FEAR multi demo this month

By Tom Bramwell Published 19 September, 2005

Global release date in October.

Vivendi-Universal Games (or "VUG" if you want to pretend you're swearing with a cold) says that Monolith's FEAR (or "First Encounter Assault Recon" if you want to try and justify capitalisation in games publications with ridiculous acronyms) will be released globally on October 18th - unless it, er [let's have that cold back for a second], FVHEARS violently off-course.

Just as interesting for those of you who haven't made your minds up about it yet (despite that really promising single-player demo) is the news that VUG plans to fire out a multiplayer demo in late September. We've played the multiplayer already - it does a clever thing with slow-motion, and you can nail your friends to the wall, which is always nice.

There's also an extra DVD bundled with the European version, including some of the bits found in the US "Director's Cut". These include a behind the scenes documentary, a roundtable commentary video, a live action prequel movie (no idea, but Uwe Boll hasn't been mentioned so it's probably not too terrifying), and a Machinima movies series.

We will of course be letting you know what we think of FEAR as soon as we can. In the meantime, I dunno, eat ginger snaps or something. It's not long now.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (14) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Whizzo #1 6 years ago

    Got access to the FEAR MP beta and I have to say I didn't really think much of it, single player will be the reason I buy this one I feel.

  • smelly #2 6 years ago

    Well with Fear, fahrenheit and fable coming out very soon... my pc is gonna get lots of play time

  • PearOfAnguish #3 6 years ago

    Zzzz boring corridor shooter with tiresome bullet-time effects.

  • Artemus #4 6 years ago

    Well with Fear, fahrenheit and fable coming out very soon... my pc is gonna get lots of play time

    Ditto. Hench my latest upgrade.

  • Artemus #5 6 years ago

    Zzzz boring corridor shooter with tiresome bullet-time effects.

    Zzzz another troll.

  • PearOfAnguish #6 6 years ago

    Hardly trolling. Fear has nothing going for it apart from some nice effects. Enemies seem impervious to your bullets unless you go into slo-mo. I'm not a fan of cheating AI, either.
    Don't worry, gamers, you may be plodding around the same office and factory locations you've seen a million times before, but look - bullet time!
    But hey, if you like identikit FPSs, knock yourselves out.
    Edited by 1 at 19/09/05 @ 18:17

  • Talha #7 6 years ago

    Is is just me, or is it really that I don't find anything special about FEAR? I played the demo, and methinks that you put your best foot forward in a demo - so was that the best?

    And if there is really NOTHING special about the game, why all the hype especially by likes of GameSpy and GameSpot?

  • PearOfAnguish #8 6 years ago

    "And if there is really NOTHING special about the game, why all the hype especially by likes of GameSpy and GameSpot?"

    Because it looks nice? It's Doom 3 all over again.

  • Talha #9 6 years ago

    PearOfAnguish : having played the demo, I doubt even if it is 'Doom 3' all over again. At least Doom 3 manages to give you a big scare every time you boot it up (makes me sound silly, but there), even though you fully know what is coming, there is not even THAT in this game.

    Just another FPS on next-gen graphics? I think people are excited about it because it is the only next-gen FPS to come after Far Cry, Doom 3 and HL2. Am I right?

  • skillian #10 6 years ago

    How negative. The FEAR demo was very enjoyable - great enemy AI, nice graphics, meaty guns and a smooth feel. Not revolutionary, but probably the best FPS I've played in years (discounting HL2).

    Multiplayer I'm a little less sold on - I have other games for that - but I'm very much looking forward to its release in October.

  • Talha #11 6 years ago

    skillian : if you trawl (yes, trawl, not troll) around US gaming sites, they are acting as if FEAR is the second coming. Of course it is an 'enjoyable' shooter, and I will probably buy it, but the demo at least does not justify the hype.

  • skillian #12 6 years ago

    Yeah you're right - after years of gaming I've learned to look past the hyperbole.

    As I said though, its a hell of a lot of fun (I have never, ever played a demo through 10+ times - thogh most demos are a little longer) and we've been starved of decent single player FPSs for a while, so a bit of hype is justified I reckon.

  • Talha #13 6 years ago

    THATS the key. We ARE starved of decent single player FPS's and maybe so are the Americans. At least it appears to belong on the same continent as Far Cry, HL2 and Doom 3. Surprisingly, all other shooters are just a different league.

  • Cregser #14 6 years ago

    I only played the single player demo once and thought it was a bit meh. Good, but... meh. I'll play it through when I buy it.

    I did play the multiplayer beta and thought it was great. I loved it. Everything just seemed to click. Granted it doesn't have vehicles or anything overly fancy. But I do like the pure FPS-iveness of it.