F.E.A.R. Review, and its good news!

IGN have finally reviewed the once higly anticipated (hype for the game seems to have died down of late) first person shooter, F.E.A.R.
It's got a very respectable score, one of the highest 360 scores from IGN to be more specific, coming in with a 9.1.
Things which really impressed the guys over there were the AI, which they say 'provides powerful combat sequences'. I agree, after playing through the demo, one of the biggest things which stuck out for me was how clever the AI was, not 'splinter cell clever' (knowing where you are even though you're the other side a concrete block), but humanly clever - if they're getting pummeled, they retreat, then come back at you from another angle, fantastic for firefights because it keeps you guessing, much alike a multiplayer session.
Also particularly impressive was the sound. The sound effects are all excellent, notably the guns you wield, they all sound wonderfully meaty. But moreso, according to IGN, was the ambience, the creepy sound effects, they 'add volumes to the atmosphere'.
And last but certainly not least, this game keeps you on your toes, why? because it's one scary mother of a game, IGN don't hesitate to tell you that more than a few times during the review.
Hype, they say, will certainly pick up for this game once it hits retail. I for one agree, and am looking forward to picking this game up come it's November release date (can anyone say PS3 launch?) and dipping into the 'Instant Action' mode, which drops you into different situations throughout the single player game and records how well you do, and sticks your statistics onto an Xbox Live leaderboard. Good stuff. See you on the leaderboards.

Jay, welcome aboard!
For All Your Daily Tech News Check Out: All Day I Dream About...Tech

F.E.A.R. Producer blog launched

As we come up to the launch of F.E.A.R. on the next generation consoles (read: xbox360 and another one which i can't for the life of my remember), IGN has taken it upon themselves to launch a F.E.A.R. Producers Blog. It promises to be updated frequently in the coming weeks, with this update focusing on where the developers are with the game currently. Of note is that:

"The 360 version is nearing completion and Day 1 is chiseling away at a dwindling stream of bugs coming in from QA. We’re getting the game ready for our submission to Microsoft for our final check before we kick off the manufacturing process."

Bookmark that page if you're looking forward to picking up this game come its launch in November.

F.E.A.R. looks to be shaping up very nicely

F.E.A.R - standing for First Encounter Assault Recon, was released last year on the PC to great accolade. It was praised for its eerily creepy horror element, and the intensity of its combat.
I for one, due to my fantastically poor graphics card, did not manage to play this highly rated game, and so i just let my excitement for it die down. Until that is, i read that it was being brought over to the Xbox360. My only fears (pun fully intended :P) about the port over to the 360 was how the developer would handle the controller, and whether they could make the gameplay tight and responsive without the aid of a mouse.
These doubts soon shot out the window upon reading a new article on gamespot. Furthermore to confirming that the gameplay "plays as well as you'd expect" they also praise the graphics off the game, saying not to worry about your 360 being able to handle F.E.A.R. (the game is used as a benchmark for testing graphics card due to it being very process intensive) and that technically, it surpasses its PC counterpart in visuals, which, as a console only gamer (unless i absolutely have to play it on PC) makes me jump for joy, but that is my inner 360 fanboy which i try to keep at bay. Head over to gamespot for the full article and browse around for some gameplay footage also.


Read