F.E.A.R. 3

The F.E.A.R title is known  entirely for thing: scaring the shit out of you as you go from stage to the next. But is it feasible that the new release, F.E.A.R. two, is going to reinvent multiplayer gameplay for future first person shooters? The simple answer is, perhaps.

In F.E.A.R.'s new release, the idea of the traditional team deathmatch is nonexistent, but with the cutback of the traditional modes comes the addition of new F.E.A.R. exclusive modes, of which being "F*****g Run." This game mode involves the player & his/her team running from a fog that desires to finish your life known as the "Wall of Death." The idea is simple , but the method of success is the opposite. The player & team must continuously run from the fog all the while collecting ammo, different guns, & blasting away at gun wielding enemies.

The game becomes increasingly more difficult with the idea that all players must successfully complete the map, meaning basically that player cannot carryover the team to the victory, but must help the team to bring themselves to victory. While they have come accustomed to the idea of team deathmatch, it is clearly apparent that the idea of F*****g Run actually puts more emphasis on the team & less on the death, which is the whole reason for multiplayer in the first place.

This game mode sounds awesome to me. I feel like having the Wall of Death on your back in the work of game play will bring a new spin to the elderly fashioned "run & gun" idea. It will be fascinating to see the way it plays out, & how much the Wall of Death not only effects gameplay, but becomes a factor in the actions & steps you take as you go though each level.

In Soul King, all players are spectres, & must possess human beings to take out another & collect dropped souls that appear after each player is eliminated. I think that this mode will be similar to what they have seen first person shooters do historicallyin the past, but with a spin, in that players are after the dropped souls & not entirely after the mass killing spree. I enjoy the idea of this game mode as I think it may be more involved than the traditional "kill everybody" idea that has been the subject of so lots of other first person shooter games.

"Contractions," another of the multiplayer game modes, puts your team in a safe house against an countless supply of enemies launching assaults that occur in waves. Safe houses have been used in lots of of my favourite titles such as The Godfather, GTA, & Red Dead Redemption. The difference in F.E.A.R. two is that the enemy doesn't cease attacking you when you go in to your safe house, but continues their onslaught on not only you, but on the house you thought was safe. The idea is similar to that of Nazi Zombies, which made such a splash in the Call of Duty titles. You are trying to protect your surroundings in the onslaught of countless waves of enemies, while restocking weapons, rebuilding barriers, & ensuring that you are always prepared for the next wave. I had fun playing zombies in the Call of Duty titles, & I feel that Contraction mode will be as, if not over, fun as that.

 other modes the game makes use of are Soul Survivor & Soul King. Soul Survivor takes a group of & randomly chooses to become a spectre, whose soul job (see what I did there?) is to turn the other players in to spectres also. The idea is that the game becomes more difficult as the number of spectres increases & the number of humans decreases. For those of you lucky to keep in mind playing "zombies" on Halo two, or even in Modern Warfare two, you will feel comfortable in this game mode. The difference is this game can keep track of its progression, which keeps the player from having to go to the choice mode & switch colors to represent a zombie after being killed--or at least pretending to do so.

I feel that the games have become so narrow as far as the choices for different modes of gameplay, that they may have been backing themselves in to a corner as far as game types. F.E.A.R two not only moves away from the corner, but runs out of the corner with guns blazing. Will F.E.A.R. two revolutionize multiplayer gambling modes for the future? Perhaps, but I, for, sure hope so!