Crap Game Corner kicks ass!: F.E.A.R Files (Monolith, 2007 - 360)

The first F.E.A.R game had you chasing down a bad guy called Paxton Fettel, whilst dodging the presence of Alma, a girl with supernatural powers (uninhibited supernatural powers) who pops up to scare the main character. It sold so well, they released an expansion pack called Extraction Point, which took place directly after the original game. Afterwards, they released the second mission pack called Perseus Mandate, which runs parallel with said first game. After selling well on PC, and after releasing the first game on the 360, they released the expansions on one, stand alone disc for the console. So, being a person who loves FPS's, I snapped this up recently. Now I wish I didn't bother. Come gather around the camp fire, roast your marshmellows and open your ears, for a tale of woe, bollocks graphics and utter rubbish gameplay.

Well.....this effect is quite good at least.

Extraction Point:
Starting off straight after F.E.A.R, your character gets caught in a large blast in the city. After being picked up, your helicopter crashes with the appearance of Alma on board. You start off weaponless, and so after 20 seconds, you find a pistol. Going through the burning building, you do notice the rather ugly graphics, shoddy textures and dire level design. Even the weapon textures are quite rubbish, and in the case of the shotgun, the model looks really squashed up. The shadows aren't bad, but the hand graphics look rather blocky. I know this was released in 2007, but compare this with the release of Forza 2 and Bioshock which still look lush, this looks anything but. After a few more minutes play, I encountered the first lot of enemies (after they've been reactivated by the antagonist), in a firefight that goes with a whimper instead of a bang, and it's all over. Expecting it to get better as it goes along, it only gets worse. More ugly textures, stupid A.I which just stands there as you shoot them and scares which are anything but awaited me until I gave up and tried the second expansion.

Oh, look. Lots more drab textures! Joy!

Perseus Mandate:
More of the same, I couldn't even be bothered to play more than five minutes of this.

The cutscenes are about the only best thing, but even then they are full of ugly textures and, when in the helicopter, instead of a few buildings poking up from the ground, nothing. It's as flat as a pancake with coloured squares. Saying that, the slo-mo effect is quite nifty, so that's  plus point. Well, the only plus point, really.

One of the many...erm...'scares'...*sigh*

I thought it'd be better than this, having thought the first game was good: full of scares, awesome set-pieces and big explosions. This is full of crap scares, rubbish set pieces and explosions that go with a pop.
Leave it alone and just play something else instead, like the aforementioned Bioshock, or even the recently released Gears of War 3. ANYTHING, but this!