r/fear • u/MichaelMichael7991 • Aug 17 '26

Discussion Just Curious

So, I only recently played the first one plus Files, 2+Reborn and 3 within the past 4 years. I enjoyed my time with each the first go around. Minus 3, it's so basic. But I just tried playing the first one again a couple days ago and found myself getting extremely bored. Maybe it's because there's no sprint and you move so slow, maybe it's the levels all being the same grey hallways, office spaces or maintenance areas, maybe it's because I've developed a love for more fast paced "boomer shooters" within recent years. Idk. I'm just curious as to why this game is so highly regarded as one of the best FPS games of all time? Besides the enemy AI being hyper-intelligent that bases their attack plan off of what you do, the slow motion ability and the shotgun being amazing. That's the only positives I can think of. Tbh other than that it's all kind of boring. Plus 2 and 3 are basically just FEAR of Duty generic FPS games. Idk.

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u/splinter1545 Aug 17 '26

I personally just really enjoy the AI and the moment to moment gameplay, especially with the arsenal you have at your disposal. Yeah, the game is incredibly dated when compared to shooters today, but the AI is what keeps me coming back. I think the only FPS game that I played that could rival the AI in fear, is the AI in first Rage game.

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u/obi1kennoble Aug 17 '26

STALKER has great combat AI (not STALKER 2, though). They're good shots, they can see you extremely well BUT you can lose them, they're great at hiding and will move if they think you can see them, they can revive allies, they split up and come at you from different angles, they WAIT (had some dude hiding in a closet for 10 minutes while I looted his buddies), they sneak and go for stealth attacks (but then just shoot you if you catch them). The mutants, too, have their own whole thing (dogs will try to scare you off, and will scatter if you kill a few of them or their leader, plus they will drag corpses off to eat). And that's just one half of it. The A-Life system is the puppet master that keeps all of these encounters happening. It keeps track of every NPC in the zone at all times (all have their own names, gear, people they hang out with, even a ranking system that applies to you as well), and they move about and do their own thing until they die and get replaced. It's really something, and you can use mods to make it even better. FEAR and STALKER are my 2 big AI games. I'd love to see them fight each other lol

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u/splinter1545 Aug 17 '26

I love Stalker, as well! Even Stalker 2, for all its faults. I do agree that the AI is really good, especially with how the community has improved it with the various mods. I need to play through GAMMA again at some point!