Zardon

Andy our lead gaming reviewer has taken a look at the popular PC FPS F.E.A.R.

"The PC has seen a plethora of impressive first person shooters within the last year, including Half-Life 2, Doom 3, and Quake 4. Such titles are renowned because they are able to immerse the gamer into the adventure, making the whole experience feel like it’s a lot more than just a game. F.E.A.R. is yet another outstanding shooter available on the PC that carries some of the greatest visuals to date. The horrifying storyline will grab you right from the start, and the fast paced, perceptive battles will leave you playing until the last mission. F.E.A.R. is an atmospheric shooter that any PC gamer definitely needs to check out."



read the review here

Sandok

Nice review Andy!

SFOSOK

Thanks for the review guys, I had asked Z previously if there would be a review. I have some pretty cool screenies I can post on here, I'm still trying to get access to upload pictures for DH, any chance anyone can help me out with that? Overall great review. Keep up the good work.

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*Warning* - Explicit Content Preceeding



METAL!!

Tipstaff

Bad news, SFO. Tasty let us know yesterday (HERE) that the server he was kind enough to allow DH members to use borked on him, and unfortunately it also won't be coming back online as it was getting expensive for him to keep running. So, your best bet for hosting images would be Imageshack or Photobucket.

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Dark Lord

id put my money on imageshack. i use them for all my hosting, 40+ pages of it. their very reliable.

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ronnn

Very nice review! Thanks, I want to buy this game now for sure, but maybe is best to wait for the next ati drivers - as seems to be a problem with the current ones. So whats your impression, is a x800xt pe with a modest p4 at 3.0 enough for getting good visuals? I mean enjoy the experience?

ViRuS2k

nice review apart from

1: stutter city
2: all levels look the same
3: you see the same toolbox and hammer thoughout the game
4: you need a super computer to play it
5: why does the clock never move thoughout the game its like time stands still
6: zardon you had a lot of negativity about this game
7: game is unoptimized to hell for ATI cards
8: do i need to say anymore ?

personaly its a game that needs another 10 patches before i play it again.

Zardon

so really what you mean to say is the review sucks or you dont agree with it. I cant say I agree with quite a few of the aspects in the review either as you delicately point out in 6: however im sure you are aware I didnt review it and games are based on personal opinions. I also dont think the engine is as bad as you make out, sure it needs some additional optimising but overall its impressive.

Cheers.

ViRuS2k

i wasnt stateing anything about the review
those negatives are my persional gripes with the game.
the review was nice and probably the reviewer liked the game again though thats his appinion about the game.

me on the other hand thinks this game is one you play then pass away.
becuse of all the problems it has.
like is said though i wont be playing this game untill at least another 4+ patches are released and when the programers can actualy care about us ATI users instead of optimizing for Nvidia only..... but its all about money isnt it thats why NVIDIA pay them so the game sucks on our hardware makeing us go out and buy NVIDIA hardware.

what eeks me the most is why cant developers/programs code games for both main graphics companys ATI and NVIDIA without all the cutting corners and optimizing this and that to favour 1 over the other, inturn screwing its customers....

i guess that will never happen though heh again just my persional gripes about developers of games.

SFOSOK

Unfortunately Monolith makes the patches and they can't even confirm they are working on a 1.03 patch. Its very sad. The forums are littered with problems.

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METAL!!

ViRuS2k

like i say mate its all about MONEY.
they dont realy care about us.

we pay for there games and they in turn shit in our faces.

no wonder there are so meny people downloading there games, and people wonder why.

Tipstaff

I wish Catalyst Maker would jump in on this since he's been busy working on this very issue.

Just to let people know the problem with poor performance with ATI cards in F.E.A.R. is NOT a game specific problem, but an ATI driver mis-optimization issue (to quote Catalyst Makers post in the Beyond 3D forum, "It’s a "bug" in that we simply got an IF statement backwards..... Of course there is no difference in the rendering, it’s just a CATALYST AI game specific optimization that was good for the demo version, but backfired in the final version. We will get it sorted out in a future Catalyst (not 5.11 which is being posted tomorrow by the way).

One of the performance tweaks the Catalyst Driver team made to Catalyst A.I. saw huge performance increases in the demo, however, they sunk it through the floor with the retail release. As Catalyst Maker said the fix won't be in the the Cat 5.11s, but most likely in the Cat 5.12s. In the meantime you can do one simple little trick to fix this: copy the fear.exe file, and rename that copy to something else such as fear2.exe (or leave it as "copy of fear.exe"), and launch the game using that new link. What you will notice is an increase in game performance across the board, especially on medium and high settings. Sometimes as much as 15-20 fps depending on the settings.

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jasonbourne

like virus said the game stutters like hell,im really desapointed with ati at the moment but i still had fun playing the game.the last 20 mins of the game were amazing!

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ViRuS2k

Tryed that and yes it does pickup the frames a lot but im not talking about FPS issues here im talking about the STUTTERING

the frames are great its just the stuttering when you enter a new area or turn sharply or just plain turn around corners.

its annoying as hell and that fix doesnt FIX THAT.

also those ANNOYING auto saves make the game stutter, the game can be realy smooth at odd places but when it auto saves, and this happens with all autosaves after gameing resumes its stutter mayhem you have to practicly spin around in a 360Degree turn to get rid of the stutters after a auto save.

Tipstaff

Stuttering issue is more sound and copy protection related. There is stuttering that is video related, but it's not just ATI cards that have problems. Nvidia cards do too. What people have found is that disabling AGP FastWrites seems to help in most cases (unless you are using a PCIE card, in which case it won't matter) unless it's sound related.

For almost all other cases audio and copy protection is the main issue. Some issues are due to people using codec packs in where one of the codecs is incompatible with the one the game tries to install (and won't if that incompatible codec is already installed). This is more related to popping or missing sounds, but has help those with stuttering. Some are issues related to people using older drivers. One big improvemnt in the stuttering department is not to use EAX HD, but instead switch to one of the older ones (EAX/EAX2). For myself switching that one function solved all my stuttering issues (except for the ingame save thing).

At any rate give THIS page a look on VUs site.

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ronnn

Yikes thanks for the info. Has been a hard couple of months for me and games. Been playing quake 4 and lack absolutely no ai (not sure how many ways I can say somewhat boring), and now complaints of fear. We need a good game like hl2 or far cry to be released. Oh well I will get fear with the next drivers as I found the demo very enjoyable.

Tipstaff

Trying to play it again now that I finished Quake 4 (awesome game btw). I love the effects of the game, but I just can't get into it. Honestly, it's "like" Half-Life 2, but missing 2 key elements: presentation, and appeal. What I mean by presentation is more like.. well.. poor. It's like the flow of the game doesn't really go anywhere. I don't mean the story doesn't, just that the urgency to "go that way" or "get there" doesn't grab you. You just don't care if you do or don't. <sigh> I don't know how else to describe it.. just something missing.

Having said that I have found myself sitting there in awe of 2 key elements of the game: effects, and physics. Case in point: I was working my way through a room when all of a sudden a 'nade lands infront of me. I drop my load, barely escape the explosion only to have baddy after baddy poor into the room. Bullets flying everywhere, crap blasting apart and flying around, smoke thick enough to choke a deadman filling the room, and the entire time all you could see was bullet tracers, and the odd ricochet of bullets hitting something metal. It was pure chaos, both graphcially, and emotionally. For me, this is the saving grace of the game (and it looks purdy too). I have never had an experience like that before in a game. It's moments like that where, for a brief time, you actually say to yourself, "Holy crud!" (well, actually, some more profane), and feel the urgency to get the F**K out of there pronto... without getting killed that is.

From what people say it get's better as I go, so here's to hoping it does.

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pr0digal jenius

Games with no outdoor levels suffer from this, IMO, because I like to be able to catch glimpses of where I'm going "way the hell over there" from time to time.

FarCry and HL2 both did a great job of that, as did Halo, to be honest

BWX

[OT]

To all forum posters: please watch THIS before posting. Follow it, and you will live longer (and not be heckled.. as much).

LOL man, I never saw that.. thx for the laugh!

[/OT]

Still haven't played FEAR.. but I will once I get through Q4... It sounds like the stuttering (if it happens) would bug the hell outta me though..

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Zardon

The something "missing" is the level design, or lack of.

It doesnt get better at all, the last 10-15 minutes of the game is great with a wonderful climax, however the rest of it is forgettable. Actually I already have and I beat the whole thing in a few days. Can only remember the ending.

SSXeon

Damn i really wanted another HL2 I just hope in future patches performance gets boosted better, maybe with a SM3.0 Patch? I do want to see FEAR under the tree this year.


SSXeon

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XFX HD4890 1024MB @ 950/4400Mhz

Have issues with your Catalyst driver?
Please report it to ATi

Tipstaff

Ack!

Alrighty then (I can't believe I just typed that ). I guess I'll give it a little longer (probably finish it in a day or so). Then I'll decide whether to keep going, or test my new belt sand on it.

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>GSXR<mrbusa

for anybody that is having probs with the securom not recognizing the dvd version or whatever other probs,there is a hotfix out that i have not seen posted anywhere on dh.it fixed my problem of having to insert the dvd again to play.later
http://www.worthdownloading.com/down...id=734&id=5947

Zardon

Give quake4 a shot then, its not quite as varied as HL2, but its the best FPS this year. around half way through the game it picks up from "excellent FPS" to "amazing FPS".

SSXeon

Awsome, All i have heard is good things. I love Q3 and still play it, and i know the multiplay isnt as good as Q3 but im more interested in the singleplayer. Cool ima add Q4 to me christmas list too


SSXeon

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XFX HD4890 1024MB @ 950/4400Mhz

Have issues with your Catalyst driver?
Please report it to ATi

BWX

It is definitely a must play title.

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SFOSOK

Maybe an expansion is in order : )

Maybe the could do like a story on his millitary training, like how he got up to the F.E.A.R. unit. That would create a nice setting for some awsome backgrounds. It would also make it like SOF2 + Max Pain2 : ).

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METAL!!

Pluvious

Tipstaff:
"In the meantime you can do one simple little trick to fix this: copy the fear.exe file, and rename that copy to something else such as fear2.exe (or leave it as "copy of fear.exe"), and launch the game using that new link. What you will notice is an increase in game performance across the board, especially on medium and high settings. Sometimes as much as 15-20 fps depending on the settings."


WHY ISN'T THIS BEING SHOUTED ON THE ROOFTOPS?! This info is great and the first time I've heard of it. I tried it and it did seem to run smoother.. but I recently found that turning off Volumetric Lighting all together pretty much solved all my slowdowns. So I'm not sure if I'm imagining it or not.
What's really going on?..

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Tipstaff

Two biggest performance increases for me was renaming the fear.exe, and turning off EAX HD. Next one after that was changing from Anisotropic Filtering to Tri or Bilinear Filtering. By default the game throws everything on Max except AF which defauts to 4x, and FSAA which defaults to off. Not a problem though as I prefer a higher rez to using FSAA anyways.

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danny6800xt

i agree my pc isnt EXTREME but i can play it comfortably at HIGH settings and even MAXIMUM all i have is

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