Lets start off by saying that I love the FEAR games, but I will try and be as objective as possible. Now I remember playing FEAR for the first time on my 360 because my PC was not up to gaming standards ( it is now) so I was excited to finally play these games I have read about and drooled over the video and screenshots. However, this review isn’t about FEAR; it’s about FEAR Files. I do give the first FEAR a 9.4 score.
Campaign: FEAR Files somewhat reminds me of The Orange Box with content that is packed to the brim in this $50 game. You get two fairly lengthy expansion packs which each are longer than most single player campaigns that come in $60 games. You get Extraction Point which leaves off where the last FEAR ended and Perseus Mandate which is a completely different story with all new characters. You also get 8 instant action games similar to the teasers in the first FEAR. The instant action levels are very challenging and will take most gamers many times over to complete. One of the features for which FEAR is known, other than the fun gamplay, is its horror and they give you plenty here. The first FEAR would have you trudging down hallway after hallway with nothing to do and then scare the crap out of you. While FEAR Files has less redundant hallway searching, it gives you much more heart stopping fear, followed by action or even horrific fear while in action.
Graphics: The graphics in FEAR Files are little changed from FEAR. They are not bad to look at for a game that runs on an engine made in 2005 and can contend with many games released on engines that are new in 08. The framerate never drops to a very noticeable level, and particle effects are fantastic which explode like fireworks on the screen. The textures do tend to get reused a bit throughout this game, so you will see items and cars that seem to be a little copy and paste. The character models are still top notch and even look better than many games still coming out. Some textures and lighting seem to have been upgraded though, and the hardcore FEAR fans should be able to spot them fairly easy. You also get more destructible environments in the game, i.e, when you shoot at a pillar or throw a grenade, the cover will be blown apart.
Gameplay: the gameplay is still FEAR and still fun. The AI are brilliant, and when you enter a new room the outcome will always be different even if you replay the game mutiple times.. The AI will take cover, flank you, work as a team, shout commands, and even throw a grenade to get you to move from your cover. Perseus Mandate, however, shines here because they give you some new bad guys to fight, and that is what many FEAR fans have been waiting for. You still get your fun slo-mo and your melee beatdowns, but they also give you a nice little arsenal of weapons such as a mini gun, laser carbine, assault carbine, lighting gun, grenade launcher, and deployable torrents.
Multiplayer: MP is still fun and is just what they give you in the first FEAR game with the exception of a couple of maps and minus some of the downloadable content perks. It’s a bit laggy for my taste. In fact, FEAR Files is more of a lag-fest than FEAR, and hopfuly they will fix this with a patch. I'm not saying it's bad, and even the first FEAR had it’s share of lag before they updated it with a patch.
Overall: I found the Perseus Mandate campaign to be boring at first, but then it picked up rather nicely to end up being better then Extraction Point. With the content this game gives and over all entertainment for it’ $50 value, I give this game a 9.1 Yes I know it’s lower than FEAR, and I just can't ignore the shear amount of game they pack into this DVD, but it’s the broken, laggy multiplayer that brings the score down. If they were going to pack in what is essentially the same multiplayer game as FEAR, then there are no excuses for the lag and why downloadable content should not be compatible. My score for FEAR fans is a 9.1
Mountains can be moved, opinions too… paradise has never been so presidential in Tropico 7.
Starting today, Game Pass Ultimate drops from $29.99 to $22.99 a month. PC Game Pass will also drop from $16.49 to $13.99 a month. Prices may vary by region.
Beginning this year, future Call of Duty titles won’t join Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. New Call of Duty games will be added to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass during the following holiday season (about a year later), while existing Call of Duty titles already in the library will continue to be available.
Its nice there is some kind of drop... but is that all they really value CoD to be, a lousy $7 a month?
I was hoping it would drop by $10.
That $7 equates to $84 per year - which is more than COD new ($69.99 + tax).
So - you can get the exact same thing - and save a few bucks - or you can skip COD and pocket the savings or use toward another game - or games if on sale.
That’s how I’m taking it - and is enough for me to sign back up after canceling the day it went to $29.99.
It's unlikely that COD is going to be the only title they stop offering day one, but we'll see how they play their hand.
Can’t wait to hear how this will be spun extremely positive. 🤣
I wonder why knowing Microsoft thick head something must has happened in the background in the levels of Xbox one and Kinect 🤷🏿
Any price cut is a good thing in this day and age, but it also reveals a flaw in GamePass' design that we've all been calling out for years... it's unsustainable, especially with day and date releases on new games. COD won't be the only game they exclude, they're setting a precedent with it that they'll likely expand upon in the future.
At least they're being realistic about it now. I bet in the future we're going to start seeing them try to subsidize the high price of new consoles by making you buy 2-3 years of gamepass with it to get the console cheaper. I'm still not sure that'll be enough to save either the hardware or gamepass, but we'll see.
Well, they're removing their biggest game from being Day 1 on the service so GamePass users can buy it instead. That's the intention.
They increased the price to $30, then removed COD and dropped it to still be above the old price.
It's an understandable compromise but the consumer Ultimately is getting less.
Think the calculation is that *most* COD users don't play that many games and aren't interested in GamePass. The GamePass users who do like COD would just buy it anyway. MS reportedly lost out a lot of money last year putting COD on GamePass.
Well Call of duty could just be the beginning. What other games can they trim from the service to get the price down? How long before it's just the Xbox core first party studio games and not the one to everquired?
Create an interesting scenario with Call of duty as well. Will people wait a year to play it? Does that split the fan base? Will it hurt to Call of duty more than a benefits Game pass? These are all legitimate questions which we will find the answers to in the coming years
And I don't consider my post negative spin just realistic observation. At the very least this backtracking can be seen as an admittance that the previous strategy of gamepass was not sustainable as most of us said.
I'd get rid of the EA and Ubisoft+ too. That should bring the price down more. The only game from either of those parts of the service i played was jedi Fallen order / survivor. both of which i also bought on disc so it was more of a convenience i didnt have to put the disc in to play when i was playing them via remote play. And really that is why i still use GPU and PS+. its the convenience of having the games ready to play from a remote location. I havent picked up my consoles controllers in at least a few years. I guess that makes me a bad gamer, but so what. i'm still playing the games, just not physically on the machines themselves. GCloud and Portal are my go to now.
They’ll say no one is buying game pass so they had to drop the price , even though it’s been extremely profitable.
In my region, it’s still more expensive than it was before the last price hike, but it’s a far more viable price point.
Losing Call of Duty from the service, honestly, has zero effect on me, and given they chose to make it so, it’s probably not the big seller they originally thought. Overall, it’s really good news, but I still think they have work to do on the tier structure, having Premium and PC at the same price point with different features feels odd.
Yep take COD out. Them waiting a year is interesting but it make sense. They don't want certain ppl waiting 4 to 6 months they want fomo and maximum sales. Wait a year while the new one releases.
Ok so far so good.
Today, Team Coreupt officially announced its next title in development, an action and hack-and-slash game called Kirk Mephisto.
you should PM Dusty and get this in the UR