Sibling rivalry can be rough under the best circumstances, but Point Man and Paxton Fettel inhabit a bleak, if never truly frightening, FPS filled with supernatural soldiers and skittering nightmares. Now momma Alma’s got a new bun in the oven, and her labor pains alone could tear the world into pieces.
You can tackle F.E.A.R. 3's campaign in two distinct ways, each yielding a markedly different experience. Solo play as Point Man is the most familiar and the least exciting. You'll enjoy mild scares and some intense firefights, and taking cover behind furniture helps keep you in one piece, but there's little life left to bleed from unnaturally linear prisons and airports these days. And though you’ll earn challenge points for racking up stylish kills, your reward — an extra clip, a few more seconds of slow-mo — offers little cause for celebration.
Tackle the same story cooperatively with a pal, though, and the whole experience turns on its head. While the host must play as Point Man, player two is Paxton Fettel, whose psychic talents inject all manner of wonderful madness. Paxton can set loose bolts of otherworldly fire, levitate foes out of cover so Point Man can pummel them like piñatas, and possess a heavily armed foe and murder with abandon. With the introduction of Paxton (whom the A.I. won't control in the absence of a human partner), battles that were once stop-and-pop plods suddenly turn frantic. You'll have to complete each mission as Point Man to unlock Paxton as a solo option, but he's definitely worth the effort.
You'll rocket through F.E.A.R. 3’s campaign in under six hours, but expect lots more chaotic entertainment from the four competitive modes. Contractions unleashes Horde-style waves of nimble enemies, while Soul King has you happily possessing Armacham soldiers and murdering their friends for points. Soul Survivor's short-lived elimination matches cry out for more than four players, and F*cking Run's breakneck pace is half its appeal — the mode should include an Achievement just for outrunning its wall of hungry smoke without leaping off the couch, especially when you have to gun down suicidal thugs all the while.
F.E.A.R. 3 isn't expertly polished or perfectly balanced, but it's got sufficient creeping dread and more than enough gameplay variety to fan our desire for more of Alma's apocalyptic evil.
+ Online and split-screen co-op breathe excitement into a formulaic campaign.
+ Exhilarating, addictive competitive multiplayer modes.
- Solo play as Point Man is ho-hum; somewhat disposable ranking system; multiplayer limited to four people.
? Why can't co-op players choose which character they want to be?
