F.E.A.R. 3
F.E.A.R. 3 (stylized as F.3.A.R.) is a 2011 first-person shooter psychological horror video game for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360. Developed by Day 1 Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, it was released on all platforms in June 2011. It is the third game in the F.E.A.R. series. In 2015, it was released on GOG.com, and in 2021, it was added to Microsoft's backward compatibility program, making it playable on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Filmmaker John Carpenter consulted on the cutscenes and script, which was written by comic writer and novelist Steve Niles. It is the only F.E.A.R. game to feature co-op gameplay.
F.E.A.R. 3
T.J. Wagner
- Dan Way
- Ernest Zamora
- Tim Shymkus
Frank Rooke
Matthew Singer
Heinz Schuller
The game takes place nine months after the conclusion of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, with Alma Wade's pregnancy nearing its end. When a resurrected Paxton Fettel rescues Point Man from captivity by Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC) in a Brazilian prison, the two distrustful brothers head back to Fairport. Point Man plans to save the still-missing Jin Sun-Kwon and prevent Alma giving birth. Fettel, however, has an entirely different motive. Meanwhile, a new threat emerges, one of which even Alma herself is terrified.
Beginning life as F.E.A.R. 2, the game was initially to be published by Vivendi Games as direct competition to Monolith Productions' Project Origin. However, when Warner acquired the rights to the entire franchise, the game was reconstituted as F.E.A.R. 3. Subsequently, a difficult development cycle saw Day 1 and Warner clashing over multiple gameplay and tonal elements, with Warner forcing Day 1 to build the game as a co-op. Enamoured of the success of the Call of Duty games, Warner also mandated more focus on action and less on horror, the exact opposite of what Day 1 had originally planned for the game. Forced to crunch, many of Day 1's staff left the project before it was completed. After three postponements, the game was eventually released, but few at Day 1 were happy with it, feeling that although it was a satisfactory first-person shooter, it was not a F.E.A.R. game.
F.E.A.R. 3 received mixed to positive reviews, and was felt to be significantly inferior to the original F.E.A.R. and on a par with Project Origin. Critics generally lauded the multiplayer, co-op, the differentiation between the play styles of Point Man and Fettel, graphics, gameplay and the combat mechanics, but they were unimpressed with the plot, the absence of any real horror, and the short length of the campaign. Many critics felt that although it was a solid, if by-the-numbers, first-person shooter, it failed as a F.E.A.R. game. The game's sales were disappointing, and the F.E.A.R. franchise has been on hiatus since its release.[a]
Plot[edit]
The game begins nine months after the events of the first two games.[30] Young Alma is shown sitting at a tree, playing with her doll. She pauses, listening for a moment, but then continues playing. Suddenly, there is a growl, and Alma becomes instantly terrified.
The game then cuts to a prison in Brazil where Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC) soldiers are interrogating Point Man.[b] As the interrogators demand to know the location of Jin Sun-Kwon,[c] a red mist floats through the room's closed door, and possesses one of them, who then snaps the other's neck. Point Man immediately grabs a knife and slits the possessed interrogator's throat. The man's body falls to the ground, leaving only Fettel, surrounded by the red mist.[d] Point Man then sets out to rescue Jin, who is trapped in Fairport, and is joined by a reluctant Fettel, who is more concerned with Alma's pregnancy than Jin's fate.
The brothers escape the prison via the sewers, and steal a helicopter, flying back to Fairport, unaware how dangerous the city has become.[31] As they approach the city, a wave of psychic energy hits the helicopter, forcing them to crash. As they move across the city, they discover that most of the population have either been driven insane by the paranormal activity or executed by ATC clean up crews.[32][33] Meanwhile, both men begin to catch glimpses and have hallucinations of a hideous creature. In one particular vision, the creature is about to attack a terrified Alma. Intermittently, they are also dragged into a fragment of memory from their childhood, when they were kept imprisoned in a lab by Harlan Wade, and experimented upon.
Eventually, the brothers find Jin, although she cannot see Fettel. She tells Point Man that Sgt. Michael Becket of Delta Force is claiming he was raped by Alma and is the father of her unborn child.[34] Given that Alma is pregnant, Jin speculates that the energy pulses may be her contractions rippling out across the world.[35] With Becket held captive by ATC, he is due to be transported out of the city in a few hours, so the brothers head to intercept him. As the city literally collapses in on itself, they approach the airport. Finding a distraught Becket, Fettel possesses him, confirming he is telling the truth about his role in Alma's pregnancy and learning about Project Harbinger and the attempt to artificially create psychic commanders.[36] However, the possession causes Becket to explode.
The brothers head to the facility where Harlan Wade kept them as children. There, as the creature stalks them, they begin destroying items associated with horrific memories from their childhood. As they do, they recall ATC scientists talking about how the first prototype (Point Man) was a failure but the second (Fettel) is perfect.[37] They then remember that the creature is from their childhood. Called "the Creep", it is a monster manifested from the cruel actions of Harlan Wade towards the brothers and their subsequent psychological trauma.[38]
They defeat the Creep and find Alma, who is moments away from giving birth. Point Man aims his pistol at her belly, but Fettel intervenes. They fight, and one of two endings occur, depending on which character has scored the most points across the game's challenge system.[39] In Point Man's ending, he shoots Fettel in the head. He then aims his gun at Alma before lowering it, and helps her give birth. She then peacefully dies and Point Man learns from Jin that everything in the world has returned to normal.[40] He then leaves with the baby. In Fettel's ending, Fettel possesses Point Man and extracts the baby. He vows to raise the child in his own image before cannibalizing Alma to acquire her power.
In a post-credits scene, security footage of the first Synchronicity Event is shown; Alma, although in a coma at the time, linked telepathically with the ten-year-old Fettel, causing him to go into a rage, in which he mutilates several ATC security officers using his psychic powers. Fettel is then heard in voiceover saying, "They deserved to die. They all deserved to die." He vows he won't stop until ATC is completely destroyed and he has achieved revenge for his mother.
Development[edit]
Announcement[edit]
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced F.E.A.R. 3 for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in April 2010. The announcement revealed that both Point Man and Paxton Fettel would be playable characters and, for the first time in the F.E.A.R. franchise, there would be a co-op mode of gameplay. The press release also revealed that Monolith Productions, who had developed both the original F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, would not be developing F.E.A.R. 3. Instead, the game was being developed by Day 1 Studios, who had handled the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports of the original game.[41][42] Warner would later say that Monolith had "passed the torch" to Day 1.[43] The game was scheduled for a third quarter 2010 release.[41][42]
Warner also revealed that film director John Carpenter was working as a creative consultant for the game's cutscenes and script, which was being written by comic book author and novelist Steve Niles.[41][42][44][45] Both men were fans of the franchise already, and Carpenter had previously done promotional work for the first game.[46][47]
The following week, Warner released additional details about the game mechanics, explaining that the co-op mode would be "divergent", wherein players won't necessarily have to help one another and can, in fact, compete for bonuses. They also noted that the game would have a prominent semi-randomised system based on Left 4 Dead's "Director" system, but there was no information on exactly how this system would manifest in-game.[48]
Origins[edit]
F.E.A.R. 3 originally began life as F.E.A.R. 2.[49] In 2004, after the original F.E.A.R. had already begun development and a publishing deal struck with Vivendi, Monolith was purchased by Warner. This led to a copyright split whereby Monolith and Warner owned the rights to the F.E.A.R. intellectual property and characters, and Vivendi owned the name "F.E.A.R." As a result, any non-Vivendi game set in the F.E.A.R. universe could use the characters and events from the original game, but could not be called F.E.A.R. At the same time, any non-Warner game set in the F.E.A.R. universe could not use the characters and events from the original game, but could be called F.E.A.R.[50][51]
In 2006, both Warner and Vivendi began development of their own sequel to the original game; Warner stuck with Monolith as developers whereas Vivendi hired Day 1. Thus, two rival sequels were in production at the same time - the Warner/Monolith game and the Vivendi/Day 1 game.[49] The Day 1 game was loosely inspired by the Philadelphia Experiment, and was to depict a new phasing technology falling into the wrong hands and being used open up a passage to and from a supernatural parallel universe called the World Behind the Walls. To close it, a F.E.A.R. squad is deployed.[49]
In September 2008, 18 months into development on the Vivendi/Day 1 game, Monolith and Warner re-acquired the F.E.A.R. name from Vivendi, bringing all of the copyrights under one roof.[52][53] Monolith continued development on their sequel, which now became the 'official' sequel (and could once again be called F.E.A.R.). When Warner looked at the work Day 1 had been doing for their version of F.E.A.R. 2, they suggested that the game could be moulded into F.E.A.R. 3. Day 1 began reworking the game from the ground up.[49]
Writing[edit]
With Day 1 now having access to the established characters and events of the F.E.A.R. universe, they consulted with Monolith to ensure the F.E.A.R. 3 storyline was in line with Project Origin.[17] It was Monolith who suggested that the game focus on the relationship between Point Man and Fettel.[49] Associate producer Jason Frederick said that the team felt obliged to work with Monolith, and to not do so would be "doing the fans a disservice."[54] More specifically, producer Dan Hay said, "we brought the best parts of Monolith, their understanding of the F.E.A.R. franchise, and then we marry it with Day 1's expertise in mech combat and combat in general."[55] Producer Ernest Zamora said that Monolith's involvement was crucial in terms of "making sure all of the tenets of F.E.A.R. were in place from the ground up."[56]
The earliest iterations of the storyline for F.E.A.R. 3 (after it had ceased to be F.E.A.R. 2) were constructed by Stephen Dinehart (credited as "narrative designer" in the final game). His main role was to integrate into the existing framework the characters and events that Day 1 originally weren't allowed to use and to mould the concept for F.E.A.R. 2 so that it fit sequentially into the F.E.A.R. universe.[49] According to Dinehart, "it wasn't really F.E.A.R., and suddenly the game had to be F.E.A.R., with all the characters and in alignment with the canon of the franchise."[49] He says that when he joined the team, there was already a lot of burnout amongst the Day 1 people, as they had put a lot of work into their original concept for F.E.A.R. 2, and "basically they realised it was all for naught."[49]
When it came time to write an actual script, Warner hired Niles over the objections of Day 1, who wanted to use Brian Keene.[49] Niles had finished playing Project Origin just a month before he got the offer to write F.E.A.R 3, which he immediately accepted. At the same time, a project on which he had working with Carpenter recently fell through, and so he asked Warner if they'd be interested in bringing Carpenter on board, to which they said yes.[57] Upon being hired, Niles immersed himself in the lore of the first two games, and set out to "turn the series into a trilogy; to really bring all the points of the games together into this game and answer a lot of questions."[58]
Being unfamiliar with the technology behind video game design, having never worked on a game before, Niles treated the story as if it were a film.[59] He wrote a conventionally formatted script;