F.E.A.R. revealed - Monolith's secret action game gets a name

Fodder · Sep 20, 2005

An unidentified paramilitary force infiltrates a multi-billion dollar aerospace compound, taking hostages but issuing no demands. The government responds by sending in Special Forces, but loses contact as an eerie signal interrupts radio communications. When the interference subsides moments later, the team has been obliterated. Live footage of the massacre shows an inexplicable wave of destruction tearing the soldiers apart before they can even react.
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(Agg edit: the two pics that were here were prompting people to log into something.. might want to check/fix your urls)

The other thing that immediately strikes you about F.E.A.R. is its brand-new graphics engine, developed in-house by Monolith. Abandoning the Lithtech technology that's powered its games for years, Hubbard and his team have opted to create their own tech, taking full advantage of everything DirectX 9 has to offer. The results are stunning and dramatic, easily competitive with the DOOM 3's and Half-Life 2's of the world. As we got close to Holiday, we could make out the pores and indents on his face, as well as the immense amount of detail in his uniform. Shooting a hanging light fixture in the hallway resulted in the light swinging around wildly, sending shadows in every direction. Thanks to a new physics system, simple items like boxes or a small radio could all be interacted with and kicked around, adding to the feeling that you're in a real environment.
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However, this is no basic soldier you're in control of -- you've basically been "upgraded" into a living, breathing weapon, and you've got some serious skills at your disposal. "You have highly developed reflexes, which basically translates to player-controlled slow-mo where you move slightly faster than enemies," Hubbard continues. The obviously parallel is Max Payne's "bullet time," but since we weren't shown that ability during our demo, we'll have to wait to see exactly how it works. (Editor's Note: You can see it very briefly in our teaser video, and we're expecting to see it as part of Monolith's E3 presentation.)
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Even at this early stage, we could see the groundwork for complex A.I. behavior: Some enemies would lay back and try to pick us off from across the room, while others would rush forward towards our position. We could hear some of the enemies calling out instructions to each other, and would even throw grenades to try and flush us out from the corner we were ducking behind. According to Hubbard, most of the soldiers will use squad tactics, "high-tech assassins" will use camouflage and hand-to-hand attacks, and other soldiers will advance behind heavy armor units, using them and parts of the environment for cover.
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Preview, teaser vid and screenshots.

I've been hanging out for Shogo 2 for years, and when the teaser screenshot hit the web last week I was really hoping this would be it, but alas no. Nonetheless, it does look like it could be fun, if they pull it off, but it also looks capable of being another Far Cry, top tier graphics propping up a fairly sub-par, derivative game.

Maceo · May 12, 2004

Looks like they go overboard on the slo-mo....

dcunneen · May 12, 2004

Looks very pretty, but absolutely nothing new on the engine or gameplay front. However I think I'd prefer a high-tech futuristic Far Cry to the current one

infil · May 12, 2004

I love everything Monolith. Seriously i believe their games haven't gotten the attention they justly deserve. This looks like another i'll be adding to my collection.

p.s. has anyone gotten Shogo running properly on XP?

ssX · May 12, 2004

character detail is awesome

IPfreely · May 12, 2004

Originally posted by Fodder
I've been hanging out for Shogo 2 for years, and when the teaser screenshot hit the web last week I was really hoping this would be it, but alas no. Nonetheless, it does look like it could be fun, if they pull it off, but it also looks capable of being another Far Cry, top tier graphics propping up a fairly sub-par, derivative game.
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I've been hanging out for a sequel to Shogo too

I think F.E.A.R will turn out to be the opposite. Top tier game let down by soso gfx. That has been the signature of Hubbard's team so far... NOLF1 & 2, AVP2, Tron 2.0. Great games but underwhelming gfx when compared to id and epic's equivalent at the time.

There are 2 sides to Monolith... Hubbard's team which turns out top quality games and another team... which turns out crap like Sanity, Contract Jack and that robot battle multiplayer fps.

PsychoSmiley · May 12, 2004

Re: Re: F.E.A.R. revealed - Monolith's secret action game gets a name

Originally posted by IPfreely

I think F.E.A.R will turn out to be the opposite. Top tier game let down by soso gfx. That has been the signature of Hubbard's team so far... NOLF1 & 2, AVP2, Tron 2.0. Great games but underwhelming gfx when compared to id and epic's equivalent at the time.
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You think so? I have found most their games to very visually appealing, especially Tron 2.0.

samos · May 12, 2004

I looked at the screenies and I'm impressed
This is a while off though, mid 2005?

spg · Dec 31, 2004

Well i just shat myself watching this In game Movie Link. It weighs in at 104 meg and is in mp4 format. You gotta check it out, this is going to be on my 2005 shoping list for sure..

spg

Roscoe · Dec 31, 2004

This looks cool... The Matrix, The Grudge and Doom 3 in all one.

power · Dec 31, 2004

spg said:

Well i just shat myself watching this In game Movie Link. It weighs in at 104 meg and is in mp4 format. You gotta check it out, this is going to be on my 2005 shoping list for sure..

spg
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holy crap that looks awesome, downloaded the video worth the d/l

Darko · Dec 31, 2004

Eeewww....it's got creepy kids in it...

FuzwaldQO · Dec 31, 2004

Watched the movie... looks very cool. loved the chopper coming in and seeing the city below. Also the effects from the grenade explosions look awesome. Apart from that it just looks really cool. Mighht have to check the game out

dARCKLOWN · Dec 31, 2004

OMG! that looks insane! I love the matrix style slow close combat. Game looks very promising.

Bugger me that little kid is freaky.

yrophet · Dec 31, 2004

This game looks incredible.
Lighting better than doom 3, textures better than HL2, gameplay and story better than both. Can't wait!

RoSWeLL · Jan 2, 2005

just watched the 100mb trailer.

Does look freaky very damn freaky. Looking forward to see how this plays.

Reaper · Jan 2, 2005

Fodder said:

I've been hanging out for Shogo 2 for years, and when the teaser screenshot hit the web last week I was really hoping this would be it, but alas no. Nonetheless, it does look like it could be fun, if they pull it off, but it also looks capable of being another Far Cry, top tier graphics propping up a fairly sub-par, derivative game.
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I was hoping it would be something like a shogo sequel when I first saw the title of the thread. Alas no. I'd love another game like shogo was.

synetic · Jan 3, 2005

just saw the trailer for it. could it be the next systemshock?
its looks dam good though.

Lord Belial · Jan 3, 2005

Hmmm can't get this .mp4 file to play...any idea the codec required? I formatted yesterday...

brembo · Jan 3, 2005

MP4 is a quicktime format if I'm not mistaken.

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F.E.A.R. revealed - Monolith's secret action game gets a name

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