F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
Preview
Getting scared yet?
by Sergio Brinkhuis
previewed on PC
Subtle or brutal?
Several new weapons will make their appearance. The Minigun is my personal favourite. There is not much that you can't take down with it and its ability to transform any room into a disaster area in no time at all is truly amazing. Firing this baby will turn furniture into splinters and enemies into colanders. For those of you who like their fights to have a little more subtlety, a Sniper Rifle has been added to the armory as well. Granted, in the original there weren't too many areas where you could actually use one but we're promised we'll see some more open areas this time around. Finding ammo and other supplies should be a little easier now too. Throughout the game, you will find crates that will contain weapons, ammo and medical supplies.
While the Artificial Intelligence of F.E.A.R left very little to complain about, TimeGate is working hard to up the ante in this area. Enemies will for instance make better use of changing environments. Not only will they try and hide behind the maps? default objects, they will also take cover behind the debris of objects that have been blown to smithereens. Other improvements have been made as well but TimeGate is being very secretive about these too.
Now you see 'm...
Of course all these weapons are of little use if there is nothing to shoot at. Be prepared to engage in the same 'fast and furious' battles that you've seen in the original but with a range of new baddies to keep you entertained. Besides encountering tougher versions of the 'original cast', you will also have to deal with some ninja-like characters that are so stealthy that they might as well be invisible. They are almost impossible to detect until they are right under your nose. Scary stuff when they do, we can tell you that! Perhaps even worse are enemies that refuse to stay dead. We could say more but we'd rather have you experience it yourself.
All in all, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point looks to be more of the same but in this case, ?the same? is exactly what we want. The free multiplayer add-on that has become available not too long ago has already whetted the appetite of many a F.E.A.R. fan and we are certain that the add-on will not disappoint. Its only downside could be that Extraction Point is also rather short. With an expected playtime of six to eight hours it is even shorter than the original. This is partly made up by the price tag of $29.99, a more than reasonable price for eight hours of thrilling suspense.
