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1. F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate short demo review
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Oct 31 2007

   F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate is a stand-alone expansion to the original F.E.A.R. game and takes place after the events of the first. Now, I have yet to fully experience the original F.E.A.R. game, so you might call this a biased opinion. You might also call this a harsh opinion. Actually, call it what you want. I just don't see me owning this game any time soon. The requirements to run it are reasonable. The requirements to run it smoothly and with max graphics are ridiculously high. As you've probably read me say before: Dual-core is a must. It's a game for high-end systems. So for those of you with less than a 256MB video card, 1024 RAM, and a dual-core processor: tough luck. You'll just have to stick with Phosphor (Although to me Phosphor is better than this).
   
   GAMEPLAY: 7/10 Well it's at least better than Doom 3. The lights don't suddenly go off on you and something jumps out at you. It's more of an adrenaline rush from "Will I have enough bullets to kill this thing?" or "Which direction will this thing be coming from?"
   
   I, on the other hand, just never really felt a sense of urgency and "What the hell is going to happen next?" More like "Why the hell did that have to happen?" It sort of builds up to a point where you know something is going to happen and then it launches it on you. I actually felt a little bored on my first playthrough. No huge monsters, though. The first ghosts you come across are beaten with simply a melee attack. And the human opponents take cover, call for backup, throw grenades, and fire while still under cover. Yep, AI needs a little more work. At least the hitboxes are accurate enough: a headshot IS a headshot. Unlike some other "revolutionary" FPS game. *cough*Black*cough*
   
   The ability to slow down time is something nice and you're going to need it in almost every fight, which is a drawback: If you depend on it too much or you're not careful with how well you use it, it runs out and you're stuck in the open with three guys aiming right at you.
   
   There is no button interference because you only need a few of them. But I use the time control whenever I want to crouch. I'm used to crouching being my Ctrl key. I know I could change it, but I'm too lazy.
   
   GRAPHICS: 6/10 "Wha? 6/10, you're a n00b idiot!!1!1!!!one!!1" I still stand firm on saying that you need a very high-end computer to run this thing smoothly. I experienced lag even on the lowest quality. ("Well buy a better computer." I got 20 bucks to my name right now. You gonna buy it for me?) It gets a 6 and not a 5 due to the fact that even on lowest you still get bulletholes, corpses, deforming surroundings, light flickers, shadows, etc. The graphics aren't really that much of a difference between lowest and highest... at first glance. All those textures, lighting, and fogging at a higher resolution come at a high memory cost. I experienced a warning for low VM at one point while on high. At lowest it reminds me of Halo (PC) when I had my first video card.
   
   SOUND: 8/10 The voice acting is really well done, but the human enemies sound the same. The gunshots are semi-realistic and depict the power of the weapon that is being fired. The environment sounds are... okay I suppose. The action sequences are brought on by sounds which either decline or heighten the feel of the game depending on whether you have surround sound speakers. I'm stuck with $10 Sony earbuds, not exactly the epitome of luxury.
   
   OVERALL: 7/10 Like I said before: I don't see myself owning this game anytime soon. I can appreciate the haunted feeling the developers put into this, but it's just too bland to the point where you kind of expect it. Harsh? Yes. But instead of keeping the players guessing, they went in the same direction as the original game. Why not have mutated half-humans? Or more people being possessed? Whatever. I stand by my opinion. At 734 MB for a demo, it's up to YOU[/b] to form your own decision of whether or not you'll like the full expansion.

   
   

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