History VideoGame / FirstEncounterAssaultRecon

* NoOSHACompliance: A lot of the environments seem to be designed to facilitate gameplay more than for their ostensible purpose. At one point in the first game, Point Man has to climb up a ladder in an elevator shaft, which leads to a closet, which leads to an office area. The doors are all unlocked, meaning that anyone can just mosey into the closet, misstep, and then fall to their death. Or lose an arm to the elevator.

* DropTheHammer: A few of the cultists wield hammers.

** During the mid-00's, City Interactive released a large number of low budget military-themed FPS games built on the Lithtech Jupiter EX engine and using many assets from ''F.E.A.R.'' (such as animations and A.I.), essentially being total conversions of the first ''F.E.A.R.'' with real world weapons and no bullet time. Titles in this list include ''SAS: Secure Tomorrow'', ''Mortyr: Operation Thunderstorm'', ''Terrorist Takedown 2'', ''Terrorist Takedown 3'', ''Code of Honor 2'', ''Code of Honor 3'', ''Royal Marines: Commando'', ''Armed Force Corp'', ''Special Forces'', ''Battlestrike: Shadow of Stalingrad'', and ''Wolfschanze II''.

* SequelHook: In ''F.E.A.R. 3'', during the Point Man's ending, Paxton Fettel's monologue [[spoiler:during the video of his synchronicity even has him swearing revenge on the Point Man for killing him ''again.'']]

* ArtShift: The character designs in all three games are noticeably different. There was a deliberate shift in design between ''F.E.A.R.'' and ''F.E.A.R. 2'', and the shift in the third game is due to the franchise having been transferred to a different developer. Surprisingly, the art design in ''F.E.A.R. 3'' is largely consistent with that of ''F.E.A.R. 2''; the major, most jarring shift is that Paxton Fettel has a completely different face in ''F.E.A.R. 3'' compared to his appearance in the first 2 games.

* AbandonedHospital: Once the "tutorial level" is done with, ''Project Origin'' properly starts off this way. Until it becomes clear it's not "abandoned" so much as "hastily evacuated" and the guys they're running from are knocking on the door. [[spoiler:Plus, as a bonus, it gets subverted when it turns out the entire hospital is itself underground with a fake holographic skyline, presumably to fool all the patients into thinking they're in a normal hospital.]]
** The final levels of ''Extraction Point'' take place inside a hospital. Much like with ''Project Origin'' however, it's not so much abandoned as it is something else, and in ''Extraction Point'''s case it's an intensely eerie gauntlet of the supernatural, decorated with numerous bodies of Special Forces soldiers and enough blood to make one think the blood bank had a recent withdrawal.

The sequel, titled ''F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin'', was released in February 2009, again developed by Monolith. In this game, the player controls a Delta Force operative named Michael Becket, who is sent to capture Genevive Aristide, CEO of Armacham Technology. [[FromBadToWorse Things get worse.]] Becket undergoes a brutal surgery and experimentation that leaves him a target for Alma, who hunts him down while he himself tries to evade ATC troops and Replica soldiers in order to destroy Alma for good.

* BigBad: Alma, though Genevive Aristide really pushes it. ''F.E.A.R. 3'' casts a different light on the overarching narrative, painting [[spoiler:Paxton Fettel as the true Big Bad]]. Non-canonically, Alma does help the Point Man repeatedly in ''Extraction Point'' by clearing away Replicas and leading the Point Man into areas to navigate his way to pick-up - or at least her child self does; her adult/emaciated self is just as bloodthirsty and much less discriminate in who she vaporizes.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Genevive Aristide in particular, but all of Armacham, really. In ''F.E.A.R. 2'', they [[spoiler: send a virtual army of mercenary commandos to snuff out all the evidence of Projects Origin, Harbinger, and Paragon, and were ready to be involved in the killing of ''children'' ([[FalseReassurance don't worry]], though, Alma going nuclear already killed them).]]

* KansasCityShuffle: The background material reveals that the entire ordeal Becket goes through in ''Project Origin'' is all planned by Genevive Aristide to distract Alma so Genevive's goons can retrieve and weaponize the Point Man.

* OffscreenTeleportation: Most of Alma's schtick mainly boils down to this. Genevive Aristide pulls one off herself in the finale of ''Project Origin''.

* SealedEvilInACan: Alma was put in an induced coma and sealed in a telesthetic suppression field after Armacham found her psychic powers too overwhelming to control. It didn't stop her. Dual credit for unsealing her goes to Genevive Aristide, who wanted to renovate or repurpose the site, and Harlan Wade, who by the time he reopens the Vault feels that Alma has "suffered enough".

As the game starts, the player takes on the role of F.E.A.R.'s new [[NoNameGiven Point Man]]. In his first briefing, F.E.A.R. learns of a secret military project, Perseus, being run by [[MegaCorp Armacham Technology Corporation]] in the city of Fairport. The project, the development of a battalion of [[PsychicPowers telepathically]] controlled "[[CloningBlues Replica]]" {{Super Soldier}}s, [[GoneHorriblyWrong has gone haywire]]. The Replica battalion's telepathic commander, an unstable operative named Paxton Fettel, has led them in an uprising. It is now F.E.A.R.'s job to hunt down and kill Fettel, ending the uprising. [[FromBadToWorse But things start to get complicated]] when Alma, a little girl in a red dress, shows up and starts annihilating F.E.A.R.'s 1st SFOD-D ("Delta Force," a real-life U.S. military special operations unit) escorts, then vanishes. It's now up to the Point Man to find and kill Fettel, but this proves to be a much more difficult task than originally envisioned as Alma begins to harass Point Man for unknown reasons.

* CloningBlues: Averted by the Replica, to the point that it makes them even more terrifying than you'd think.
** They appear to be Fettel's clones, although the ones you actually see unmasked are horribly deformed. There's a strong possibility that those could have been messed up at some point in their development, though, since they aren't part of the main fighting force and only show up in the facility they're manufactured in at the end of the second game. The Replica you control in ''Reborn'' has a perfect, unmarred Fettel face.

* {{Zeerust}}: The first game takes place in 2025, yet no-one has a cellphone or tablet. Additonally, Laptops are present but few and far between with the majority of computers have bulky white moniters. [[spoiler: Somewhat justified in the inital intervals as the location is supposed to be a run-down water treatment plant.]]

* Zeerust: The first game takes place in 2025, yet no-one has a cellphone or tablet. Additonally, Laptops are present but few and far between with the majority of computers have bulky white moniters. [[spoiler: Somewhat justified in the inital intervals as the location is supposed to be a run-down water treatment plant.]]

* DoomedTacticalTeam: Played Straight with the Delta Force soldiers. Being from the best the Army has but hopelessly outmatched.

* Doomed Tactical Team: Played Straight with the Delta Force soldiers. Being from the best the Army has but hopelessly outmatched.

* VideogameFlamethrowersSuck: Zig-zag all over the place. The Napalm Cannon in ''Project Origin'' has wonky hit detection, a relatively low rate of fire, and does fairly mediocre damage (granted, this weapon ''will'' one-shot and burn to death most light to medium enemies, it just takes ''forever''). The ammo's also extremely rare, starting with twenty shots in the first one you find and ''maybe'' two others much later in the game. Notably, ''FEAR 2: Reborn'', which otherwise goes out of its way to give every weapon that the main game didn't make good use of a chance to shine, never once features the Napalm Cannon.
** Ironically enough, the Napalm Cannon works better against more elite units like Replica Heavy Troopers, Replica Elites, Armacham Black Ops Elites and Armacham Black Ops Heavy Soldiers, but not for the reasons you think. The weapon's abillity to stun-lock and weaken via fire damage means that these hard-to-kill enemies are much more vulnerable for a coup-de-grace as they are unable to fire back with their powerful weapons. Moreover - and this is the most important point - enemies set on fire automatically drop their primary weapons. Even Abominations, are very vulnerable in medium-range as they start to panic trying to put out the flames, making them incredibly easy to dispatch, although they will still attack at close-range. So as a support weapon, the Napalm Cannon does find its uses. Of course, some players may use it due to its...''[[Main/{{Narm}} other funny purposes]]''. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Enemies dying from fire often die in the most [[Main/DramaQueen overly-dramatic way possible.]] Usually either they flail around like headless chickens or drunkenly stumble into things in an akward stupor. All the while screaming in the most over-the-top way possible. Given the serious tone of the game, having a couple of guys acting like something out of a [[Series/{{Blackadder}} Black Adder episode]] would completely break immersion. As such, some players just use the Napalm Cannon ''[[Main/NarmCharm because]]'' of this.[[/labelnote]]

* VideogameSetpiece: A lot of the really creepy hallucinations the Point Man and Becket experience, and most of the PeekABooCorpse moments.

F.E.A.R. is a FirstPersonShooter set up as a horror movie, which released in October 2005, developed by Creator/MonolithProductions. The player must survive long enough to unravel the secrets of Project Perseus and its parent, Project Origin, while battling the Replica forces, ATC security teams and experiencing increasingly disturbing visions. It is not a SurvivalHorror game, however, but a near-future sci-fi action game with strong horror elements. The main element of the gameplay is the slow-motion reflexes feature. At will, the player can slow down time for about six or so seconds before time returns to normal. In it, you can aim and fire much faster than your enemies can, but your low health means that frontal assaults with this tactic is discouraged. Instead, the game incentivizes HitAndRunTactics, which are facilitated by the Replica's deceptively intelligent and persistent A.I, and their abilities to adapt and coordinate with one another on the fly. Couple this with the fact that most of the game's shootouts take place in cramped, enclosed environments, and you get one deadly game of Cat and Mouse.

** Ironically enough, the Napalm Cannon works better against more elite units like Replica Heavy Troopers, Replica Elites, Armacham Black Ops Elites and Armacham Black Ops Heavy Soldiers, but not for the reasons you think. The weapon's abillity to stun-lock and weaken via fire damage means that these hard-to-kill enemies are much more vulnerable for a coup-de-grace as they are unable to fire back with their powerful weapons. Moreover - and this is the most important point - enemies set on fire automatically drop their primary weapons. So as a support weapon, the Napalm Cannon does find its uses. Of course, some players may use it due to its...''[[Main/{{Narm}} other funny purposes]]''. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Enemies dying from fire often die in the most [[Main/DramaQueen overly-dramatic way possible.]] Usually either they flail around like headless chickens or drunkenly stumble into things in an akward stupor. All the while screaming in the most over-the-top way possible. Given the serious tone of the game, having a couple of guys acting like something out of a [[Series/{{Blackadder}} Black Adder episode]] would completely break immersion. As such, some players just use the Napalm Cannon ''[[Main/NarmCharm because]]'' of this.[[/labelnote]]

* VideogameFlamethrowersSuck: The Napalm Cannon in ''Project Origin'' has wonky hit detection, a relatively low rate of fire, and does fairly mediocre damage (granted, this weapon ''will'' one-shot and burn to death most light to medium enemies, it just takes ''forever''). The ammo's also extremely rare, starting with twenty shots in the first one you find and ''maybe'' two others much later in the game. Notably, ''FEAR 2: Reborn'', which otherwise goes out of its way to give every weapon that the main game didn't make good use of a chance to shine, never once features the Napalm Cannon.

** Ironically enough, the Napalm Cannon works better against more elite units like Replica Heavy Troopers, Replica Elites and Replica Assassins, but not for the reasons you think. The weapon's abillity to stun-lock and weaken via fire damage means that these hard-to-kill enemies are much more vulnerable for a coup-de-grace as they are unable to fire back with their powerful weapons. For Replica Assassins, even though they are immune to fire, it is still detrimental as the fire completely makes them visible. So as a support weapon, the Napalm Cannon does find its uses. Of course, some players may use it due to its...''[[Main/{{Narm}} other funny purposes]]''. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Enemies dying from fire often die in the most [[Main/DramaQueen overly-dramatic way possible.]] Usually either they flail around like headless chickens or drunkenly stumble into things in an akward stupor. All the while screaming in the most over-the-top way possible. Given the serious tone of the game, having a couple of guys acting like something out of a [[Series/{{Blackadder}} Black Adder episode]] would completely break immersion. As such, some players just use the Napalm Cannon ''[[Main/NarmCharm because]]'' of this.[[/labelnote]]

** Ironically enough, the Napalm Cannon works better against more elite units like Replica Heavy Troopers, Replica Elites and Replica Assassins, but not for the reasons you think. The weapon's abillity to stun-lock and weaken via fire damage means that these hard-to-kill enemies are much more vulnerable for a coup-de-grace as they are unable to fire back with their powerful weapons. For Replica Assassins, even though they are immune to fire, it is still detrimental as the fire completely makes them visible. So as a support weapon, the Napalm Cannon does find its uses. Of course, some players may use it due to its...''[[Main/{{Narm}} other funny purposes]]''. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Enemies dying from fire often die in the most [[Main/DramaQueen overly-dramatic way possible.]] Usually either they flail around like headless chickens or drunkenly stumble into things in an akward stupor. All the while screaming in the most over-the-top way possible. Given the serious tone of the game, having a couple of guys acting like something out of a [[Series/Blackadder Black Adder episode]] would completely break immersion. As such, some players just use the Napalm Cannon ''[[Main/NarmCharm because]]'' of this.[[/labelnote]]

** Ironically enough, the Napalm Cannon works better against more elite units like Replica Heavy Troopers, Replica Elites and Replica Assassins, but not for the reasons you think. The weapon's abillity to stun-lock and weaken via fire damage means that these hard-to-kill enemies are much more vulnerable for a coup-de-grace as they are unable to fireback with their powerful weapons. For Replica Assassins, even though they are immune to fire, it is still detrimental as the fire completely makes them visible. So as a support weapon, the Napalm Cannon does find its uses. Of course, some players may use it due to its...''[[Main/{{Narm}} other funny purposes]]''. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Enemies dying from fire often die in the most [[Main/DramaQueen overly-dramatic way possible.]] Usually either they flail around like headless chickens or drunkenly stumble into things in an akward stupor. All the while screaming in the most over-the-top way possible. Given the serious tone of the game, having a couple of guys acting like something out of a [[Series/Blackadder Black Adder episode]] would completely break immersion. As such, some players just use the Napalm Cannon ''[[Main/NarmCharm because]]'' of this.[[/labelnote]]

** Ironically enough, the Napalm Cannon works better against more elite units like Replica Heavy Troopers, Replica Elites and Replica Assassins, but not for the reasons you think. The weapon's abillity to stun-lock and weaken via fire damage means that these hard-to-kill enemies are much more vulnerable for a coup-de-grace as they are unable to fireback with their powerful weapons. For Replica Assassins, even though they are immune to fire, it is still detrimental as the fire completely makes them visible. So as a support weapon, the Napalm Cannon does find its uses.

* VideogameFlamethrowersSuck: The Napalm Cannon in ''Project Origin'' has wonky hit detection, a relatively low rate of fire, and does fairly mediocre damage (although most human enemies are guaranteed to burn to death from one shot, it takes ''forever''). The ammo's also extremely rare, starting with twenty shots in the first one you find and ''maybe'' two others much later in the game. Notably, ''FEAR 2: Reborn'', which otherwise goes out of its way to give every weapon that the main game didn't make good use of a chance to shine, never once features the Napalm Cannon.

** Ironically enough, the Napalm Cannon works better against more elite units like Replica Heavy Troopers, Replica Elites and Replica Assassins, but not for the reasons you think. The weapon's abillity to stun-lock and weaken via fire damage means that these hard-to-kill enemies are much more vulnerable for a coup-de-grace as they are unable to fireback with their powerful weapons. For Replica Assassins, it is lethal as the fire completely makes them visible. So as a support weapon, the Napalm Cannon does find its uses.

* AKA47: Primarily in the first game, such as an H&K [=SL8=] with a different rear sight and magazine as the "Rakow [=G2A2=]", an unmodified SPAS-12 as the "Vollmer VK-12", or a TAR-21 with a sci-fi scope and an apparent up-chambering to 7.62mm as the "Baksha ASP". Later ones started to shift more towards hybrids of two or more real guns, like the second game's "SHO Series-3" shotgun being a Remington with a Benelli M4 stock and an [=M16A2=]'s bolt and case deflector, or making the straight copies into {{energy weapon}}s rather than traditional bullet-shooters, like its F2000-alike [[{{BFG}} firing giant blasts of flesh-searing energy]] as the "Type-12 Pulse Weapon"; the game does have one interesting case where it pulls this again for a gun that already had a fake name, that being the ASP rifle returns in multiplayer, now called the "Kohler & Bock IDW-15". ''F.E.A.R. 3'' interestingly inverts this with its successor to the [=G2A2=], a hybrid of the Bushmaster ACR and TDI Vector named the G3A3.

* BodyArmorAsHitPoints: Averted in the first game, where body armor only absorbs a portion of damage, based on the armor penetration rating of the gun you get hit by. Played pretty much straight in the second game, where only a couple enemy weapons could piece armor at all.

* BareYourMidriff: Lt. Stokes' uniform. To be fair, her actual body armor provides about as much coverage as those worn by the male members of Dark Signal, save for the shoulder pads some of them get. It's just her underlying shirt that's a few inches too short. [[spoiler:Genevieve bypasses the armor entirely by shooting her in the stomach at the end of the game.]]

* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: This is pretty much what happens if Becket dies trying to fend Alma off hand-to-hand. It is implied that the Telesthetic Amplifier's enhancing of Becket's psychic power is the only thing that lets him survive being raped by Alma at the end of the game.]]

* SexyWalk: Alma tries this throughout ''F.E.A.R. 2'' as she stalks Becket. [[FanDisservice Key word]]: ''tries''.

F.E.A.R. is a FirstPersonShooter set up as a horror movie, which released in October 2005. The player must survive long enough to unravel the secrets of Project Perseus and its parent, Project Origin, while battling the Replica forces, ATC security teams and experiencing increasingly disturbing visions. It is not a SurvivalHorror game, however, but a near-future sci-fi action game with strong horror elements. The main element of the gameplay is the slow-motion reflexes feature. At will, the player can slow down time for about six or so seconds before time returns to normal. In it, you can aim and fire much faster than your enemies can, but your low health means that frontal assaults with this tactic is discouraged. Instead, the game incentivizes HitAndRunTactics, which are facilitated by the Replica's deceptively intelligent and persistent A.I, and their abilities to adapt and coordinate with one another on the fly. Couple this with the fact that most of the game's shootouts take place in cramped, enclosed environments, and you get one deadly game of Cat and Mouse.

Two mostly [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]] expansions, ''Extraction Point'' and ''Perseus Mandate'', were released just about one and two years after the original game. The former chronicles the Point Man's efforts to escape the city following the events of the main game, while the latter concerns [[GaidenGame a second F.E.A.R. team's attempts to secure sensitive information about Project Perseus near the end of the original game.]] ''Extraction Point'' was originally exclusive to PC, but was later ported to Xbox 360 [[CompilationRerelease as a bundle]] with ''Perseus Mandate'', which launched simultaneously on both platforms, as ''F.E.A.R. Files''.

The sequel, titled ''F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin'', was released in February 2009. In this game, the player controls a Delta Force operative named Michael Becket, who is sent to capture Genevive Aristide, CEO of Armacham Technology. [[FromBadToWorse Things get worse.]] Becket undergoes a brutal surgery and experimentation that leaves him a target for Alma, who hunts him down while he himself tries to evade ATC troops and Replica soldiers in order to destroy Alma for good.

''F.E.A.R. 3'' ([[OddlyNamedSequel written]] as ''[[Letters2Numbers F.3.A.R.]]'' in some ads) was released in June 2011. The story opens nine months after the events of ''F.E.A.R. 2'', with the Point Man being interrogated in an Armacham prison. Paxton Fettel appears, and the two stage an escape, with Fettel accompanying his brother back to the warzone that Fairport has become.

* KillEmAll:
** ''Extraction Point'' ends with [[spoiler:EVERYONE that survived the original game dead apart from the Point Man and Betters.]] ''Perseus Mandate'' ends on a more upbeat note; not only does almost everyone survive to the end and escape, but also [[spoiler: the ghost of the one guy that did die shows up and seems to say goodbye and congratulate you for making it.]]
** [[spoiler:In ''Project Origin'''s endgame, everyone in Becket's squad has been killed except Sergeant Morales, with the Lieutenant's fate up in the air, as she was gut-shot and bleeding out]].