London MCM - F.E.A.R. 3 Multiplayer Hands-On
A lot of multiplayer nowadays gets accused of being a Call of Duty clone. Countless titles end up with the same old ‘shoot anything that moves, earn experience’ system that you either hate, love or think is a bit samey. F.E.A.R. 3, however, isn’t one of these titles – instead they’ve innovated with their choice of multiplayer component and actually created a rather robust and varied multiplayer experience that, while it borrows some elements from other games, feels like a fresh experience altogether.
How do I know this? Well, we were lucky enough to get our hands on both F.E.A.R 3’s cooperative campaign as well as the multiplayer component at this week’s MCM Expo after conveniently pushing (and elbowing) various other people out of the way in the massive rush to play the title. Ok, not really, but we did do a good bit of shoving during the day due to the massive plethora of people there! The title itself was nestled comfortably inside Warner Bros’ lovely booth, which is emblazoned with images of F.E.A.R’s Alma as well as Mortal Kombat favourites Raiden and Scorpion.
You're Having Contractions? Quick, Fetch the Midwife!
The Contractions Trailer. Sinister. Just Listen to That Scary Voice.
After we went hands on with the co-operative campaign, we were then, instead of being booted off the systems, invited to take part in the multiplayer of F.E.A.R. 3 where I joined forces with fellow GG writer Tom Ragan and another chap to play ‘Contractions’ - a mode that, in the words of a rep in the booth, is ‘a bit like Call of Duty’s zombie mode.’ That’s a fair enough statement – in a way, it is. You have your own base and have to defend it from scores of the undead and F.E.A.R creatures, unlocking guns and restoring ammunition in times of panic by cashing in the F.E.A.R. ‘cash’that you receive for defeating enemies.
Where this mode differs, though, is the inclusion of a wide variety of other creatures including the undead – we were actually set upon by at least ten four-legged beasts that rapidly ended our game because they boxed us all into a room and we only had pistol ammo left (although truthfully the fourth player – who technically did not exist as no one was on the controller, let us down greatly, just standing there whistling to himself as we battled the monsters).
The main difference between F.E.A.R’s Contractions mode and COD’s zombies comes in the form of Alma, who stalks the level like some sinister little-girl thing. Which she is. If she finds you, she will actually kill you instantly. I, being the brave little soldier that I am, decided to test out Alma’s skills by going up close to her and shooting her in the face. This turned out to be a rather bad idea; Alma jumped at me, a light flashed, and I was dead, having to wait to respawn. She can also suddenly loom out of nowhere without warning – once I was alone, in a room, then turned around and was promptly jumped on by Alma, who apparently hadn’t taken a liking to me shooting her in the head earlier.
To be honest, at first we didn’t have any idea what to do on the mode – we all ended up simply having pistol ammunition because we didn’t have a clue how to generate new ammo for our machine guns. Instead the mode descended into everyone running wildly around the level shooting anything that moved for a good five minutes or so before the nice booth attendant informed us that we were meant to be storing our guns on the walls in order to regenerate ammo.
During the mode we also discovered that as you go through each round, the ominous fog outside actually rises around you, boxing you into locations as you simply cannot see what on earth is going on when you’re in it. This isn’t fog used to cover up graphical limitations like one might expect in old-school Silent Hill though – instead this is fog that is designed to force the players into an area and make you work together in an all-out attempt against the vast horde of nightmares that F.E.A.R 3 has to throw at you. Admittedly half the nightmare is the fact that this is named ‘Contractions’ – it sounds like you’re in some sinister game about pregnancy.
'I Am the King. The King, of Soul.’
After escaping the hellish nightmare that was Contractions, we then progressed to playing Soul King, F.E.A.R 3’s take on a deathmatch with a rather significant twist. In this mode everyone starts out as a ‘Spectre’ and flies around the map, looking for a poor, unfortunate soul to possess. These souls come in the form of computer-controlled soldiers – it is your aim as the Spectre to snag one of these guys and take possession of his body. You can then use your new puppet/best friend/random soldier guy to shoot other people, killing them stone dead like they should be. Upon death, each individual then drops ‘souls’ (which are little floating orange orbs); it is then your job as the soldier to collect as many souls you can, therefore earning points and moving up the leaderboard.
The mode itself is pretty damn hectic, with player-controlled ghosts, soldiers and possessed soldiers all clamouring for dominance in the confined spaces of the map. Often you’ll be set upon by three people before you know it – but that’s pretty much the way of multiplayer wherever you turn.
If you die in Soul King, you’ll be losing some of your hard-earned points. This is because you drop a portion of the souls you’ve collected as you kick the proverbial bucket. Apparently, soul permission into the five-second videogame afterlife isn’t allowed. You will actually lose half your souls if you do manage to die, so try and stay alive as long as possible for optimum soul collection.
If you do manage to stay alive for a long period of time and horde a massive amount of souls, you’ll then become the ‘Soul King’ (see it isn’t just a clever name – it has meaning). This, however, doesn’t come without its drawbacks, as enemies will be able to see exactly where the Soul King is all the time – being on top isn’t easy in F.E.A.R. 3.
You can also possess a wide variety of enemies during Soul King, ranging from shotgun soldiers to hatchet-wielding zombie folk (whom we recently visited in Contractions), meaning the key to survival is possessing the right person at the right time. For example, possessing a machine gun soldier can be very beneficial for sniping away at an enemy, whereas possessing a melee character allows for a brutal and efficient stealth kill. How well you use the possession mechanic is up to you, but ultimately you’re going to need to master it to get far in this game.
Overall, our time with the F.E.A.R 3 multiplayer component was pretty fun. I would have liked to take part in the other gaming modes but unfortunately this was not possible in the preview build at MCM. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to have some Contractions and become the Soul King.
While you're here, why not check out Tom Ragan's preview of FEAR 3's Co-Op Campaign?
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