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F.E.A.R. Extraction Point

Published By: Sam Waldron On: 17/10/2006 10:00

AT A GLANCE

"More guns, more clones, and more weird paranormal activity. "

The Good: A thrilling cross between action and horror.

The Bad: Frayed nerves and an itchy trigger-finger

The Ugly: “First Encounter Assault Recon”

By Sam Waldron

The awkwardly-titled First Encounter Assault Recon (anyone else think they might have worked backwards from the acronym?) was a well built first-person shooter with an edge of horror. Basically, it kept you terrified with its creepy little girl and her massive psychic powers, while still giving you plenty to shoot at.

The Expansion, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, looks set to offer more of the same. But in a good way. It picks up where F.E.A.R. left off, with the main character caught in a nuclear explosion. The blast, however, proves surprisingly non-fatal, both for the main character and the supporting cast: your team-mates Jin Sun-Kwon and Douglas Holiday, and also the enemy leader, puppeteer-of-the-clones Paxton Fettle (how could you not be evil with a name like that?)

Long story short: you, Jin and Doug don't quite get as away as you would have liked. Alma, the creepy, and rather Ring-esque, psychic girl who harassed you (and your nerves) throughout the original game, turns up on your chopper-ride home, getting you crash-landed and split up, and thereby kick-starting the action. From there, it’s into the game. Again, you’ll be pitted against both Alma and Fettle – except in Extraction Point the two are not working together, but actually battling one another also.

In addition to new weapons (the mini-gun and the laser carbine) and new baddies (a fierce cloaking enemy, and also some larger opponents), the AI of the replicant soldiers, F.E.A.R.’s standard target, has been improved. In the expansion, they will be programmed to use cover more cleverly, pushing over crates to hide behind, and even falling back when necessary. So expect a bit more challenge, even from the kind of clone you killed with ease in the main game.

Extraction Point is only single-player, but looks set to provide another action-packed and spine-chilling ride when it ships on October 26th.

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