F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R. is a first-person action horror game from Monolith Productions that combines an effective slow-motion firefight mechanic (bullet time) with the atmosphere of Japanese psychological horror. The player takes on the role of an unnamed member of the F.E.A.R. unit, sent to investigate the rampage of a paramilitary unit controlled by the telepathic commander Paxton Fettel, gradually uncovering a dark secret connected to a girl named Alma. The game became famous for its advanced enemy AI, which cooperates, takes cover, and communicates with each other, as well as for visually inventive scary sequences interspersed between intense firefights. The Havok physics engine also allowed furniture and the environment to realistically break apart under gunfire, which in 2005 was among the genre's technological high points.

The original version launched in the fall of 2005 exclusively for PC, followed a year later by a port for Xbox 360.

The PlayStation 3 version arrived last, in the spring of 2007, nearly two years after the PC original. It brought the same campaign and story, but also an exclusive weapon — the Watson SAS12 automatic shotgun, which no other version had. The graphics used the PS3's power for more detailed lighting and shadows than the Xbox 360 version, the controls were adapted for the DualShock, and the game supported the online trophy leaderboards introduced on this platform. It was thus the latest-released but content-richest console version of the game.

The Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate expansions, which extended the story with additional chapters on PC, did not appear on PlayStation 3 as separate add-ons — players on both PS3 and Xbox 360 only got the base campaign of the first F.E.A.R., while PC owners could pick up this additional content after release. The PlayStation 3 version thus remained, out of all three platforms, the one offering the least additional content, even though thanks to its later release date and exclusive weapon it technically best represented the performance of consoles of its era.

Why play it: Anyone who cares only about the original F.E.A.R. campaign gets the technically most advanced version of the generation on PS3, complete with an exclusive weapon, but without the later expansions that were PC-only.