and I just stood there looking at a random desk, terrified or no reason other than the excruciatingly built tension.
It might be worth mentioning, however, that that was my first horror game.
EDIT:
Most people agree, the second wasn't scary at all. The first at least tried to be psychological and unpredictable about it.WanderFreak said:
No, I didn't find it to be particularly scary. It was also really disappointingly bad coming from Monolith, who are known (or used to be) for fun games with good art design. FEAR was neither of those things.
There was one scene that really made me jump back in surprise.
Ladder.
Otherwise, no. Not really scary, but very atmospheric nonetheless.
FEAR 1 is one of my favorite games, got the platinum edition.
Even the first addon (though it's non-canon now) was awesome.
The second...
Not so much. Still okay, but not as great as the original and the first addon.
Ladder.
Otherwise, no. Not really scary, but very atmospheric nonetheless.
FEAR 1 is one of my favorite games, got the platinum edition.
Even the first addon (though it's non-canon now) was awesome.
The second...
Not so much. Still okay, but not as great as the original and the first addon.
Like most horror it depends on how jaded you are. In general most nerds who are into science fiction, horror, and fantasy are more resistant to the general trappings of horror than others and require more and more intense things to elicit the same reactions they probably received from their first horror movies and such.
It's also notable that horror is an unpleasant reaction, and less jaded people are of course going to see material directed at fandom as being a lot worse than it is. Anything that repells the masses or even a substantial number of people can face a lot of pressure. As a result you see more and more horror falling into unscary "cheez" and gore that is incapable of scaring anyone, and that is the intent. FEAR being a pretty typical example of a horror game that intentionally drops the atmospheric trappings of what should be scary, while intentionally stepping around anything that would actually be scary or disturbing especially to a horror fan. It's pretty typical of the entire "horror game" genere nowadays. Yahtzee sort of makes fun of this trend (which has been going on longer than the games he mentioned) by talking about how there were no horror games last year, just shooters making pretensions.
This is one of the reasons I have some interest in the game being based on the movie "Anti-Christ" (mentioned in an Escapist Article) but of course it's probably not going to deliver to the American audience (if it was capable of it to begin with, always hard to tell) because even before serious development they are deciding to develop multiple versions to cater to American censors and those who are offended by everything. I at least hope they come up with some kind of a workaround by including english dialogue as an option for the native version so importers can sell it to Americans backchannel (sort of like how I got my copy of the Uncensored collector's edition of "The Witcher").
>>>----Therumancer--->
It's also notable that horror is an unpleasant reaction, and less jaded people are of course going to see material directed at fandom as being a lot worse than it is. Anything that repells the masses or even a substantial number of people can face a lot of pressure. As a result you see more and more horror falling into unscary "cheez" and gore that is incapable of scaring anyone, and that is the intent. FEAR being a pretty typical example of a horror game that intentionally drops the atmospheric trappings of what should be scary, while intentionally stepping around anything that would actually be scary or disturbing especially to a horror fan. It's pretty typical of the entire "horror game" genere nowadays. Yahtzee sort of makes fun of this trend (which has been going on longer than the games he mentioned) by talking about how there were no horror games last year, just shooters making pretensions.
This is one of the reasons I have some interest in the game being based on the movie "Anti-Christ" (mentioned in an Escapist Article) but of course it's probably not going to deliver to the American audience (if it was capable of it to begin with, always hard to tell) because even before serious development they are deciding to develop multiple versions to cater to American censors and those who are offended by everything. I at least hope they come up with some kind of a workaround by including english dialogue as an option for the native version so importers can sell it to Americans backchannel (sort of like how I got my copy of the Uncensored collector's edition of "The Witcher").
>>>----Therumancer--->
In my big fat opinion - It never created enough immersion to ever be 'SCARY' scary, it mainly utilised a lot of Hollywood tactics.
BOO!
Look to Silent Hill or STALKER etc. if you want truly scary games.
BOO!
Look to Silent Hill or STALKER etc. if you want truly scary games.
Wow. I actually found it to be scary. Attacks by the assassins were always scary to me (not anymore now that I know where all of them are and how easy they are to kill by shotgun when you can expect them).
FEAR really got me since Alma has a few moments in confined spaces early on and then NEVER AGAIN. Made me scared of those moments for the rest of the game (and in FEAR 2). FEAR 2 got me with the jump at you moments. I liked how more of the scares were integrated and possibly random. Those weird experiment dudes mostly. There were times that I knew were not scripted since I accidentally left a guy alive and he jumped on a window freaking me out or when they do the pounce attack that gets you in a button mash fest. When I don't realize one of them is left alive and BOOM he is on me that scares me some. Also, the spirits being harder to see in the lights flickering areas scared me some too. I sprayed a lot of ammo..
So I dunno about you guys, but I found the FEAR games to be scary enough. Maybe I get into my games more...
FEAR really got me since Alma has a few moments in confined spaces early on and then NEVER AGAIN. Made me scared of those moments for the rest of the game (and in FEAR 2). FEAR 2 got me with the jump at you moments. I liked how more of the scares were integrated and possibly random. Those weird experiment dudes mostly. There were times that I knew were not scripted since I accidentally left a guy alive and he jumped on a window freaking me out or when they do the pounce attack that gets you in a button mash fest. When I don't realize one of them is left alive and BOOM he is on me that scares me some. Also, the spirits being harder to see in the lights flickering areas scared me some too. I sprayed a lot of ammo..
So I dunno about you guys, but I found the FEAR games to be scary enough. Maybe I get into my games more...
F.E.A.R scared the hell out of me, because of tiny girl Alma.
F.E.A.R 2 not so much, like what many people said, the horror was too straight forward.
F.E.A.R had you checking the corners every time you saw "Unknown Origin" appear on the HUD.
F.E.A.R 2 had you pimp slapping Alma. With "Quicktime Events".
F.E.A.R 2 not so much, like what many people said, the horror was too straight forward.
F.E.A.R had you checking the corners every time you saw "Unknown Origin" appear on the HUD.
F.E.A.R 2 had you pimp slapping Alma. With "Quicktime Events".
