I've been in a horror FPS mood as of late, so classic shooter F.E.A.R. was a natural reinstall. It's a gloriously simple, old-fashioned game that pits you, a member of the First Encounter Assault Recon unit of the United States military, against a deadly psychic operative named Paxton Fettel, who has gone rogue. You lock and load, then plunge into the facility he's hiding in to take him down.
View F.E.A.R. Platinum Edition on GOG
But that's when things go fubar. You, named Point Man, start to have creepy hallucinations filled with blood and screams. A small girl, named Alma, starts to appear here and there, often precursing a massacre or scene of gruesome carnage. Other military units are found mysteriously ripped limb-from-limb, while others are now intent on your destruction, telepathically controlled by some unseen force.
Oh, and then there's the fact Point Man discovers he has superhuman abilities of his own, able to slow time in bursts to gain advantage in combat. Suddenly, gunfights are being transformed into John Woo-style slow-mo extravaganzas, with shell casings spewing forth like treacle and Point Man's enemies being riddled with bullets as if they were underwater. It's a visceral, adrenaline-inducing mix, one that never fails to leave my palms sweaty. Simply put, it's just what I want from a game like this.
Which is why when I saw that F.E.A.R. Platinum Edition is now retailing for under a buck (this edition includes the main game as well a both of its expansions), I thought I would share it with the wider PC gaming community, as this literally is the ultimate example of the phrase getting big bang for your buck. The details can be seen below.
There's something about the gunplay in F.E.A.R. that adds to the general tone of creeping dread. Loud, fast, brutally violent and punctuated with the screams of dying men, it is a staccato soundscape that never lets you, as the player, fully relax. Oh, and then there's the supernatural horrors to contend with, too. A classic FPS that has over 10,000 'Very Positive' reviews on Steam.
UK pricing: £7.89 £0.79View Deal
F.E.A.R. famously went down very well within the PC gaming community on its original release, spawning not only a brace of expansions (included in the Platinum Edition) but also two full sequels. And that heritage is alive and well today, as a quick check of the game on Steam reveals that it has over 10,800 'Very Positive' reviews from PC gamers, including many from the last month alone. This is an FPS that has dated well, which is something I can confirm, too, after playing it recently.
As this is a GOG release, it naturally now runs perfectly on Windows 10/11 systems, and it also comes with a series of extra digital goodies, including wallpapers, manuals, and behind the scenes videos. On my Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti-powered rig this game flies, and due to its very low required system specs by modern standards, literally any gaming PC is going to be able to handle F.E.A.R. without breaking sweat. What's more, the game demands only 7.2 GB of storage space, so it's a great secondary game to have installed for whenever you want a quick blast. Basically, I wholeheartedly recommend this FPS, and especially so at under a buck. Well worth a look if you're itching for some classic shooter action.
