Games PC FEAR 360-MINIGUIDE 1 User Manual

PRIMA OFFICIAL GAME GUIDE

Welcome to First Encounter Assault Recon

You are the newest member of the top-secret First Encounter Assault
Recon team, otherwise known as F.E.A.R. The F.E.A.R. team is a
government military and scientific outfit created to combat paranormal
threats. Their focus is on action and containment. Although new to
F.E.A.R., you have been given the role of point man because of your
superior reflexes and combat abilities. F.E.A.R. must defuse a
potentially disastrous operation: A top-secret experimental weapon has
gone missing. And that weapon happens to be a psychotic, cannibalistic
telepath.

F.E.A.R. is more than your typical first-person shooter. For one thing,
it’s very creepy, and you can expect to be startled on more than
one occasion. As you proceed with your investigation, you
uncover a very complex story that adds a great deal of suspense
to the action.

But the action is the most important thing, here:
F.E.A.R. is a challenging but rewarding
shooter, and one that often
requires a more tactical approach
to combat. In this guide, you’ll
learn some tricks for surviving the
many challenging engagements in
which you’ll find yourself. You’ll also

find detailed statistics for each of the many weapons you can use, as
well as how to use your weapons most efficiently.

This guide also helps you make sure you get the most out of the
story, which is revealed in bits and pieces as you progress. It’s possible
to miss important pieces of the puzzle, so this guide makes sure you
don’t miss a single voicemail or whispered clue. Please note that
nothing is revealed in this guide before it is revealed in the game, but
you may want to resist browsing through the walkthrough before you
play the game, because story elements are explained at the various
points where you’ll encounter them.

The single-player campaign is just the beginning. Take your newly
acquired combat skills online and try against human players, who,
despite the game’s excellent artificial intelligence, can be even more
clever and challenging. The final chapter gives you detailed guides to

each of the available multiplayer maps, as well as some tricks for

surviving in the multiplayer arena.

The author would like to thank Geoff

Bent of Sierra Entertainment for his

assistance in preparing this guide.

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F.E.A.R. Operative Basic Training

F.E.A.R. Operative Basic Training

F.E.A.R. has been widely, and rightfully, praised for the excitement of
its combat. The single-player campaign is notable for the challenging
firefights and the realistic behavior of the opponents you’ll face.

F.E.A.R. has a great and complex story, but fighting is the core of the
game. In this chapter, we’ll look at the basics of combat, including
tricks and strategies for stealth attacks, large firefights, and even
punching your way to victory.

Before getting too deep into combat specifics, though, let’s take a
quick look at the basics of moving through and interacting with the
game’s world. It’s important that you understand the basics of the
heads-up display (HUD) and the movement interface before you
engage the enemy.

THE HUD

Your HUD is unobtrusive, but it provides you with vital data regarding
your current condition and inventory, as well as who is communicating
with you over the comlink that connects you to your F.E.A.R. teammates
and other colleagues in the field.

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You can carry up to
10 med kits at a time.

WHEN MED KITS ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY AND YOU ARE VERY HURT, FIND SOMEWHERE
TO HIDE AND WAIT FOR YOUR HEALTH TO REGENERATE TO ITS THRESHOLD.
OTHERWISE, THE MED KIT WILL BE USED TO HEAL POINTS YOUR BODY CAN
REGENERATE ON ITS OWN, AND MAKES THEM LESS EFFICIENT. REMEMBER THAT THERE
IS NO HEALTH REGENERATION ON EXTREME DIFFICULTY.

The HUD is your
window to the world.

Health

The HUD’s lower left corner shows two numbers: the left is your current
health, and the right is your current armor. As you health gets lower, the
display box changes color from green to red. When your health is below
40, it turns red, indicating that you are in great danger of being killed.
When your health reaches zero, you die. Using a med kit restores 50
points of health, and you can have up to 199 points of health in the
single-player campaign, although you begin with 100 points. To increase
you health, look for Health Boosters, which add five points to your
maximum health.

Luckily, you regenerate a small amount of health. When you drop below
a certain threshold, you begin regenerating health. If you stop moving,
you regenerate five points a second, and if you are moving you
regenerate one point a second. It is important to remember, though, that
you cannot regenerate to full health. How much health you can
regenerate depends on which difficulty level you are playing. On Easy
difficulty, your health begins regenerating when you drop below 40 points
and stops regenerating once you are back to 40 points of health. On
Normal and Hard difficulties, you begin (and end) your regeneration at 25
points. Multiplayer games, likewise, have a regeneration threshold/limit of

25. On Extreme difficulty, there is no health regeneration.

Armor

Your armor is shown in the lower left corner, to the right of your health.
Armor absorbs some, or all, damage from attacks. How much damage
your armor absorbs depends on the type of weapon your assailant uses
(see the Weapons and Equipment section for specific information about
each weapon’s armor penetration). When you have no armor, all damage
is taken to health, so, obviously, more armor is always better. Armor is
accumulated by picking up armor in the field. Each piece of armor you
find adds 35 points to your armor, and you can have a maximum of 100
points of armor. Unlike with your health, this maximum number cannot
be increased.

SlowMo

In the HUD’s bottom center is your SlowMo meter. This meter shows how
much energy you have to activate your SlowMo ability. The F.E.A.R.
operative you control in the game has almost superhuman reflexes, which
allow you to, essentially, slow down time around you. Though you move
slightly slower as well, you move faster than your foes, and SlowMo
allows you a great advantage over opponents. The ability to use this
heightened awareness is limited, and you must rest before it can be
activated again.

WHILE SLOWMO IS ACTIVE, YOU DO MOVE SLOWER, SO ACTIVITIES SUCH AS
RELOADING CAN TAKE MUCH LONGER THAN NORMAL. MAKE SURE YOUR WEAPONS
ARE ALWAYS FULLY LOADED BEFORE ACTIVATING SLOWMO—IT ISN’T FUN TO SPEND
MOST OF YOUR SLOWMO TIME RELOADING YOUR COMBAT SHOTGUN.

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PRIMA OFFICIAL GAME GUIDE8PRIMAGAMES.COM

Leaning around
corners provides you
with great cover, and
often grants you the
element of surprise.

COVER IS NOT A SUREFIRE SAFETY MEASURE. IT OFTEN INSPIRES THE ENEMY TO TOSS

A GRENADE YOUR WAY TO FLUSH YOU OUT. STAY ALERT FOR THE SOUND OF

GRENADES. IN SINGLE-PLAYER GAMES, THE ENEMY USUALLY ANNOUNCES A GRENADE

AS IT’S THROWN, GIVING YOU A BRIEF OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE TO A SAFER

POSITION.

Grenades

Grenades are very effective weapons when used properly. There are three
types of grenades and, unlike weapons, you don’t need to select which
type you want to carry. You can have up to five of each type of grenade at
any time, but each has its own uses.

Your standard grenade is the fragmentation grenade, which explodes
shortly after it’s thrown, or when it hits an enemy target. A direct impact
is usually fatal, but even if it isn’t fatal, it can stun an opponent, making
him an easy target. Fragmentation grenades are great for flushing
enemies out into the open from entrenched positions.

Proximity mines and remote bombs are less effective for heat-of-the­moment combat, but they’re well suited for setting up traps for incoming
enemies. Both, however, can be offensively effective with some practice.
A proximity mine thrown into a group of enemies, for example, detonates
as soon as it’s armed and they try to flee, usually eliminating the group.
Remote bombs can be detonated at any point after they leave your hand,
so with practice you can learn to activate them right as they pass an
opponent or group of opponents.

Use grenades to flush
the enemy out from
covered positions.

Stealth and Melee

One of the best ways to survive an engagement is to have it end before it
even really begins. If you keep the enemy unaware of your presence, you
can usually kill him with a single attack, and if you use a melee attack,
you can do it silently.

CREEPING AROUND

The enemies you encounter are very in tune with their surroundings.
They react to noises, and they go on alert if you knock something over or
they hear gunfire from a nearby room. They also go on alert if they see
you, or even your flashlight beam.

F.E.A.R. isn’t a stealth game, but there are ways to use silence to your
advantage. Enemies that are at their stations and unaware of threats are
much easier to kill than those who are on the defensive, so try to make as
little noise as possible, and keep your flashlight off unless you absolutely
need it.

Use your flashlight
sparingly, because it
can alert the enemy
to your presence.

SURPRISE SHOTS

If an enemy is unaware of your presence, your attacks actually do more
damage. Because of this, taking careful aim on an unwary opponent is
important. If you miss, you lose the advantage of surprise. Surprise shots
only work on a single enemy in a heavily populated area, because the
shot puts everyone on alert.

MELEE

Melee attacks on an unwary opponent not only have the surprise benefit,
they are also nearly silent, so as long as you or the body isn’t spotted,
nearby enemies won’t be alerted. If you see an enemy with his back to
you, quietly move up behind him and hit him with your fists or your
gunstock. He’ll crumple like a cheap suit, and you can still get the drop on
any other enemies nearby.

If an enemy hasn’t
seen you, you can
usually kill him with
a single shot or melee
attack.

YOU CAN SHOOT A PROXIMITY MINE TO MAKE IT EXPLODE, WHICH IS A GOOD WAY
TO DISARM ENEMY MINES WHEN YOU SPOT THEM.

MELEE ATTACKS ARE VERY POWERFUL, EVEN ON OPPONENTS WHO ARE AWARE OF

YOUR PRESENCE. SEE THE WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT SECTION FOR A MORE DETAILED

LOOK AT THE DAMAGE DONE BY YOUR FEET AND FISTS.